HIIT? Am I doing it?
Eve53
Posts: 178 Member
I keep reading people mention HIIT and so I looked into it. And I think I've been doing it all along. I do intervals, I can't remember why I started doing it I think I read something a while back about it and so I started doing it.
What I do is I'll get on the treadmill and warm up until I'm walking comfortably at 2.0, then I'll bump it up to 3.0 and speed walk for 2 minutes getting my heartrate up. Then, I'll turn it back down to 2.0 and walk for 2 minutes. I go back and forth like this for 30 minutes. My last high interval I bump it up to 3.5 and really go all out for as long as I can (usually the whole 2 minutes, sometimes just 1 minute.) Then I do a cool down.
Is this HIIT? And what are the benefits? How should I log this? I log it as 15m at 3.0 and 15m at 2.0. Is this good?
Any other info you can give on HIIT?
What I do is I'll get on the treadmill and warm up until I'm walking comfortably at 2.0, then I'll bump it up to 3.0 and speed walk for 2 minutes getting my heartrate up. Then, I'll turn it back down to 2.0 and walk for 2 minutes. I go back and forth like this for 30 minutes. My last high interval I bump it up to 3.5 and really go all out for as long as I can (usually the whole 2 minutes, sometimes just 1 minute.) Then I do a cool down.
Is this HIIT? And what are the benefits? How should I log this? I log it as 15m at 3.0 and 15m at 2.0. Is this good?
Any other info you can give on HIIT?
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Replies
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Well how do you feel on the 3.0 speed walk for 2 minutes? If you can get harder than it is not HIIT. It's moderate intensity interval training.0
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Not real HIIT if you can do it for 2 minutes at a time and last for 30 minutes. Most HITT is based on Tabata training - so short but maximum intensity intervals with very little rest in between - Most people can last for maybe a total of 20 minutes. You are doing interval training, but it does not look like the intensity is there if you can keep doing it for two minutes at a time for that long.....
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That's very very unlikely to fall into the HIIT category. You should be working hard enough that you're not going to be able to sustain the effort for 2 minutes.0
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And walking, even speed walking is probably not going to get to the required intensity level...Try jumping jacks, burpees, sprints, biking at spinning class intensity and so on....
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HIIT is an awesome way to target body fat, as it helps to increase your metabolic rate so that you're continuing to burn calories long after your workout ends. Intervals are key because it's High Intensity Interval Training. One of the best things about HIIT is that you can have a shorter workout if you're truly working harder (aka huge time saver).
So it's HIIT if you're going ALL OUT during the interval and then coming back down to an easier level. Usually the push interval wouldn't last for 2 minutes, but something like this:
5 minute warm-up (walk about 3mph)
All out for 60 seconds (5-6mph)
Slower pace for 60 seconds (3.5mph)
Repeat 10-15 times
5 minute cool-down (walk about 3mph)
So for the high intensity portion, you generally want to double your speed. It should be relatively uncomfortable, but form over speed. If you don't have good form, you won't get the results your looking for.
Hope this is helpful and feel free to add/msg me if you have any questions
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So if 3.5 is the point where I can only go for a short period, that is what I should be doing? For less time? And how long should the slower interval be?0
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3.5 would be your resting, or slower if need be. You can keep your intervals the same, so you can go:
1) Go all out for 60 seconds as hard/fast as you can (I run at 5.5/6mph as my fast pace, but you can go faster/slower, adjust to what you need).
2) Recover for 60 seconds at a slower pace (I use 3.5 as my recovery pace, but you can go slower if need be)
If 60 seconds is too long, you can shorten it to 30 seconds and go:
1) 30 seconds as fast as you can, follow by
2) 60 seconds of a recovery pace.0 -
tbbhealthanista wrote: »HIIT is an awesome way to target body fat, as it helps to increase your metabolic rate so that you're continuing to burn calories long after your workout ends. Intervals are key because it's High Intensity Interval Training. One of the best things about HIIT is that you can have a shorter workout if you're truly working harder (aka huge time saver).
So it's HIIT if you're going ALL OUT during the interval and then coming back down to an easier level. Usually the push interval wouldn't last for 2 minutes, but something like this:
5 minute warm-up (walk about 3mph)
All out for 60 seconds (5-6mph)
Slower pace for 60 seconds (3.5mph)
Repeat 10-15 times
5 minute cool-down (walk about 3mph)
So for the high intensity portion, you generally want to double your speed. It should be relatively uncomfortable, but form over speed. If you don't have good form, you won't get the results your looking for.
Hope this is helpful and feel free to add/msg me if you have any questions
Thanks! Yeah, I'm not at the point where I can run yet. It's very uncomfortable. But I know my heart gets pumping insanely at 3.5. So maybe that's what I need to do, or even try 4.0 -
That's what you do then! Go as hard as you can for that 30-60 seconds, and then do a recovery pace Stick with that for a week or two, and you'll notice improvement in your cardio to where you'll be able to bump it up!
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Please consider getting clearance from your doctor before you attempt to do intervals that are going to bring you near your max heart rate. If what you are doing now feels challenging to you, stick with it. It will eventually get easier as your fitness increases and then you can increase you intensity.0
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HIIT is a specific kind of interval training. What you are doing sounds like plain intervals, as your intensity is not very high. Sprinting is an example of putting the "H" into HIIT - walking will never do that.
To expand on what was said upstream - "all out" doesn't mean out of breath - "all out" means very fit and out of breath. You can't really do HIIT at all without a reasonably high level of fitness to begin with, because it's not about perceived exertion level, it's about *actual* exertion level (absolute scale vs relative scale).0 -
tbbhealthanista wrote: »
Thanks! Yeah, I'm not at the point where I can run yet. It's very uncomfortable. But I know my heart gets pumping insanely at 3.5. So maybe that's what I need to do, or even try 4.
If you cannot run yet, you should not be attempting HIIT - work up to it. Interval training like you are doing is a good way to build stamina and get fit, so stick with it and just do the best you can......0 -
tbbhealthanista wrote: »
Thanks! Yeah, I'm not at the point where I can run yet. It's very uncomfortable. But I know my heart gets pumping insanely at 3.5. So maybe that's what I need to do, or even try 4.
If you cannot run yet, you should not be attempting HIIT - work up to it. Interval training like you are doing is a good way to build stamina and get fit, so stick with it and just do the best you can......
Ok, that makes sense. Thanks!0 -
Also there is nothing wrong with regular interval training - the majority of people who tell you they're doing HIIT are not.
If you wanted to try "real" HIIT out, maybe try a Tabata round. It's the only kind of HIIT I can do because 20 seconds is about how long I can go all-out for. One Tabata round is four minutes long and consists of exercises done for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of recovery. So in four minutes you do 8 30-second 'sets'. You can format those however you want - you want to do 8 sets of burpees, go nuts. If you want to do 8 different exercises, you could do that. A lot of people do 4 exercises x2, so something like:
Burpees
Jumping Backs
Squat Jumps
Switchfoot lunges
then repeat.
No harm in trying it.
ETA your phone should have a timer, or there are apps for it all over.0 -
Also there is nothing wrong with regular interval training - the majority of people who tell you they're doing HIIT are not.
If you wanted to try "real" HIIT out, maybe try a Tabata round. It's the only kind of HIIT I can do because 20 seconds is about how long I can go all-out for. One Tabata round is four minutes long and consists of exercises done for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of recovery. So in four minutes you do 8 30-second 'sets'. You can format those however you want - you want to do 8 sets of burpees, go nuts. If you want to do 8 different exercises, you could do that. A lot of people do 4 exercises x2, so something like:
Burpees
Jumping Backs
Squat Jumps
Switchfoot lunges
then repeat.
No harm in trying it.
ETA your phone should have a timer, or there are apps for it all over.
Thanks! I don't even know what most of those are, so I think I'll stick with the walking for right now and see if I can do some of these when I get fitter.0 -
Also there is nothing wrong with regular interval training - the majority of people who tell you they're doing HIIT are not.
