HIIT Training - does it really work?

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jtintx
jtintx Posts: 445 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Let me start by saying that I have reached a plateau and am looking for the answer. I am currently at 145 lbs but am still at 28% body fat - which in my opinion is way too high. I am a serious recreational cyclist who is trying to keep up with the "big boys" so losing weight should increase my power-to-weight ratio and make me a better cyclist. I also run, have completed one marathon, and am training for a triathlon in July.

I'm hoping that HIIT will get me going in my goal of losing fat. I don't really care about the number on the scale but would like to get to about 20% body fat. I think that I really push myself during my workouts and have been watching my diet fairly closely but am still not losing the fat.

There are conflicting studies out there about HIIT and EPOC and if there truely is any real value in doing HIIT over low to moderate intensity cardio of a long duration. Soooo, I'm looking to find out from real people if HIIT works.

For those of you who do HIIT and I do mean HIGH INTENSITY (like 90% MHR) does it work? Have you been able to keep your muscle mass (or even add to it) and still lose excess body fat? Any advice would be welcomed. Thanks.

Replies

  • tinasullens
    tinasullens Posts: 203 Member
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    Honestly, I think you get plenty of cardio in your exercise routine. What you should do is add in some strength training! Include 2-3 days of it a week - muscle burns fat. Period.
  • Winter0916
    Winter0916 Posts: 80
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    wow that is high, I am 192 and my BMI is 29.37 ..maybe it has to do with the foods your are eating...I don't know much about that stuff but it seems you are a healthy wait and you exercise regularly. "( good luck
  • trainguy917
    trainguy917 Posts: 366 Member
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    I did Body-For-Life for a long time and Bill Phillips is the king of HIIT. Since I quit, I gained a lot of the weight back, but doing extreme high intervals for even just twenty minutes a day, three days a week and lifting weights super heavy three days a week, I lost 70 pounds in about 6 months. I would estimate I had lost about 75 pounds of fat and gained a good five pounds of muscle. I'm working my way back up to being able to do do high intensity workouts.
  • studentRN
    studentRN Posts: 440 Member
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    Yes... I've done it. It works. The HIIT that I did was on a treadmill as follows:

    (Adjust the speeds to meet your needs, I'm overweight and have short legs... the sprints should max out your heartrate around 90% and you should feel like you can't go anymore than the 30secs!)

    5min walking warmup (3.5mph)
    sprint 30 sec (6mph)
    2min recovery walk (3-3.5mph)
    sprint 30 sec (6mph)
    2min recovery walk (3-3.5mph)
    sprint 30 sec (6mph)
    2min recovery walk (3-3.5mph)
    sprint 30 sec (6mph)
    2min recovery walk (3-3.5mph)
    sprint 30 sec (6mph)
    2min recovery walk (3-3.5mph)
    sprint 30 sec (6mph)
    5min walking cooldown

    Try that! :drinker:
  • imagymrat
    imagymrat Posts: 862 Member
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    HIIT training works, I'm a walking billboard for high intensity interval training, I incorporate it all the time into my routines, that and tabata..
  • last25
    last25 Posts: 83
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    HIIT does work. But from what you wrote you do A LOT of cardio and no strength training. HIIT is just more cardio which you don't really need at this point. If you want to get rid of the fat you've got to put some muscle on that body woman! :) So start incorporating weight lifting into your workouts. The ChaLEAN Extreme workout program is one way to get started with that. Give strength training a try for 60 days and see what happens, I bet that fat will fall right off! Good luck.
  • jtintx
    jtintx Posts: 445 Member
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    wow that is high, I am 192 and my BMI is 29.37 ..maybe it has to do with the foods your are eating...I don't know much about that stuff but it seems you are a healthy wait and you exercise regularly. "( good luck
    My BMI is 24.1...however, BMI and body fat % at two completely different things.
  • jtintx
    jtintx Posts: 445 Member
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    Honestly, I think you get plenty of cardio in your exercise routine. What you should do is add in some strength training! Include 2-3 days of it a week - muscle burns fat. Period.
    I agree, at some point I need to add in strength training, and I do a little on occasion. But it's my understanding that it is nearly impossible to gain muscle mass while trying to lose body fat. Do you agree?
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
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    Honestly, I think you get plenty of cardio in your exercise routine. What you should do is add in some strength training! Include 2-3 days of it a week - muscle burns fat. Period.
    I agree, at some point I need to add in strength training, and I do a little on occasion. But it's my understanding that it is nearly impossible to gain muscle mass while trying to lose body fat. Do you agree?

    But you can maintain muscle mass which is absolutely critical if you want to drop down to a lowish body fat percentage. Otherwise, you might continue to lose weight, but a fair amount of that weight could be muscle and you will keep the higher body fat percentage you currently wish to lower.

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