What are the best Hiit training advices you have

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For someone who is just starting out at the gym (5 weeks) ... I currently weight 236 pounds. Lost 13 pounds so far... I go to the gym min 3-4 times a week.

Any advices are welcome! :)

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  • CandiceScott69
    CandiceScott69 Posts: 81 Member
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    Bump, because I am interested in the responses.
  • Pinkyivy
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    Nobody?
  • YoungDoc2B
    YoungDoc2B Posts: 1,593 Member
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    Nobody can give you an answer. What's considered High Intensity for one person, may be low intensity for another. Your best bet is just to get out there and experiment with what works best for you.
  • thebigcb
    thebigcb Posts: 2,210 Member
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    Get a tabata timer, you can get free apps.

    Body Rock tv is good as well.
  • JAMProphet
    JAMProphet Posts: 288 Member
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    Hi Pink -

    I asked this exact question a few weeks ago. You can check out the answers that Igot. Tons of great advice!

    Good luck, and wishing you the best.

    J

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/786567-high-intensity-interval-training
  • MeDoula
    MeDoula Posts: 233 Member
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    My advice? Get a heart rate monitor if you don't own one yet.
  • JennaM222
    JennaM222 Posts: 1,996 Member
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    For someone who is just starting out at the gym (5 weeks) ... I currently weight 236 pounds. Lost 13 pounds so far... I go to the gym min 3-4 times a week.

    Any advices are welcome! :)

    GOOGLE: Beginner HIIT routines
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
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    Get a HR monitor and so some of the low impact, like elliptical. Do not start with HIIT. See what you are comfortable with doing just a little cardio first. Start a weight training program as well, just 3 days a week.

    Everyone needs resistance training to improve their health and bone density and this will especially improve your quality of life when you get older. But you will not gain all that much lean body mass as fast as everyone thinks. Guys of course will gain more. A DXA scan will prove the point. There are lots of stories about changing size but no one REALLY knows unless they do a DXA scan. Here's more about that --> http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/intermittent-fasting-and-bulking/ this is true whether you IF or not. My DXA scans proved that I really didn't gain that much lean body mass yet I look very muscular for a female. I have very high bone density from over 30 years of lifting yet my lean body mass is still only 104 lbs and my RMR is still only 1380.

    I recently had my DXA scan done and at 51.5 years of age I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old. That is a direct result of lifting for over 30 years. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights keeps you younger I don't know what is! Also I believe it is why most people think I look much younger than I really am. Because of this I don't have to worry about osteoporosis. If you wait until you are older and your bones start to deteriorate it's a bit too late, you can't get back what you lost, and you can only start a resistance routine that will prevent further damage.

    Cardio is good for you but it is optional. I love cardio, but you can't out exercise too many calories. Of course you burn calories, but not near what all the HRM's say. I learned the hard way, running marathon after marathon (yes even multiple runs during the day), as well as hitting the gym hard, martial arts, staying active all the time, not eating while watching TV, not binging, not mindlessly eating, not pigging out, not having emotional eating issues, yet I gained weight year after year, each decade putting on the pounds. I worked harder and harder, not able to figure out what was wrong. It didn't seem like I ate too much, but for my small size I did and didn't realize it until just a few years ago when I finally started losing weight by eating less.

    Everyone is different, but it's very easy to do a lot of cardio and think you can eat more than you really need, especially when you need to lose weight. It is also easy to think that you are burning more fat than you really are. Just do cardio if you enjoy it and because it's good for you.
  • FitBeto
    FitBeto Posts: 2,121 Member
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    SPRINTS. Do all the HIIT variations you want, nothing beats moving a long distance as fast as you can.

    Learn HOW to sprint properly to reap the benefits.
  • paxbfl
    paxbfl Posts: 391 Member
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    LOVE HIIT workouts! I'm loving them and losing a lot of weight doing them.

    Intervals are self-adjusting. If I tell you to "Sprint", you may run a different speed than I do. That's ok - you will automatically adjust to your ability level. I've adjusted my speed upwards as I've been doing them. It's amazing how much they boost your fitness level.

    Here's my HIIT workout. I do it on a treadmill but you could do it on the street, on a bike, machine, whatever. This is taken from "Body for Life" but I've slightly adapted it.

    2 minutes warmup

    Interval:

    1 minute walking
    1 minute jogging
    1 minute running
    1 minute sprinting

    *Do 5 intervals. On last interval, bump up the intensity at all levels so you're sprinting as fast as you can safely do (without flying off the back of the treadmill. :) )

    Cool down with walking or some light jogging. Total time should be under 30 minutes. You'll be ready to stop, trust me.

    I do the HIIT every other day. On the other day, I lift for 30 minutes and then do 30 minutes of light/moderate cardio - usually on an elliptical since that's low-impact. This extra cardio isn't recommended on my program but I want the extra calorie burn for weight-loss. If I'm ever feeling really sore I'll skip it (don't want to get injured).

    Hope that helps!
  • karensoxfan
    karensoxfan Posts: 902 Member
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    I do HIIT usually 2x/week on my non-lifting days, and I like the structure outlined in New Rules of Lifting for Women. Here's what my 20-min. HIIT workouts look like:

    3 min. warmup
    1 min. hard, then 2 min. recovery, repeat 5 times
    (total 5 minutes hard, 10 min. recovery)
    2 minutes cool-down

    I usually do the warmup, recoveries & cool-down around 3 mph walking. And I usually slightly increase the difficulty of the hard intervals throughout the workout (ex: when I started, my run speeds might have been 4.5, 4.6, 4.8, 4.9, and 5.0). Then next time, I'd try to add 0.1 mph to all those run speeds. After about 6 months of this, I'm using run speeds bet. 7-8 mph for this workout. My max 1-min. run speed is now 8.3, but I'm pushing to make it 8.5 by the end of the year. Sometimes, when I'm stuck at a level that feels REALLY strenuous, I'll stay there for a few consecutive workouts until it feels easier before I increase everything by 0.1, but I really like this HIIT structure.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    As many of the others have said, but looking at that weight, and the shock you get from running HIIT, advise against it right now.

    Hard to do true HIIT on elliptical to save the joints, where you sprint and go all out for 30-60 seconds, and recover for 60-120 seconds.
    You can certainly try it and start doing it, but your aerobic system will improve pretty fast and you'll probably find you can't get the speed/tension up enough for the same benefit. But can try.

    HIIT should only be about 20% of your cardio weekly though. And it's the same anaerobic stress on your muscles as lifting, so deserves the same recovery for repair to be stronger as lifting should get. It's just sport specific, and training the anaerobic system more.

    So if you do it one day, don't do lifting with the same muscle the day before or after, you'll just be either killing the repair process, or preventing doing the other to full strength for full benefit there. Jack of all trades, master of none type situation.

    So if you do 3 x weekly full body lifting, there really is no real great place for HIIT, and not needed either since the lifting is doing the same thing for those muscles.

    If you are needing it for some endurance event, then fine, but for weight loss, just stick to the lifting. Less potential for injury.

    Make the cardio inbetween lifting days just walking or easy elliptical. Every 5 min, jog or increase pace/tension for 30 secs, but not all out sprint.

    That'll give you the most return on your time and energy spent at the gym for purpose of weight loss and body shaping.
  • lhergenr
    lhergenr Posts: 242 Member
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    you might want to start doing HIIT on the elliptical before you do sprints. the idea is the same with any HIIT..warm up for 3 minutes. push yourself for 30 seconds, recover for 1:30 (this is what i do personally). for your first 30 second interval, don't push yourself too hard. gradually increase the intensity each interval.