If you wanted to try "real" HIIT out, maybe try a Tabata round. It's the only kind of HIIT I can do because 20 seconds is about how long I can go all-out for. One Tabata round is four minutes long and consists of exercises done for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of recovery. So in four minutes you do 8 30-second 'sets'. You can format those however you want - you want to do 8 sets of burpees, go nuts. If you want to do 8 different exercises, you could do that. A lot of people do 4 exercises x2, so something like:
Burpees
Jumping Backs
Squat Jumps
Switchfoot lunges
then repeat.
No harm in trying it.
ETA your phone should have a timer, or there are apps for it all over.
Thanks! I don't even know what most of those are, so I think I'll stick with the walking for right now and see if I can do some of these when I get fitter.
If you wanted to bump up your walking speed over time, you could try the Couch to 5k program. Google it up - its original intent was to train total non-runners to be able to run for 30 minutes straight in I think 8 weeks? But it's just fast/slow intervals and you could *definitely* start with just fast/slow walking. It sounds pretty much like what you're already doing only it has a progression built in so it helps push you to improve continuously.0 -
Also there is nothing wrong with regular interval training - the majority of people who tell you they're doing HIIT are not.
If you wanted to try "real" HIIT out, maybe try a Tabata round. It's the only kind of HIIT I can do because 20 seconds is about how long I can go all-out for. One Tabata round is four minutes long and consists of exercises done for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of recovery. So in four minutes you do 8 30-second 'sets'. You can format those however you want - you want to do 8 sets of burpees, go nuts. If you want to do 8 different exercises, you could do that. A lot of people do 4 exercises x2, so something like:
Burpees
Jumping Backs
Squat Jumps
Switchfoot lunges
then repeat.
No harm in trying it.
ETA your phone should have a timer, or there are apps for it all over.
Thanks! I don't even know what most of those are, so I think I'll stick with the walking for right now and see if I can do some of these when I get fitter.
If you wanted to bump up your walking speed over time, you could try the Couch to 5k program. Google it up - its original intent was to train total non-runners to be able to run for 30 minutes straight in I think 8 weeks? But it's just fast/slow intervals and you could *definitely* start with just fast/slow walking. It sounds pretty much like what you're already doing only it has a progression built in so it helps push you to improve continuously.
You know what, I'm pretty sure that c25k is where I got this idea in my head from in the first place. Cause I tried it a few years ago.0 -
Your interval doesn't sound like one of the acknowledged regimen; not a big deal but it's hard to gauge your intensity as described. What is your VO2Max or LTHR? Are you getting anywhere close or above them on each of your intervals? If you don't know what they are or how to gauge the effort during your interval, you most likely are no where near and unlikely to be doing HIIT. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training and read up on the recognized regimens. Essentially HIIT is adaptation of HIT for endurance sports. The ideal is to hit and stress your system at or above your VO2Max, Anaerobic Endurance, and/or Muscular Endurance levels to stimulate a physiological response to extend your power curve, extend the duration your can go at just below those intensity levels, and extend the duration you can go at or above those intensities. It is a very advanced technique to improve your competitive advantage; it is also short lived. It is a two edged sword as it requires one to have a very good aerobic base to even thinking about attempting them and while doing them, it lowers your aerobic base. Again, they are best done to sharpen your competitive advantages not as a substitution for a good base.0
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You are making a start.
Keep building on it
HIIT is pretty intense. Probably not ready and there is nothing wrong with that
Keep up your interval training and celebrate your progress0 -
I do HIIT on a treadmill and this is what it looks like -
Warm-up
30 seconds all out (10 mph @ 7% incline) - by the time treadmill adjust speed it's probably 20-25 seconds at top.
1 minute slow jog (or walk) (4 mph @ 7% incline)
***Repeat 7 times***
Cool-down
At the end of each work/sprint I'm sucking air and my HR is just about at max (I use a HR band). A minute rest is just enough to let me get through another work/sprint session. By the time I'm at cool down I'm ready to collapse and probably was thinking about throwing in the towel from work session #4 on.
You can easily adjust the difficulty of this by changing speed, incline, and rest. I personally would not go longer than 30 seconds otherwise you're more into interval training.0
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