HIIT question

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ThePinkPenguin
ThePinkPenguin Posts: 138
in Fitness and Exercise
I am starting my Turbo Fire routine back up again and would like to start taking my strength training more seriously as well. But with the HIIT workouts being so intense, I don't want to hurt myself, so herein lies the question for those of you that do HIIT (Turbo Fire or otherwise).

Would you say it's OK to have a doubles day when you do HIIT? For example, can you do that kind of workout in the morning and then do some kind of strength training or lighter cardio in the evening? Or vice versa? Or do you just do HIIT and say that's it for the day? Also, if you double up, how long do you think the second workout should be if your HIIT is, say, 20 minutes long?

I appreciate any suggestions!

Replies

  • AllanMisner
    AllanMisner Posts: 4,140 Member
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    Personally, I wouldn't double up unless you're at an intermediate or advanced level (i.e., more than three years of training).

    If you do HIIT right (very intense), you should only be doing it 1 - 3 times per week. Add two full body lifting days (also very intense) and you have a complete program. If you're doing this to lose weight and maintain muscle mass, you shouldn't need to add cardio. If you just want to do something "cardio" like on your off days, consider walking. Anything more stressful than that will hamper your progress and could lead to overtraining.
  • navy_taxi
    navy_taxi Posts: 16
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    I would agree with AllanMisner - it really depends on what level of fitness you are currently at. (Though TF "HIIT" workouts aren't technically proper HIIT workouts, they can be pretty demanding.)

    It also depends on what you are actually adding in. I am currently in Week 11 of TF and for many of the weeks I played netball in the evening after a HIIT/Sculpt session in the morning on a Tuesday. BUT 1. I took Wednesday as my rest day. 2. I am quite a regular exerciser. 3. Netball, whilst difficult, does not place the body under the same demands as a solid strength programme. 4. My performance at netball was improved on days I did HIIT 15 but suffered on days I did HIIT 25 (for me, the two are worlds apart in terms of how much they tax the body).

    If you are really keen about improving your strength why not sub in full-body lifting sessions with a bit of interval cardio (or maybe even a finisher like the Bodyweight Matrix from NROLFW) on the days that you are scheduled to do a Fire/HIIT session + Sculpt/Tone 30?

    Also, listen to your body and don't try to do too much at once. Good luck!
  • crystalfisher89
    crystalfisher89 Posts: 196 Member
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    I'm at a pretty high fitness level and I don't even double up fitness. To be honest, I really don't feel that it does your body any good and could harm it possibly by doing too much doubling up. I go in for a 45mins to an hour workout at the gym (sometimes more if I have the time for a long run). I do turbo fire as my home workout when I don't have time to drive the 40 min round trip to the gym and don't double up those days either. If you really want to break down fat and tone then I'd suggest weight lifting 2 days a week- no cardio on those days and that will help get your system just started. My body fat has went down quite a bit after weight lifting. Hiit workouts are called High Intensity for a reason and are short because after you stop working out, your body still keeps burning calories and fat- similar to weight lifting, but the Hiit burn doesn't last as long as weight lifting for an hour does.

    I would suggest don't worry about the doubling. You've got to lose slowly in order to really maintain and I found out the hard way early this year that pushing yourself too hard can really push you back when you do injure yourself. I suffered an achilles tendon sprain from doing too much Hiit running too often.
  • ThePinkPenguin
    ThePinkPenguin Posts: 138
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    I'm at a pretty high fitness level and I don't even double up fitness. To be honest, I really don't feel that it does your body any good and could harm it possibly by doing too much doubling up. I go in for a 45mins to an hour workout at the gym (sometimes more if I have the time for a long run). I do turbo fire as my home workout when I don't have time to drive the 40 min round trip to the gym and don't double up those days either. If you really want to break down fat and tone then I'd suggest weight lifting 2 days a week- no cardio on those days and that will help get your system just started. My body fat has went down quite a bit after weight lifting. Hiit workouts are called High Intensity for a reason and are short because after you stop working out, your body still keeps burning calories and fat- similar to weight lifting, but the Hiit burn doesn't last as long as weight lifting for an hour does.

    I would suggest don't worry about the doubling. You've got to lose slowly in order to really maintain and I found out the hard way early this year that pushing yourself too hard can really push you back when you do injure yourself. I suffered an achilles tendon sprain from doing too much Hiit running too often.

    I found this response to be the most helpful. Thank you for the insight! I was getting a bit bored with the routine I've been doing for months so I'm just looking for a change.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    i'm still a fatty but i've pretty much worked out consistently since i was in high school. so take my post however you want :laugh:

    2 of my favorite things are weight lifting and sprinting but i don't work on both all the time. i usually do sprint cycles of 1 month on , 2-3 months off and i sprint 1-2 days a week

    when i do sprint and lift at the same time, i do both on the same day and will do a sprint session early in the day (maybe 30 minutes total where the actual sprint/recover parts are only like 10-12 minutes and the rest is warm up and cool down). then later in the day i lift. i found doing it the other way impedes my sprints. all together those days my workouts are 60-75 which is about how long they are when i dont do splits.

    i've never had any issues with injuries doing it this way.
  • ForestFisher
    ForestFisher Posts: 1 Member
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    Hello Pink, Good for you, for sticking to your TurboFire workouts. As a BeachBody coach, I agree with Crystal and Allan, you should not need to double to get results with BeachBody programs. If you push yourself hard during the workouts you will get all the exercise you need to see results. Doubling could result in not enough recovery time and thus a lazy workout. Two lazy workouts do NOT equal a quality workout. All that said, if you like to exercise and want more because you want more... not because you are chasing results that is a different matter. For example I workout in the morning and play sports a couple evening a week and weekends too. It comes down to understanding your WHY.
    Do you have a BeachBody coach? If not I'd be happy to help you further develop your WHY and understand how that plays into your goals and action plan.
    As for your comment about getting bored... I strongly encourage program graduation (90 days for Turbo Fire) because it develops mental discipline as well as fiscal exercise. Reaching your goals often comes down to doing what you have to do, not what you want to do... which sometimes means doing a workout you may not be thrilled about but doing it as if you love it.
    And with that said... just for the reason you said about getting bored I think it is a good reason to switch up to a new program after graduation. I like to do a new program every 60-90 days. I just finished Focus T-25 and just started Body BEAST. If cost is a concern then get another program and switch back and forth every 90 days (or how ever long the program is).
    Hope that helps.
    Have a Gold Medal Day!
    --4est
    Forest Fisher
    SEVEN-Time US National Gold Medalist ~ BeachBody Fitness Coach
  • BenjaminMFP88
    BenjaminMFP88 Posts: 660 Member
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    Yes, you can double up if you want, but I wouldn't advise this if either workout suffers even the slightest. I know many people that would suggest doing HIIT 1-2 times a week, and weight lifting 2-3 times a week (but not on the same days as HIIT). If your bored, you can throw in some low intensity stuff.

    Obviously, everyone is different and diet plays into this too. But everyone I know that has done "doubles" that isn't already cempetator etc, loses motivation and gets bored.

    Just my 2 cents

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