High-Intensity Interval Training - IT WORKS!

Mines has been mixed with the rest of my Body Combat workout so I really don't know which is giving me the results. The idea of it makes sense though and it isn't that horrible to complete.

How would I go about doing HIIT? I have an elliptical at home. I have heard good things about HIIT but don't know where to start.

Google HIIT training and all kinds of routines will come up. I do treadmill, so I found a routine that gradually ramps up intensity while reducing the amount of time spent on the treadmill. I'm sure you can adapt any of them to your elliptical workout. It's basically going all out for a period of time, then resting or going very slowly, then repeating for a set number of times.

I think it's an excellent way to get cardio done in less time and kick your own *kitten*.

Yes, I seem to always get the best results after doing the high intensity. Infact after a week of cardio with small results it is my friday kick in the behind to boost my calorie loss.

It works great for losing weight, but at the same time you run the risk of burning up muscle on top of the fat!

I love HIIT. I try to add some after my lifting workouts. I either run/walk on the treadmill or do Tabatas on the elliptical.

For the person who has the elliptical at home: do you also have some free weights or resistance bands; or you could pair intervals on your elliptical with body weight exercises like dips; push ups, squats, lunges, etc. There are a couple of different types of HIIT, tabata is mentioned on here which like other posters, I love and gives you a really great workout in a short concentrated amount of time...for you on the elliptical I would recommend that you do thirty seconds at your max; as fast as you can, and then it'll take you about 10-15 seconds to get off and transition into your body weight exercise which you could do another thirty seconds of intensly; then get back on the ellipticlal; keep going. another good thing for you to do I think would be six to ten really hard elliptical spurts (20-30 seconds) with 10 seconds rest in between and then move to a circuit of strength exercises in the same type of fashion. If you're on PINTERST there are some really great circuits posted that you could follow at home.

As far as HIIT in general: I have been doing it for a couple of years and love it ; never gets old, always challenged and always gives a great burn. My only hesitation to anyone that is really trying to get WEIGHT off; is that it can be deceiving; as the workouts are short, you really cheat yourself if you don't PUSH it to MAX during the workout; because they are shorter. For me; now that I am trying to get weight off rather than maintain; I do 3-4 HIIT workouts per week, but also make sure that I add another 3 or so sessions of pure, long cardio to ensure that adequate calories come off just in case I didn't push card enough in a HIIT, and do two total body strength sessions in case a muscle group that I want to isolate wasn't targeted in HIIT. Overall; it is the answer to staying fit and trim in a busy world where we all have busy lives; I highly recommend it for its results and for the "high" it gives!

I've heard great things about how it works...but how do you log it?????

How would I go about doing HIIT? I have an elliptical at home. I have heard good things about HIIT but don't know where to start.

Google HIIT training and all kinds of routines will come up. I do treadmill, so I found a routine that gradually ramps up intensity while reducing the amount of time spent on the treadmill. I'm sure you can adapt any of them to your elliptical workout. It's basically going all out for a period of time, then resting or going very slowly, then repeating for a set number of times.

What exactly is your routine? and also, do you rest or walk slowly? I used to rest, but someone told me to actually change the setting on treadmill, which I am doing, but I am not sure it is right/as good...

What do you think?

I've come to love the results I get from high intensity interval training (HIIT) and highly recommend it to anyone wanting to improve their fitness level and drop weight. How do you guys feel about it?

It was a huge help for me when I was playin soccer in a league.
My conditioning was much better from doing 20 minute HIIT sessions than it was when I did long steady state cardio.

That's because the stresses of your training more closely matched the demands of the sport, not necessarily because of any inherent superiority of the training method.

It's actually the best form of cardio out there IMO. It also doesn't slow down your metabolic rate over time like LISS cardio has been shown to do.

Me and HIIT have a love/hate relationship. I love what it does for my fitness levels and my physique. But, good lord, I hate it when I'm down to the last 1 or 2 intervals. :sick: