HIIT, Tabata, & steady state cardio

midnightryder
midnightryder Posts: 47
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I have been trying to mix in a little HIIT or Tabata with my steady state cardio. I can't tell if it is benefitting or not. I was wondering if anyone else had experimented with this or if anyone with vast knowledge of the subject could offer any valuable info. Will doing Tabata (a 4 min. session) in the middle of a 65 min steady state add any benefit or will it negate the benefit of the Tabata? I usually do 65 min of elliptical twice a week. When I do I start at level 6 then advance up by 2 every 2-3 min until mid ways then start to come back down. On the way up I pedal forwards and on the way down pedal backwards. Any advice or critique is appreciated.

Replies

  • mrbiggz1983
    mrbiggz1983 Posts: 2 Member
    I usually start off with a 5 minute warm up and then 15 minutes of hiit then lower the speed tO around 4mph. Then every minute I raise the incline by one untill I get to 10. Then decline by one every minute untill I get to 0. After, if i have enough energy, i will do a Few more minutes Hiit. I've been doing this about 3-4 times a week plus doing my weight sessions amd eating a balanced diet and I've dropped 6 kilos. I still have alot of weight to lose but I'm working hard to lose it
  • docktorfokse
    docktorfokse Posts: 473 Member
    For my cardio, I do 30 second sprints followed by 60 second walks as a set, for at least 12 sets. I personally recommend this over the 20sec/40sec Tabata, but it's my own personal preference talking here. I never do prolonged steady state cardio because frankly, I hate it and find it boring.

    If you do decide to completely replace steady state with HIIT, just make sure you cool down sufficiently after your last set. A few times I made the mistake of thinking my last walk was good enough. Dizzy headaches proved me wrong.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    the thing is, if you're doing HIIT correctly (and going as hard and as fast as you can go) then you shouldnt have too much energy afterwards to keep doing more stuff. you're supposed to be using everything you have in the gas tank, so if you do want to mix the two, do the the HIIT at the end before a cool down

    the best is to split them up so maybe switch out 2 days of the 65 minute sessions and replace with 2 shorter HIIT sessions
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Because of my old knees and old achilles and old everything else, I pretty much had to give up running. Good riddance, hated it anyway. But I had to replace it with something because I've still got 20 pounds to lose. So all I've done since February is HIIT.

    I'm going to call it a smashing success. The weight is coming off steadily, my knee feels great (buy my achilles is still a whiny *****). I went for a couple of runs in May and was really surprised that I could run both longer and faster than when I stopped last year.

    I started with Tabatas but then went to other HIIT formats (30 sec on/30 sec rest, 45sec/15rest, 60 sec/15 rest etc. for 12-20 mins total). I will say that the minimum Tabata duration that seemed to benefit me is 3 rounds (12 mins) and 4 if I had anything left. Just a single 4 min Tabata didn't seem to get it. So the first round would be some warmup type exercises, the second round would be all burpees, the third round would vary. With the other HIIT it's primarily jumping rope.

    This month I've added a Sprint 8 routine that I do on the elliptical. The elliptical sounds like your main tool so give it a try. 2min warmup, 30sec all out sprint, 90sec normal speed, 30 sec all out sprint.....do at total of 8 sprints, cool down, and you're done. I've done this 3x so far this month and it seems like it'll work about as well as the other stuff.

    You asked if doing both would be beneficial or detrimental. I've never done both at the same workout so I don't speak from personal experience. But the (alleged) drawback of steady state cardio is that it lowers testosterone levels and saps some muscle size and strength. The (alleged) benefit of HIIT is that it boosts testosterone and preserves muscle size/strength. I say alleged because it really depends on who you read and if you believe the data they use. But my point is that while I don't think doing both of them will be harmful, it seems to me that you may not get some of the benefits (alleged) .
  • gauchogirl
    gauchogirl Posts: 467 Member
    For my cardio, I do 30 second sprints followed by 60 second walks as a set, for at least 12 sets. I personally recommend this over the 20sec/40sec Tabata, but it's my own personal preference talking here. I never do prolonged steady state cardio because frankly, I hate it and find it boring.

    If you do decide to completely replace steady state with HIIT, just make sure you cool down sufficiently after your last set. A few times I made the mistake of thinking my last walk was good enough. Dizzy headaches proved me wrong.

    This^^. I do the same, 30/60/12 and I also have several times had to pull over because I hopped right in the car to drive back to work and realized I was dizzy. Now I take much longer to come back down to normal. That never happens with steady-state cardio. I don't mind a little steady-state though, as long as I have good, loud music.
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