High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for beginners
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Mulfey36
Posts: 5
Hi there, is there any fitness guru out there that can give advice on HIIT training?
For those who don't know, HIIT is where you increase the intensity of your cardio to the maximum for short bursts of 60 seconds on at least 3-4 occasions during a 15-20 minute workout. high intensity interval training has the ability to keep you burning fat even after you leave the gym. In short, your body isn’t able to bring in enough oxygen during periods of hard work. Therefore, you accumulate a “debt” of oxygen that must be repaid post-workout in order to get back to normal. The result — your metabolism is revved for hours after you leave the gym.
The general advice on the internet is that you should do HIIT training 3 times a week, allowing a days rest in between due to HIIT still burning fat for 24-36 hours after training. I would like to know if I can do this 5 times a week? I enjoy the workouts and feel guilty for taking a days rest in-between sessions but at the same time I do not want to reduce the effect of the training.
I concentrate on muscle training on the days of rest but I still cant help feel I am missing something as I have always done cardio & muscle workouts together.
Any advice would be great, thanks
For those who don't know, HIIT is where you increase the intensity of your cardio to the maximum for short bursts of 60 seconds on at least 3-4 occasions during a 15-20 minute workout. high intensity interval training has the ability to keep you burning fat even after you leave the gym. In short, your body isn’t able to bring in enough oxygen during periods of hard work. Therefore, you accumulate a “debt” of oxygen that must be repaid post-workout in order to get back to normal. The result — your metabolism is revved for hours after you leave the gym.
The general advice on the internet is that you should do HIIT training 3 times a week, allowing a days rest in between due to HIIT still burning fat for 24-36 hours after training. I would like to know if I can do this 5 times a week? I enjoy the workouts and feel guilty for taking a days rest in-between sessions but at the same time I do not want to reduce the effect of the training.
I concentrate on muscle training on the days of rest but I still cant help feel I am missing something as I have always done cardio & muscle workouts together.
Any advice would be great, thanks
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Replies
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Hi again, if anyone else is doing HIIT please can you let me know your experience and results, being new to this I am a bit sceptical about HIIT and have my doubts it will work. It seems too good to be true right? less time cardio but better results? hmm
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I'm in for replies too!! Trainer has me starting HIT instead of so much running for the winter, but Im a little skeptical.0
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There is an awful lot of twaddle talked about HIIT as it's become "fashionable".
Yes it can be a very time efficient way of training but it's certainly not as magical as lot's of people seem to think. Fitness improvements can be spectacular over the short term but I'm not so convinced longer term.
As regards EPOC (calorie burning after the event) remember you are only talking about a short exercise duration (20 mins) and therefore smallish calorie burn.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/steady-state-versus-intervals-and-epoc-practical-application.html/
My opinion - If you are using it because it fits your available time and fitness goals then great. Otherwise to me it's just part of a fitness routine and has its place as does other forms of training.0 -
There is an awful lot of twaddle talked about HIIT as it's become "fashionable".
Yes it can be a very time efficient way of training but it's certainly not as magical as lot's of people seem to think. Fitness improvements can be spectacular over the short term but I'm not so convinced longer term.
As regards EPOC (calorie burning after the event) remember you are only talking about a short exercise duration (20 mins) and therefore smallish calorie burn.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/steady-state-versus-intervals-and-epoc-practical-application.html/
My opinion - If you are using it because it fits your available time and fitness goals then great. Otherwise to me it's just part of a fitness routine and has its place as does other forms of training.
That is an *excellent* article. Thanks for posting it!
OP - the rest day is to let your muscles recover and rebuild--you don't actually gain fitness/strength during a workout, you get fitter during the recovery time. Switching between cardio and strength days is a good strategy, because they work your body differently. If you want to get in more cardio, you could alternate HIIT days with steady-state work like walking, *easy* jogging, cycling etc.
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...you should do HIIT training 3 times a week...
If you can do HIIT three times per week, you're not really doing HIIT.
It's a mechanism to improve VO2Max and anaerobic performance, so it's comlementary to aerobic base sessions and threshold sessions. Doing HIIT to the exclusion of other CV work is pointless.0 -
MeanderingMammal wrote: »...you should do HIIT training 3 times a week...
