HITT isn't for me.

Cortelli

You learned a valuable lesson, and that is in large part to your excellent attitude and critical thinking skills. Well done, OP - I am confident you'll find success whatever your goals may become!

jennifer_417

Funny...in the threads I read, it's often said that low carb is unnecessary barring some kind of health condition. Either way, I'm glad you figured out what works for you!

Danny_Boy13

Felt like ranting a little...

When I first began working out, I read all the literature I could get my hands on. I noticed pretty quickly there seemed to be three things which everybody was saying over and over (and over).

1. Barbell Weight Training is the best way to shed fat.
2. HITT/Interval Training is the best way to shed fat.
3. Low Carb Diets are the best way to shed fat.

So ... I threw all three together. Mistake!

I'm not sure how everybody else responds to various training methods, but in my experience combining these three things together is a recipe for burnout. I really wanted to pound my head against the wall when I finally got around to reading the various HITT studies. NONE of them included strength training. The participants in those studies ONLY performed either steady state or intervals for exercise. That should have been a warning.

The other thing I didn't realize at the time is that Interval training (which takes place in the anaerobic threshold aerobic zone (80-90% of Max HR) and the redline zone (90-100%) uses carbs almost exclusively to fuel your activity.

So I was eating a low carb diet, and performing an exercise that was actively eating away at what little (muscle glycogen) carbs I did have in my system. Throw in weight training which further depletes your glycogen stores for extra fun.

After 12 weeks of training, my results were as follows:

1. No weight loss (at all). I was a little thinner, so some fat was being burned, but not a lot
2. Strength gains from weight training were constantly stalling and I wasn't making a ton of progress.
3. I was tired/fatigued/crabby all the time.

I decided at that point to drop interval training entirely, and just switch back to 30 to 45 minutes of steady state aerobic activity for my cardio every day (60% to 70% Max HR). I didn't change my weight lifting routine much at all. I also stopped totally avoiding carbs and I happily eat my fruit/oatmeal in the morning again.

It's been 9 weeks since then. So far:

1. Weigh loss plateau was smashed. Dropped another 11lbs.
2. Gaining strength again under the barbell, muscle growth is even visible, which is supposed to be "difficult" on a caloric deficit.
3. Have energy and feel like jumping off the walls all day long.

I guess the moral of this entire story is be careful about throwing different exercise and diet methods together. Find a program you like and stick with it. Patching what you think might work together probably isn't a good idea.

I do HITT as well as Weight training and I have seen results. I think the part you went wrong on is the low carbs. You are correct and that you need carbs to have some go-go juice when you are performing at high levels like you do in a HIIT session. I for one never do a HIIT session and a lifting session on the same day... at least not for a long period of time of say more then 4-6 weeks. In that case if I do both on the same day I switch to 2-a-days. HIIT in the AM and lifting in the PM. But that is only in the case or the heavy part of my sports season. I never sustain a schedule like that for more then 6 weeks.

rileysowner

Based on what you did, you can't even say HIIT is not for you in terms of effectiveness. Taking something and mixing it with another highly demanding activity, then not fueling either properly (carbs used in weight training as well) by eating a low carb diet then saying that its not for you is like a person getting a car to replace and horse, not putting any gas in it and saying it is not for them.

If you don't like HIIT or whatever, don't do it. If you like it but due to your mixture of low carb and adding weights ended up having issues and say it is not for you because of that, realize it might work just fine if you use it properly. HIIT is meant to allow for a good demanding workout in a shorter period of time than steady state cardio. For people who don't have hours to spend in the week doing cardio, three 30 minute HIIT workouts would be a good replacement.

PokeyBug

Oh, my... You just described EXACTLY what happened to me. I was trying to follow Mark Sisson's version of Paleo, and he prescribes doing cardio, weights, AND one session of HIIT per week. Except, I didn't have the time to do what he advises, so I thought I'd combine two of the different exercises he recommends in one workout. Total recipe for burning me out! I ended up not able to exercise for awhile and falling off the nutrition wagon while my body recovered from exercise overload. (BTW, I'm a little limited in my physical abilities, so it was really ambitious to push myself in that manner. It wasn't the exercise, it was ME not knowing my limitations well enough and trying to do more than was prescribed or I was capable of doing.) So, I got fat again. :ohwell:

This time around, I'm focusing more on diet than exercise. I understand exercise is important to your health, so I'm by no means ditching it. I'm just being careful to not do too much and to rest when my body tells me to rest, my exercise schedule be damned. I hope you find the right balance for you. It's tricky, but it feels great to get your body in the proper balance!

charlesmauch

There is so much information out there and it can be so hard to sift through it all. What works for some people doesent always work for another and you have to just find what works for you through trial and error ( which you did ). It can be so frustrating at times hearing....lift X amount, lift more or less reps , eat this , eat that, watch carbs, etc etc etc. Every magazine, website, and person will tell you something different that they feel works or is a waste of time.

Yeah, I'm a lot more skeptical when I read any fitness or nutrition articles these days. At least until I have time to pick through their source material

you just find what works for you and do that. Take some of the advice and mix it up. Congrats on breaking your plateau ! I cant imagine not having my oatmeal or my fruit. ( and occasionally 15 or so Oreos lol).

Thanks, it can get discouraging working hard and watching the scale just sit there unmoving week after week.

I personally dont do alot of cardio and very little of it HIIT. I find it drains me too much and i really dont enjoy it. I would much rather do my steady state and just push myself when i do that.

I notice that when I skip doing any cardio activity in the morning, my mood and energy levels drop all day. So when HITT sessions would totally drain me and wouldn't give me much of a "boost", I sometimes felt like I was accomplishing nothing. As has been pointed out a few times on this thread, this was probably my not eating right rather than the activity itself.

charlesmauch

I don't have time to respond to everybody's posts today, but thank you for your replies!

As has been pointed out to me here, it looks like rather than blaming HITT for hitting the wall and plateauing, it was my nutrition which was at fault. I get it now.

Again thanks for all the advice and encouragement!

jenilla1

I find that both weight training and HIIT have worked well for me. They've really helped me improve my endurance and speed on long distance runs, but there's no way I could do any of that that on low carb. I need my fuel!!!

Agreeing with others that your nutrition was at fault here. :flowerforyou:

Phaedra2014

I do HIIT workouts twice a week and enjoy them.

I think increasing your carb intake may have made the difference.

How many grams of carbs were you consuming then and how many do you consume now?

ukaryote

rRunningforthetrain said:
Thanks for this post. The timing couldn't be better. Exercising isn't my favorite thing to do. However, I want to have energy, lose weight, and exchange some muscle for fat. I have just signed up for a VO2 and RMR test. Also an aquatic body fat measure. I don't want to do anything unnecessary or inefficient. Your post has at least made me feel a little better about the expense I am about to incur. Hopefully, a few others will take note of your experience and you can save some frustration for someone. Good job on the weight loss!

Those are very good assessments, the aquatic BF measure is supposed to be the most accurate. It will be valuable data when you sit down with someone to map out a path to your goals.

Azdak

Now, I do HIIT once a week as that is all I can handle.

That's pretty much all you need.