hiit training, advice needed please :)

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kathendo1984
kathendo1984 Posts: 111
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi ive been doing some research on hiit (high intensity interval training) and it seems like this is a very good workout for fat loss. I have looked at what i could do and have drawn myself up a workout this is

bike- 5 mins 1 min fast x 1 min slow
treadmill-18 mins 2 mins slow x 1 min fast
stepper- 10 mins 1 min slow x 1 min fast
bike- 5 mins 1 min fast x 1 min slow
=38mins of hiit 3x a week I will also do some weights and resistance after this as i gernerally stay in the gym for 45 mins.

Do you think this sounds any good and would work, what level do you think i should put the stepper, bike and treadmill on for fast and slow. I am a begginer and not to fit so will start out abit gentle.

Does anyone have any feedback on hiit training or any advice or workouts that you do, many thanks in advance for your help :)

Replies

  • karrathachick
    karrathachick Posts: 34 Member
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    Hi :-) I'm doing some HIIT workouts too and was researching a bit more about it this morning actually. There are some great vids about it on youtube that were really helpful and worth checking out. I'm only still new to this type of training but the only thing is that usually the HIIT workouts are shorter because of the really high intensity. Most of the research I did this morning said that HIIT workouts were usually kept to around 20 mins or so. The huge benefit comes from not just what you burn during the workout but also during the hours following the workout from EPOC ( worth a google!). Hope that helps! All the best with it :-)
  • kathendo1984
    kathendo1984 Posts: 111
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    thank you for your reply, so you think it would be best to scale in down to 20 mins. would 20 =mins 3 times a week be good enough do you think. The bike at the start and end is more of a warm up and cool down really.

    many thanks for your reply :) x
  • karrathachick
    karrathachick Posts: 34 Member
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    I'd scale it back to around 20 minutes and go really hard on the intensity. I'm not experienced enough to know whether 3 HIIT workouts per week would be enough to drop weight ( I would guess that it all helps and would complement the nutrition side) but if it's a part of a mixture of workouts for the week i.e some strength training workouts as well then definately yes! It's working well for me! :-)
  • SweatLikeDog
    SweatLikeDog Posts: 273 Member
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    To get the most out of interval training you'll need a heart rate monitor. Then figure out your max heart rate. You can use 220 minus your age to get a rough estimate, but eventually you can just measure it when you're going all out. Keep in mind that your max heart rate is different for different exercises because some use more muscles than others.

    Next, pick the length of your workout. Start with 10 minutes three times per week if you're starting from scratch. Then pick the length of your work intervals and rest intervals. The work interval should not exceed 2 minutes and is best kept under 1 minute. Why? Because the goal of the work interval is to work at maximum intensity and drive your heart rate to 85-90% of max for the whole interval. It might take more than one interval to hit high heart rate numbers, but just go full blast and don't worry about it, but warm up for about 5 minutes with some light cardio or jogging.

    Then, figure out the length of the rest interval - there are 2 methods. The first, and most accurate is to rest completely until your heart rate drops to 60% of max, then go full blast into another interval. The second, and least accurate is to pick a fixed work:rest ratio (1:2 is common) - you would work for 30 seconds, rest for 60, etc. The Tabata protocol (20 sec work/10 sec rest for 4 minutes on a bike) is one example of fixed ratio HIIT.

    The key with intervals is to really go full blast at maximum intensity and keep the intervals short. Otherwise, you're wasting your time.
  • Mellie289
    Mellie289 Posts: 1,191 Member
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    Try the 30 Day Shred videos by Jillian Michaels - and you can probably find people to do the workout with you here for support. I see people starting it every week. The videos are on YouTube. I lost a couple inches each off my waist, hips and chest, and an inch from my thighs in the month I did it and have better muscle tone. I liked it so much, I continued with her Ripped in 30 workout, but I suggest doing 30 DS first.
  • kathendo1984
    kathendo1984 Posts: 111
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    bump, any more advice please :)
  • ceajules
    ceajules Posts: 123
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    I am on my 5th week with Turbofire they use hiit training and I see a huge difference already :)

    I am a believer in it and a fan :)

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