If you can do HIIT three times per week, you're not really doing HIIT.
It's a mechanism to improve VO2Max and anaerobic performance, so it's comlementary to aerobic base sessions and threshold sessions. Doing HIIT to the exclusion of other CV work is pointless.
Actually like weight training HIIT can be done every other day. I'm also talking about tabata HIIT which is a step above regular HIIT.
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I'm still fairly new to getting back in the workout routine, I have tried to do a bit of HIIT with the elliptical, but not concentrating on doing HIIT too much right now. Just want to build up some endurance first, you know? When I do concentrate more on it, though, I would probably go for at least a 30 minute workout. But, thanks for sharing, it actually was a very good description of HIIT for those who are not aware.0
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yopeeps025 wrote: »I'm also talking about tabata HIIT which is a step above regular HIIT.
The only real difference is that the Tabata protocol goes into an occulting periodicity; longer exercise periods than rest periods.
Anyway, I'd be sceptical that anyone claiming HIIT every other day is really getting into the 95-98% MHR range as that's so draining it's not easily repeatable. Perhaps someone who's basing their ranges on 220-age, but that's so crude as to be meaningless when one is talking about the performance improvements that VO2Max training brings.
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MeanderingMammal wrote: »yopeeps025 wrote: »I'm also talking about tabata HIIT which is a step above regular HIIT.
The only real difference is that the Tabata protocol goes into an occulting periodicity; longer exercise periods than rest periods.
Anyway, I'd be sceptical that anyone claiming HIIT every other day is really getting into the 95-98% MHR range as that's so draining it's not easily repeatable. Perhaps someone who's basing their ranges on 220-age, but that's so crude as to be meaningless when one is talking about the performance improvements that VO2Max training brings.
When I used to use my HRM montior during tabata HIIT jump rope I was up there and never believed it because of how HRM are inaccurate IMO. I am also not in the newbie stages for fitness anymore not for years actually. From what I have read, the anaerobic range starts at 90%.
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yopeeps025 wrote: »never believed it because of how HRM are inaccurate IMO.
Depends what type you have. To represent HR accurately then the market is pretty mature, although at the lower end I'm sceptical. Most polar devices will render a pretty accurate HR reading. What it uses that HR data to then extrapolate to is where the accuracy is very subject to what one is doing.
As a matter of interest, how regularly do you have your MHR and Lactate threshold measured then?0 -
MeanderingMammal wrote: »yopeeps025 wrote: »never believed it because of how HRM are inaccurate IMO.
Depends what type you have. To represent HR accurately then the market is pretty mature, although at the lower end I'm sceptical. Most polar devices will render a pretty accurate HR reading. What it uses that HR data to then extrapolate to is where the accuracy is very subject to what one is doing.
As a matter of interest, how regularly do you have your MHR and Lactate threshold measured then?
I never heard of Lactate thershold being measured. I stopped using my HRM because i did not believe what it was saying. At first I was like how am I training in this high level. Also as for HIIT I go as hard as I can during the work periods. When I see people claim the HIIT is 10,20, or 30 minutes I'm like then your first interval was not at max effort or any interval was at max effort.0 -
I don't know much about HIIT but I like to do it once in a while.
Here's my experience and my opinion:
Last fall, I would do HIIT on the days I wasn't running and I would consistently lose 0,5 lbs on the following day. I was also in the beggining of my weightloss journey (this time around anyway lol) and the weight came off faster than it does now.
Since I don't run from November through April (I live in Quebec and I don't have appropriate gear), I use it once in a while when I feel I'm getting bored of my workout routine or that my body has become used to my workout. To shake things up a bit.
I think it's great to do on the days you're in a hurry and don't want to workout for 30 min plus. But you should definetely do some cardio and strenght training on the days you don't do HIIT. Take only one rest day a week. You should see great results.
Good luck!0 -
yopeeps025 wrote: »Also as for HIIT I go as hard as I can during the work periods.
