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raven56706
Posts: 903Member, Premium Member
Posts: 903Member, Premium Member
Too Much HIIT Cause Cortisol- Fact or Fiction
raven56706
Posts: 903Member, Premium Member
Posts: 903Member, Premium Member
I am working out with a trainer currently and alot of his exercises is HIIT workouts. 5 Round, 7 Rounds and etc.
I read alot that too much HIIT cause cortisol.
Then what is a good amount of HIIT to prevent this.
I read alot that too much HIIT cause cortisol.
Then what is a good amount of HIIT to prevent this.
Replies
The questions are: are you comfortable with the HIIT exercise routine and is it designed to meet your goal? A lot of trainers emphasize HIIT because it’s the trendy thing to do, and many of their clients expect it. IMO, HIIT workouts should not be the base of one’s routine—they should be the occasional “sharpeners” to push you to the next level.
But they have their place. If you are doing more “base” workouts on your own, then 2 HIIT type workouts in a week is pushing it IMO, but it’s not necessarily too much. It really depends on your body, your goals, etc.
But I wouldn’t evaluate the routines based on fears of “cortisol”.
Agree with everything you said here. I also think HIIT is the most misused protocol out there today. It is primarily a protocol for increasing Vo2 max but it is used as a calorie burner and muscle building strategy. It's not really all that effective for those things compared to other methods.
my goals are basically to burn fat. Thats what my trainer and i have the goal for. some of the exercises are mostly push ups, squats, jumping jacks and some weights.
Every word of this.
If you want to burn fat, eat in a calorie deficit.
LSD (long steady distance) to burn lots of calories. Calories are what burn fat. More time is how you burn more calories.
You have a Peleton bike, right? You can prove this yourself one way or the other if it can measure power actually. Do a 20 minute HIIT session, look at the total kilo Joules done. Next day, put in 2 hours at a moderate pace, look at kJs.
Then you are doing the wrong exercise routine and also looking in the wrong place to drive your fat loss.
If you seriously want exercise to be the driving force behind creating your calorie deficit then be prepared to dedicate a whole lot of time to it and HIIT isn't suitable for long duration exercise.
ok then what are you suggesting? i am obviously on a calorie deficit so thats primary step one
I suggest selecting an exercise routine to match your fitness, health, sporting and enjoyment goals. All of which continue way after you get to goal weight.
If you seriously want to burn a lot of calories then steady state cardio of about two hours at a moderately hard pace but sustainable pace would do the trick. Any more than 2 hours and you will probably have to start fuelling yourself. Any more than moderately hard intensity will probably drive your hunger up.
It will aslo be mind numbingly dull if done indoors and doubtful you would want to sustain it.
Do you see why a personal trainer wouldn't give you this routine? (No input required from him/her at all for one.)
For example, yesterday I burned 1,163 extra calories (give or take 2.5%) riding a bike for two hours. It was sunny, and I did a route with a lot of twisty hills because riding downhill through switchbacks is so much fun. Guess how I'm about to spend my lunch hour?
Find something you enjoy, that makes time stand still.
I say that because it's important to know that a HIIT routine can be great or it can be harmful. You have to look at the bigger picture.
There's many documented studies of HIIT being very effective for endurance runners. There's also counter studies showing the opposite.
Both are true.
Don't try to base your program on cortisol alone. There are many other factors that play a part in how you adapt.
It's important that you're following a program that is containing itself following guiding principles with tactics to match.
If your trainer is just giving you things to do to satisfy his ego or your curiosity an keep up with the latest trends then it's possible he/she doesn't quite understand what they are doing.
However, it's also important that you put some trust into your trainer and allow them to take you through their process with all things considered.
Program hopping isn't advised. Find something and stick it out for at least 6 to 12 weeks before changing programs.
Random training gets you random results.
Then you are most likely doing circuit training, not HIIT. In general, push ups and squats are not big calorie or “fat” burners. (Unless you are doing some type of metabolic resistance training, then maybe as part of the whole routine).
This is why it’s important to construct a program or workouts that are based on goals (the right workout, I should say).
Why do a HIIT workout?
HIIT workouts are primarily useful for:
Improving VO2 max (stated earlier)
Pushing to a new level (related to #1)
Getting results with a limited amount of time (but this is primarily useful for people who are already fit)
In many cases HIIT does not mean “better results” compared to more cardio-based routines, but “same fitness/biological health marker results in less time”
The idea that HIIT burns huge calories is a myth, as is the idea the the “afterburn” burns huge amounts of calories.
The people I see who get great results when they switch to HIIT style workouts are people that were doing mediocre low-level cardio workouts all the time.
As others have stated, if your primary goal if maximizing calorie burn (ie. “Fat burn”), then LISS or especially HISS workouts are far superior. But you shouldn’t rely on any one workout for a program—and you shouldn’t rely primarily on exercise for your calorie deficit anyway.
IMO, if the goal is weight/fat loss, then a trainer should be working to:
Keep you accountable
Lift weights to get you stronger, conserve lean mass, maybe build some muscle—and keep you injury free
Or
Do workouts like Metabolic Resistance Training that can rev up a decent burn and afterburn (although you won’t see the same strength gains)
Or
Improve your overall fitness so that you can work at a higher level on all your workouts and thus increase overall calorie burn
Or
Some combination/progression of all three
For someone who is in a maintenance phase or just wants to keep their general fitness, then these hippy-hoppy workouts can be fun and keep you in a good place. But if you have a specific goal, then the workouts should have the same focus.
In my opinion, HIIT should not be an everyday workout no matter what type of traing. It puts a lot of stress on the body.
Also, make sure your trainer understands exactly what HIIT is. Many people consider HIIT as any type of interval training. High intensity can usually only be sustained for 30 seconds to a minute at most.