HIIT?

Anyone else feel this is more time efficient and gives faster results? How much is enough or how much is too much;)

Replies

  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
    What kind of "results" are you talking about? For e.g. runners or cyclists, adding in one day per week of interval training (true HIIT or not) will help you get faster more quickly than simply pounding away at your normal training pace over and over.

    For burning calories: yes, you can burn more calories in the same amount of time by going harder. You balance this with the fact that going less hard means you can go longer. (The benefits of calorie "afterburn" are VASTLY overrated.) If you have a limited amount of time to work out, HIIT/intervals can be a good way to maximize that.

    Frequency: True, absolutely balls-to-the-wall all-out HIIT is very difficult or impossible to do more than 1-2 times per week, maximum, and only for very short sessions. What tends to get lumped under HIIT nowdays, interval training or cardio circuit training type stuff, a lot of people like to do every other day or, if you're following a video-based program, even more often.

    Unforeseen factors: HIIT/intervals make me, at least, so much hungrier than steady-state slower cardio. Like, eat the house, go shopping, eat that too. It's absolutely out of control. So in that sense, intervals are counterproductive for me from a weight loss standpoint. (As mentioned above, they are good for getting faster, so I do 1x/week anyway).
  • tflyswagg
    tflyswagg Posts: 52 Member
    I follow Adrian Bryant on YouTube and he has several at home or machine workouts. I have actually been doing a 45 minute elliptical workout everyday this week. I have burned between 800-850 calories and I am sweating like crazy. I would imagine if the HIIT wasn't cardio I would do less. I plan to add more exercises to my day next week like squats, lunges, abs and more. I am newer at this and I am just trying what works for my body just looking for others opinions if this has worked for them better. I guess in my opinion I feel it is more effective than going on the elliptical at a consistent pace and burning half the amount of calories in the same amount of time. As far as it making you hungrier, i heard somewhere that some people will add 6-10 mins of going as fast as you can at the end of the workiut to prevent that from happening. I workout typically an hour after my last meal I drink water during and after my workout and I haven't been looking for food.. Just a cool shower!
  • foursirius
    foursirius Posts: 321 Member
    edited February 2015
    I do 15-18 minutes a day 6 days a week prior to my workout. Seems to be pretty effective so far.
  • Why don't you Google HIIT vs LISS? There's many good articles on the subject and I actually have settled on doing both! 18-20mins on the stairmaster doing HIIT followed by 20mins on the crosstrainer at just a nice steady state. This 2-3 times a week is easily sustainable for weeks at a time because 18mins of 30seconds on and 90 off is quite a short and sweet shock to the system
  • tflyswagg
    tflyswagg Posts: 52 Member
    Do people usually rest a day or two to "shock" the system or would your body still burn off as many calories doing it everyday because of the intervals?
  • WhatMeRunning
    WhatMeRunning Posts: 3,538 Member
    I think having a mix of both HIIT and steady state is wise.
  • RekindledRose
    RekindledRose Posts: 523 Member
    Try Tabata intervals, and give your body rest. One day strength, rest, one day cardio, and rest.
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
    edited February 2015
    tflyswagg wrote: »
    Do people usually rest a day or two to "shock" the system or would your body still burn off as many calories doing it everyday because of the intervals?

    You are not burning 800 kcal in 45 minutes on the elliptical. It's a great machine to get your sweat on, but the calories readouts are *notoriously* horrible. Like almost 50% overstated horrible. (The number I've seen is 42% high on average, although I've never seen the study to support that datum so be wary.)

    Rest days are good because you gain fitness during recovery, not during the workout itself. Rest days give your muscles time to rebuild and prevent overuse injuries.
  • tflyswagg
    tflyswagg Posts: 52 Member
    Yes, I am planning to mix up my exercise routines and I agree a rest day is needed. Also, I AM burning 800-850 calories on the elliptical doing this exercise. Not only because my monitor says it, or that he says that's how many I'm burning I am sweating like crazy more than I have in the past by jumping on the elliptical for 45 mins not doing HIIT.
  • tflyswagg
    tflyswagg Posts: 52 Member
    Fastest Way to Lose Weight = This 40min HIIT Elli…: http://youtu.be/qbk0QAzw0Qc

