What is HIIT?Check out this great news story that was aired in my home country of Australia. It’s more evidence of the weight loss capabilities of HIIT.
Please take note of the shortness of the intervals, and how slow the active rest intervals actually are. It’s a very common mistake I am seeing lately that people are going too hard in their active rest. It is walking pace only.
More HIIT video clips coming soon.
After hitting a training plateau with low-intensity, long duration cardio, I started doing some research and discover hiit. The web has been a great source of information – but it is varying information regarding the length of each high intensity session and each rest session, and the intensity of the session. I’m a 25 year old female, 5′7″ and 150 pounds – size 6/8.
Since staring HIIT 2 months ago, I have undoubtedly burned fat and built a lot of muscle. I’ve tried not to pay a lot of attention to the scale as I know my muscle mass has greatly increased. I’m pretty solid, but still have some fat that I want to get rid of that’s not coming off.This is my workout: Hiit 3 times a week – alternate days. Elliptical twice a week- 3 miles in 38 minutes – more for endurance and toning my legs. I also do some ab & arm exercises 4-5 days a week.
I’ve read conflicting reports that my hiit workout is good, and others say it’s either “too long in session duration” “too long in total duration” “not intense enough”, etc. This is what I do:
Warm up for 7 minutes, start walking 4.2 mph up to jogging 5 mph at 2% incline.
Then Hiit Session 1:
1 minute running 7 mph at 3% incline – heart rate gets up to 170-180 bpm 2 minute cooldown jogging 5 mph at 2% incline – heart rate stays around 140-150 bpm.Hiit Session 2:
1 minute running 8 mph at 1% incline – heart rate gets to 180 bpm 2 minute cooldown jogging 5 mph at 2% incline – heart rate stays around 140-150 bpmHiit Session 3:
1 minute jogging 6 mph at 5% incline – heart rate gets up to 170-180 bpm 2 minute cooldown jogging 5 mph at 2% incline – heart rate stays around 140-150 bpmI repeat these 3 sessions again, and then session 1 again – totaling 21 minutes of “hiit”
I then usually spend a ½ mile cooling down. By the time I’m done, the workout has taken me about 35 minutes and my finished heart rate is still around 135 bpm. And while I am tired, I am not to the point of feeling like I’m going to throw up, like some sites suggest.
What kind of advice can you offer me? Do I need to shorten my sessions? Although the intensity doesn’t seem real high compared to what some other people do (12 mph, etc), my heart rate is still getting up there. Thanks for your help. Your site is great!
Jaclyn
Hello Jaclyn, thanks for the question.
First of all, punching the numbers into the HIIT Calculator you can see that you should be hitting about 175bpm in your high intervals and around 125bpm in your active rest intervals. You are definitely doing well to get to 180bpm, however I think this is due to the fact that your active rest heart rate is too high but I will address that shortly. Read the rest of this entry »
I am 26 years old, 277lbs and I havent done any kind of cardio work out in probably a year.I have been on a doctor monitored died for the past three months and have been able to drop from 316 lbs to 277 lbs. I have been really focused on this diet and in life in general. I want to take this focus and apply it to other aspects of my life such as exercise. I am really interested in HIIT but from what I have read it sounds like this is only for people that are already in a fairly good physical condition. How would you suggest that I work up to HIIT and at what point would I want to go from working up to it, to doing it?In the past 3 months I have set a lot and accomplished of goals for myself both with weight loss and personal ones. I know I have the strength to push my self as far as I need to. My next step is that by mid summer I want to be around 250lbs or less and be running on a regular basis.
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.
Eric
First of all congratulations on your weight loss so far Eric! It’s good to see you are motivated this will really help you with your HIIT and losing more weight and improving your overall health and wellbeing. Read the rest of this entry »
Hello readers! I’m pleased to announce a new addition to the site, the Interval Calculator.
As you may know by now, there are many different ways to monitor your HIIT intervals, but none better than by heart rate.
HIIT relies on alternating between 90%+ Read the rest of this entry »
Hi, I have been doing (I think) HIIT for the last 3 weeks on the eliptical trainer. From what i’ve read, you need to get your heart rate into the 90% max zone. According to This, my max is 187 which means I need to get the heart rate to 169. As a beginner, I do 30 seconds fast, 90 seconds recovery. I notice that during the 30 second high intensity, my heart rate only gets to about 140 – 145, but I am pushing myself hard. I honestly feel like any faster and I will fall over.
Now, I dont increase the tension on the eliptical, I just run at a steady pace on the easiest setting, then explode as fast as possible during the 30 second interval. Do I also need to increase the tension? What is it I’m doing wrong…?
The Gymboss Interval Timer is a nifty little gadget that I have been using during my High Intensity Interval Training sessions for around 2 months – and I’ll never go back to the stop watch again. Best of all, its only $19.99.
What does it do?
For my HIIT workouts I usually use interval lengths of 10/15, or 10 seconds high intensity and 15 seconds active rest.
With the Gymboss I can simply set 2 different interval times of 10 and 15 seconds and select whether I want to be notified of an interval change with a beep, vibrate or both. Read the rest of this entry »
I posted a few studies that proved HIIT is the best way to burn fat a few weeks ago.
Alwyn Cosgrove has posted a new article on his blog about a newly published study with more evidence and some really solid figures.
Trapp EG, Chisholm DJ, Freund J, Boutcher SH.
The effects of high-intensity intermittent exercise training on fat loss and fasting insulin levels of young women.
Int J Obes (Lond). 2008 Jan 15; [Epub ahead of print]
There was no difference in total energy expenditure (calories burned) during the exercise period between the two groups over the 15 week period…the steady state group saw no loss in body fat (on average – the group gained 1lb), while the interval group had a significant reduction in total body mass, fat mass (11.2%), trunk fat and fasting plasma insulin levels. Read the rest of this entry »
The Tabata Protocol is a form of HIIT done on the erg in usually with short intervals. These intervals are 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off – pretty brutal to have a rest time shorter than your HI interval! Unlike traditional HIIT though, the Tabata Protocol is VERY short (4-6 minutes). Read the rest of this entry »
HIIT FAQ is a new post series that answers all the usual questions you see plastered on forums or in my inbox! These are real concerns of real people. Whats the use of answering 100 emails or forum posts when I can post it here for everyone to see and learn! Our first HIIT FAQ relates to the dreaded plateaus in weight loss.
I’m a 32 year old male who has used HIIT to lose 30lbs this winter (thanks for your help!). Unfortunately in the last few weeks I haven’t lost any weight despite keeping to my HIIT schedule. Why did HIIT stop working? I’m desperate to lose these last 10 pounds ready for summer!
Chris, Chicago
The one thing you need to keep in mine when planning on a workout routine is incorporating variety. A major hurdle that people run into when pursuing better bodies is plateaus, when it seems like no matter how long you work out and how hard you sweat, you bulge won’t budge! Read the rest of this entry »
There is a new addition to the HIIT Source website which you can access here or on the left menu.
The page is a guide on how to get started with HIIT and covers what things you will need to take into consideration such as type of cardio machine, interval monitoring gadgets and goal recording.
Check it out and don’t forget to link the HIIT newbies straight to it.