And that's the issue with HIIT. Working on RPE is unlikely to lead to a true HIIT workout. One needs to be able to determine MHR based on VO2Max and LT before knowing what the ranges are, then structure the training to objectively get into those ranges.When I see people claim the HIIT is 10,20, or 30 minutes I'm like then your first interval was not at max effort or any interval was at max effort.
Wouldn't disagree. People claiming to do HIIT several times per week, almost certainly aren't.
It's not helped by the Youtube prancing around and claiming to be HIIT phenomenon.0 -
OP what you describe 4 rounds of HIIT in a 15-20 minute workout is not HIIT. It more likely slow steady cardio with a little bit of HIIT. Since you are new to HIIT try this workout.
whatever work: rest ratio you use have work be either less than the rest periods.
So for example
Jump rope
work 30 sec going hard like you might have trouble figuring out when to breath. But always breath.
rest 60 sec.
Repeat until it is hard to complete the high intensity work period.0 -
Hi again, if anyone else is doing HIIT please can you let me know your experience and results, being new to this I am a bit sceptical about HIIT and have my doubts it will work. It seems too good to be true right? less time cardio but better results? hmm
I'm not a fitness guru, but I've been interval training regularly for 3-4 years. I almost always participate in a class setting and the workout and concentrated areas vary by the day. My classes are an extension of a tae kwon do studio so they have a martial arts flavor to them. Intervals vary from tabata to 2 minutes. The longer intervals definitely lower the intensity and I prefer the shorter intervals.
I typically go 3-5 times per week for a 45 minute class that includes some warm up and usually 20-40 minutes of exercise. The 20 minute workouts are done "for time" - to finish a specified amount as quickly as possible - those are definitely high intensity.
If you're starting out, if you can find a class format, I'd try that. Even doing this as long as I have, I get sidetracked timing myself. I don't give myself new things, but repeat the old ones too often. I also have to admit I find the slight bit of competition in a class to be motivating.
Results, calorie burn, EPOC? I don't know as I haven't really tracked these. But I'm in great shape for being 48. It's great toning work. I gained about 5 pounds last year and went down a pants size. (Using MFP now to better calibrate what I'm eating given a slowing metabolism and to lose about 10 pounds to (vainly) better show muscle definition.)
Mostly though, it's fun. I find it empowering and cathartic to kick & punch the bag, and to be able to just do more pushups, more dips, more etc. (Working on pull ups where 2 would equal "more" for me.) And, yeah, I kick like a girl - a girl with a black belt!0 -
Are you puking after the first two or more sets or just about? Can you walk or lift your arms/legs? If not, your intensity is too low and you are not doing it or anything close to it. The "high intensity" doesn't just mean a harder or difficult workout; it signifies doing work at or above your lactate threshold. Start doing it right than ask if it's sustainable for five days in a week. Even elite athletes are not crazy to over do it because it takes a lot out of a person. The stuff you see on the tube, tape, or local gym is garbage and a misuse of the term; it also gets you no where fast. What you do get is slightly higher calorie burn for the workout duration due to the elevated intensity; it's not HIT or HIIT but just a hard/harder workout which is a good thing if one can sustain it but most just get burned out and quit. The additional after burn is minimal at best even when done correctly.0
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I do a Prevention podcast which is probably not true HIIT, but it gives me a good workout. 3 mins warm up, 3 mins at effort = 6, 2 mins at effort = 8, and 1 min at effort = 10. Two more cycles then a cool down at the end is about 30 mins.0
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I do a Prevention podcast which is probably not true HIIT, but it gives me a good workout. 3 mins warm up, 3 mins at effort = 6, 2 mins at effort = 8, and 1 min at effort = 10. Two more cycles then a cool down at the end is about 30 mins.
I would call that maybe high intensity training. True HIIT would be one all out interval and when you try to do the second interval it is not nearly as high intense as the first interval.
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I do it when I'm unable to run when the weather blows. I find that many videos exercise more muscles than just running, so I feel like it accelerated my weight loss.0
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Thanks all, great information so far. Not sure if HIIT is going to be for me but I will carry on for a couple of weeks and see the results.0
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