HIIT... for people who hate cardio.

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aregensb
aregensb Posts: 239 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Recently, I've just been focusing on strength training for my exercise, but I want to start incorporating some HIIT as well. The problem is, I hate hate hate to run. What kind of HIIT training do you do? Bicycling? Swimming? Elliptical-ing? Let me know your thoughts. Thank you! :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • Doulos24x7
    Doulos24x7 Posts: 37 Member
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    HIIT training is...?
  • aviduser
    aviduser Posts: 208 Member
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    I don't know what HIIT is. But I can tell you that finding some cardio exercise that you enjoy is huge. For me it was cycling. I train indoors and outdoors and do weights as well. But I can go out and burn thousands of calories on my bike and really enjoy doing it. So try them all till you find the one that you enjoy. Or, if you can't decide, become a triathelete. ;-)
  • hofficoffi
    hofficoffi Posts: 88 Member
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    I do it on the elliptical. I do 30 seconds of it on high high high resistance and 60 seconds of 'easy' etc for 20-25 mins. Tis hard but I burn so many calories, usually between 250-300!! xxx
  • jsteffen80
    jsteffen80 Posts: 136
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    Stairmill !!!

    HIIT = High Intensity Interval Training
  • jadedone
    jadedone Posts: 2,449 Member
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    HIIT: high intensity interval training.

    OP, you can do it with any cardio.

    Try this on your fave machine:
    warm up for 3 min
    sprint: 30s
    rest: 60s
    repeat 12 times
    cool down

    Once you master that, try to do 5 minutes of 30/30 on/off.

    I only do cardio this way to keep me from falling asleep on the machine. ;)
    I also do climbing intervrals like the following:
    3 min warm-up:
    1 min @ level 4
    2 min @ level 3
    1 min @ level 5
    2 min @l level 4
    After round 8 start to "cool down"
    drop by 1-2 levels every minute for the next 6.
    then cool down for 3-5 minutes on "easy speed"
    .....
    I am targeting 8 -10rounds, so you may need to start at a higher levels if the lower ones feel too easy. The funny thing is, after being at lets say level 20, 15 feels easy. And you have way more stamina each time you do it for the other intervals.
  • stephanielindley422
    stephanielindley422 Posts: 273
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    I don't mind cardio...I hate HIIT. HATEHATEHATE it.
  • savlyon
    savlyon Posts: 474 Member
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    You can do HIIT with anything--even strength training!! :) It makes it fun.

    Look up Tabata training too. :)
  • crawpapa
    crawpapa Posts: 156 Member
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    I've also done this one on the elliptical:

    60 sec slow
    15 sec fast
    60 sec slow
    30 sec fast
    60 sec slow
    45 sec fast
    60 sec slow
    60 sec fast
    60 sec slow
    75 sec fast
    60 sec slow
    90 sec fast
    60 sec slow

    Then go down 75, 60, 45, 30, 15.

    Depending on speed, this one can suck big time.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,522 Member
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    Boxing, heavy bag or speed bag (the latter takes some skill), jumping rope, burpees.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    I do 45 secs on, 75 secs off (2 min intervals, naturally) for about 26 mins on an elliptical. It's a killer.
  • aregensb
    aregensb Posts: 239 Member
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    Thanks for your responses! I honestly hate doing cardio. I used to run long distances pretty often but I got worried about my knees and stopped (bad knees run in the family). I didn't really mind since I hated running anyway, I just did it because it was good to stay in shape and didn't require any equipment. I started using the elliptical for 45 minutes stretches then about 4 times per week and it's just so mind numbing. I started concentrating on strength training a few months ago and pretty much the only cardio I've been getting is the 1 mile jog warm up I do before lifting. I'm hoping that I can actually start liking cardio if I do HIIT for about 15 minutes rather than a tedious 45 minutes.

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