    This is the link to the 45 min workout, I started with his easier ones. i am not just on the elliptical at a natural stride.
  • auntyp147
    auntyp147 Posts: 38 Member
    Ohh, I only do 15mins - 30 secs speed, 30 secs normal speed, repeat this till the 15mins is over. I might give this a go the next time I'm at the gym and see what the calorie count is. :)
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
    auntyp147 wrote: »
    Ohh, I only do 15mins - 30 secs speed, 30 secs normal speed, repeat this till the 15mins is over. I might give this a go the next time I'm at the gym and see what the calorie count is. :)

    It's unlikely to be accurate:

    1. Ellipticals are notoriously unreliable at measuring calories burned--on average, they are the most inaccurate of cardio machines, with an average of 42% overstatement

    2. Heart rate monitors cannot give an accurate estimate of calories burned for an interval workout like in OP's video (they do an okay job with steady-state cardio)

    3. It is highly unlikely that the average gym goer can burn more than 10 kcal/minute over any duration. Olympic athletes might get up to 15-20 kcal/min, but generally the rest of us mortals hover around the 5-10 mark. It has to do with our oxygen uptake capacity (VO2max). It has NO relation to how hard you work on any given day, how much you're sweating, the claims of a YouTube video, etc. It's biology.
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
    I do HIIT on the elliptical during PT sessions for maybe 10 mins. There's no way I could keep up that effort for 45 mins on the same machine, so I doubt it burns 800 calories. Perhaps 500 at most.

    I do a HIIT class a couple of times a week where everyone does an exercise for 30 seconds, then swaps to the next one. It's things like renegade presses, surfers, squat jumps, monkeys, split lunges etc, all body weight exercises. It's the hardest class I've ever done, and lasts 45 mins. According to my friends's HRM it burns 335 calories. We're of a similar BMI and fitness, so I'll take that!

    I think it's best to mix things up. I do the HIIT class, spinning, PT sessions, aerobics, kettlebells etc. I do HIIT in PT sessions, some tabata stuff, and one of the spin instructors does tabata stuff too.
  • tflyswagg
    tflyswagg Posts: 52 Member
    auntyp147 wrote: »
    Ohh, I only do 15mins - 30 secs speed, 30 secs normal speed, repeat this till the 15mins is over. I might give this a go the next time I'm at the gym and see what the calorie count is. :)
    It's a good workout regardless of the fact the calorie reading is false according to others, which does make sense because my sister was telling me she likes to do workouts with the Wii and one day she mentioned how many "caloroes" she burned and her friend(a faithful runner) said there was no way that amount was correct. I may be overweight but I have always been active. I feel soda had a lot to do with my struggle aside from having 4 kids. It has only been a week that I switched from his easier elliptical workouts to this one and OTHER people are telling me they see a change. It's the best cardio workout I have personally done and its working for me.
    I do HIIT on the elliptical during PT sessions for maybe 10 mins. There's no way I could keep up that effort for 45 mins on the same machine, so I doubt it burns 800 calories. Perhaps 500 at most.

    I do a HIIT class a couple of times a week where everyone does an exercise for 30 seconds, then swaps to the next one. It's things like renegade presses, surfers, squat jumps, monkeys, split lunges etc, all body weight exercises. It's the hardest class I've ever done, and lasts 45 mins. According to my friends's HRM it burns 335 calories. We're of a similar BMI and fitness, so I'll take that!

