HIIT with a treadmill?

Hey guys, iv been reading about HIIT for awhile now, and it sounds like a much better way to lose fat than just running for 30 minutes everyday, but all the workout routines iv seen say "sprint for 30 seconds" or whatever.. i cant really go outside and sprint because the weather heres been crap lately, so i need to use the treadmill at the gym

can someone tell me what they mean by sprint? iv been doing something along the lines of jogging for 1 minute on 9KMPH, 30 seconds sprinting on speed 14KMPH, 30 seconds rest/walking on 5.5KMPH.. i repeat this for 15 minutes.

am i doing it correctly? or is this well off?

If i did this 3 times a week aswell as doing moderate intensity cardio for about 40 mins 2 times a week, and keeping a calorie defecit do you guys think its enough to see significant fat loss?

As long as you are challenging yourself I don't see a problem with it. If you do this same program for a few weeks, you'll eventually get used to it and it won't feel as challenging. That's when you know you need to switch it up to keep your body guessing.

Personally, I'm not a fan on HIIT on a treadmill, because ideally, HIIT should be flat out sprints, not 90%. You should be going balls to the wall, drive it like you stole it, for those 30 seconds or whatever. On a treadmill, that often means going faster than is safe.

For running, I'd do HIIT on solid ground. Ideally a track or sports field but even running round your block should be fine.

In the gym, you can safely do hit on a bike, elliptical, rower or something similar.

am i the only one who hates running really fast on the treadmills?


they are so loud when u try to run fast

Of course you can do HIIT on a treadmill.
But treadmills suck and it's annoying as hell trying to push a button when you are running as fast as you can (and 10mph isnt as fast as most people can run). Just go into your yard or drive about 5 minutes from your house to an open field or something.

It is near impossible to do a true HIIT on the treadmill because when you go all out during sprinting what usually happens is your extremely fast for the first 10 seconds and then slow down slightly and then by the 30 second mark you can barely get yourself to jog instead of stop completely out of exhaustion. That's how it should feel. Since a treadmill's speed is not variable to how much you can push yourself (it doesn't respond instantly unless you have a hand constantly on the button - which you can't do if your sprinting) it cannot be used for HIIT. It can though be used for interval training, which is what you did.

If you need to be indoors and still want to do HIIT the best machines are the elliptical and the bike.

[QUOTE=mcFreid;370527651]If you need to be indoors and still want to do HIIT the best machines are the elliptical and the bike.[/QUOTE]

Or forget the machines and do body weight calesthenics with Tabata intervals. All you need is an interval timer, or you can make one using Powerpoint slides!

I don't see anything wrong with what you are doing, as long as it's working. And it looks like most responders are ignoring the comment you made about the weather being crappy.

Personally, when I do my Intervals on the treadmill, I just set the speed I want to use, I run for 1 minute and then step off for 30 seconds of rest and repeat this cycle for 10-15 minutes. It's been working for me. I've done different variations of this with weight lifting for the past year and have lost over 15 pounds and added an inch to my arms and chest.

Bottom line, there is no one way to do HIIT.

I do a lot of HIIT on the treadmill. What I've found that helps is put that sucker on a steep incline. That takes a lot of danger out of running fast on it. You can run all out but since it's uphill you won't get out of control. 1 minute of jog and 1 minute of sprint for a total of 20 (18 really because I fast walk to warm up for the first 2). it's a killer.

No, never do HIIT on a treadmill. HIIT is supposed to be balls to the wall running, treadmill max speed is 15 mph, besides is dangerous, just go outside and run sprints

now you can do really good intervals in the treadmill, playing with different speeds and inclines

[QUOTE=mcFreid;370527651]If you need to be indoors and still want to do HIIT the best machines are the elliptical and the bike.[/QUOTE]

I agree with this. Rowing machine could also work.

[QUOTE=Eileen;370511541]Personally, I'm not a fan on HIIT on a treadmill, because ideally, HIIT should be flat out sprints, not 90%. You should be going balls to the wall, drive it like you stole it, for those 30 seconds or whatever. On a treadmill, that often means going faster than is safe.

For running, I'd do HIIT on solid ground. Ideally a track or sports field but even running round your block should be fine.

In the gym, you can safely do hit on a bike, elliptical, rower or something similar.[/QUOTE]

No, ideally hiit should not be flat out sprints. There's various ways to do it.

The whole hiit protocol was taken primarily from the tabata study, which was done on an exersice bike.

[QUOTE=dragonaut;370609221]No, never do HIIT on a treadmill. HIIT is supposed to be balls to the wall running, treadmill max speed is 15 mph, besides is dangerous, just go outside and run sprints

now you can do really good intervals in the treadmill, playing with different speeds and inclines[/QUOTE]

No, no it's not, where do people get this silly idea? Oh yeah, macho bull****.

There seems to be a lot of confusion of what HIIT is and isn't.

HIIT is HIGH INTENSITY Interval Training. It is a form of interval training, usually in a 2:1 ratio, where the shorter interval is at your MAXIMUM (or near it) intensity, while the longer is usually a medium to low intensity.

Doing this properly is extremely hard on the treadmill as I stated earlier. This is because HIIT is measured on intensity, not "speed". What I mean by this is that if you can actually stay at one speed for the entire duration of the maximum intensity interval than, put simply, that isn't your maximum. If your truly pushing everything you got at it than you will find that your strength and speed diminishes through the maximum intensity interval as it gets harder and harder to keep going. Any machine that has a set speed by a motor cannot account for this. That is why a treadmill does not work.

Now, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wrong with doing interval training on a treadmill. I question even if there is any significant caloric difference in an intense interval training session versus HIIT. I doubt it. But, if you wish to do HIIT on a machine than like I said earlier you have to choose a machine that does not have a motor determing your speed.

Though i do have a treadmill at my home i still prefer to do HIIT in a open field. I just can be my max when doing HIIT on a treadmill, simply cause treadmill takes time to build up or slow down the speed. I find doing HIIT in a nearby park much more intense. I also forgot to add i have fear of accident on the treadmill all the time.