    I think it's best to mix things up. I do the HIIT class, spinning, PT sessions, aerobics, kettlebells etc. I do HIIT in PT sessions, some tabata stuff, and one of the spin instructors does tabata stuff too.
    I was going to the gym doing similar classes 8 months ago when I cut soda. The one your describing you say is the hardest, yes! I believe you, that class had me skipping the gym the next day I went to the gym to sit in the sauna because I had worked muscles I forgot existed! I didn't just jump into 45 mins I started with the 10 minute version and worked my way to 30 and now I'm doing the 45minute one. I haven't always been overweight, I am a very active person I have gone up and down a lot over the years but I have always worked out from Boxing to mile walks/hikes. I live in Michigan we go and climb huge sand dunes or workout on the hundreds of stairs at the beach (I did this at 8 months pregnant) I agree I may not be burning 800-850 calories like my machine says but I am on the machine doing the full workout without slacking and the actual number isn't important except it would be nice to know so between my calories and my exercise I could estimate correctly but if mine is wrong because I'm doing an intense workout is everyone else on elliptical wrong too?
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
    tflyswagg wrote: »
    auntyp147 wrote: »
    Ohh, I only do 15mins - 30 secs speed, 30 secs normal speed, repeat this till the 15mins is over. I might give this a go the next time I'm at the gym and see what the calorie count is. :)
    It's a good workout regardless of the fact the calorie reading is false according to others, which does make sense because my sister was telling me she likes to do workouts with the Wii and one day she mentioned how many "caloroes" she burned and her friend(a faithful runner) said there was no way that amount was correct. I may be overweight but I have always been active. I feel soda had a lot to do with my struggle aside from having 4 kids. It has only been a week that I switched from his easier elliptical workouts to this one and OTHER people are telling me they see a change. It's the best cardio workout I have personally done and its working for me.
    I do HIIT on the elliptical during PT sessions for maybe 10 mins. There's no way I could keep up that effort for 45 mins on the same machine, so I doubt it burns 800 calories. Perhaps 500 at most.

    I do a HIIT class a couple of times a week where everyone does an exercise for 30 seconds, then swaps to the next one. It's things like renegade presses, surfers, squat jumps, monkeys, split lunges etc, all body weight exercises. It's the hardest class I've ever done, and lasts 45 mins. According to my friends's HRM it burns 335 calories. We're of a similar BMI and fitness, so I'll take that!

    I think it's best to mix things up. I do the HIIT class, spinning, PT sessions, aerobics, kettlebells etc. I do HIIT in PT sessions, some tabata stuff, and one of the spin instructors does tabata stuff too.
    I was going to the gym doing similar classes 8 months ago when I cut soda. The one your describing you say is the hardest, yes! I believe you, that class had me skipping the gym the next day I went to the gym to sit in the sauna because I had worked muscles I forgot existed! I didn't just jump into 45 mins I started with the 10 minute version and worked my way to 30 and now I'm doing the 45minute one. I haven't always been overweight, I am a very active person I have gone up and down a lot over the years but I have always worked out from Boxing to mile walks/hikes. I live in Michigan we go and climb huge sand dunes or workout on the hundreds of stairs at the beach (I did this at 8 months pregnant) I agree I may not be burning 800-850 calories like my machine says but I am on the machine doing the full workout without slacking and the actual number isn't important except it would be nice to know so between my calories and my exercise I could estimate correctly but if mine is wrong because I'm doing an intense workout is everyone else on elliptical wrong too?

    If I do steady state on the elliptical for say 20 mins it says I burn 190ish calories. I log that, but I don't eat back exercise calories so I don't mind if it's not 100% accurate. So long as you're not eating back 800 calories I don't think it really matters.

    I'm losing baby weight at the moment, I exercised until 38 weeks pregnant (baby is 9 months now) so I probably find some of the exercises harder as I'm still heavier than I should be. Saying that, everyone looks red faced and sweaty after that class regardless of how slim they are!
  • tflyswagg
    tflyswagg Posts: 52 Member

    If I do steady state on the elliptical for say 20 mins it says I burn 190ish calories. I log that, but I don't eat back exercise calories so I don't mind if it's not 100% accurate. So long as you're not eating back 800 calories I don't think it really matters.

    I'm losing baby weight at the moment, I exercised until 38 weeks pregnant (baby is 9 months now) so I probably find some of the exercises harder as I'm still heavier than I should be. Saying that, everyone looks red faced and sweaty after that class regardless of how slim they are![/quote]

    Some women drop baby weight immediately and others it takes so long:( I own up to the fact I had a horrible diet up until 6 months ago. My youngest is 17 months old, he was 9lbs 15oz at birth. My fourth and biggest child, now that I am done having kids there is no excuse not to get fit again. No, I never eat back any calories. I try to get to the 1200 calories as it is and I'm finding myself extremely full and satisfied by the foods I am choosing that fit my macros. Someone said that it doesn't make sense for someone who is overweight and has been eating above my maintenance to all of the sudden find it hard to reach 1200 but I used to never drink water, let alone the right amount and I think my stomach is shrinking too since I'm not overeating. If someone is eating back or exercising to make up for something in their diet that to me sounds crazy! I know diet is more important in weight loss than anything. I have learned the hard way:/