HIIT cardio questions

[carbcraver]

Hi i'm just wondering how many of you do this kind of cardio?
I've hit a bit of a plateau with my fat loss and have seen quite a few articles on it..
I already do quite a bit of cardio, so the thought of only doing 15-20 mins to me just doesnt seem enough?
I realise if your doing it properly you shouldnt be able to sustain it much longer than this, right?
So if any of you have seen results with it, can you let me know what worked for you? Also do you eat before? i've read stuff that says you should do cardio on an empty stomach to burn more fat, but others say this is the worse thing you can do and burns muscle?
i do quite a bit of running, so i gave it a go on the track the other day, i done 15 mins, 5 min warm up then alternate sprints/light jog, had my HR monitor on and got up to 185 on sprint, but it literally got there and i had to slow down, i couldnt see my time so was guessing i was sprintin for 30 sec, 1 min recovery jog...
So if any of you guys are runners i would love to hear what intervals you do and also anyone else that does HIIT on other machines in the gym.
I have it stuck in my head i will only get results from doin at least 30-40 mins cardio, but i'm up for giving anything a go!
love to hear anyones thoughts or tips on this
thanx

[elitist]

I don't have an answer, but I wanted to thank you for asking the question! I have the same mindset more or less. I try to do HIIT on my elliptical (I've yet to decide if that's the dumbest idea in the world) and I definitely CAN'T go past 15 minutes yet, and more than anything else it just depressed me. I also feel like I should be able to go 30-40 minutes, or nothing's getting done.

[Myosin10]

I can tell you this that not eating anything before you workout will eventually burn muscle that you have gained. BCAA's are a good solution for this or even a protein shake about 20-30 minutes before workout with only water.

[SophieM]

Studies have shown that you burn more body fat, get a better cardiovascular benefit, AND a better anaerobic benefit doing HIIT than steady state cardio.

Per calorie burned, people doing HIIT lost 9 times as much body fat as those doing steady state (granted, they burned less than half the amount of calories during exercise).

People doing HIIT saw a 14% increase in their VO2 max and a 28% increase in their anaerobic capacities, versus 10% and 0% respectively for steady state.

http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/HIITvsET.html

http://cbass.com/FATBURN.HTM

[ayalgues]

I am not an expert on this but by personal experience, i wouldn't recommend you to do cardio on an empty stomach. I used to do it before like 6 times a week and now i am going mad to try to gain muscle. So i definitely would eat a light breakfast before hand.

[amy78]

If you do 20 mins HIIT cardio properly it feels like you went really hard in a short period, when I finish, I am dripping sweat. At about min. 15 I am dying! So, it does work. It has increased my cardiovascular capabilities as well.
I do a 3 min warm up on level 5, then one min intervals on levels 6-9 from min 3-19, last min level 10.

[coffeebean]

Hi i'm just wondering how many of you do this kind of cardio?
I've hit a bit of a plateau with my fat loss and have seen quite a few articles on it..
I already do quite a bit of cardio, so the thought of only doing 15-20 mins to me just doesnt seem enough?
I realise if your doing it properly you shouldnt be able to sustain it much longer than this, right?
So if any of you have seen results with it, can you let me know what worked for you? Also do you eat before? i've read stuff that says you should do cardio on an empty stomach to burn more fat, but others say this is the worse thing you can do and burns muscle?
i do quite a bit of running, so i gave it a go on the track the other day, i done 15 mins, 5 min warm up then alternate sprints/light jog, had my HR monitor on and got up to 185 on sprint, but it literally got there and i had to slow down, i couldnt see my time so was guessing i was sprintin for 30 sec, 1 min recovery jog...
So if any of you guys are runners i would love to hear what intervals you do and also anyone else that does HIIT on other machines in the gym.
I have it stuck in my head i will only get results from doin at least 30-40 mins cardio, but i'm up for giving anything a go!
love to hear anyones thoughts or tips on this
thanx

I do not know much about HIIT either but have also hit a plateau so am am starting to incorporate it as I understand it.

Initially I thought it was inerval training. I am still not sure how it is different. One post I read suggested that a person do about 20 min. 1 min on as fast and hard as you can go with 2 min. off going at a more leisurely pace I assume to recover. Starting with 3 times a week then moving up but how many times I don't know.

Like you I prefer and find I do better with longer cardio times. Part of this is just that my legs/ hamstrings suffer a fair amount of discomfort from running. As a runner this is beyond frustrating. So, what I have been doind is my 20 min of HIIT and then doing an additional 20 min of lower intensity cardio either running or switching to the elliptical. I figure, perhaps wrongly so, that this way I can benefit from both.

[carbcraver]

I kind of thought the same, i was doing interval on the treadmill, but from what i understand HIIT is getting to a point that you can not maintain for as long as you may do intervals. I tried it on the treadmill but found it really difficult as you have to keep taking the speed up and down. i gave it a go for 10 mins on the bike too, it seemed a bit easier to control.
I suppose it cant do any harm to add sessions in after my weights a couple of times a week and maybe still keep on with my longer sessions on cardio only days.

[JosieNJ]

I perform my HIIT on the stairmill for 15 minutes (not including the 5 minute warmup).

I increase the stairs per second to 150 so I am running up the stairs. I believe this is level 15. I enter in the numbers because its quicker then using arrows. I only can last 15 seconds at that speed and then I drop back to level 5 once the 15 seconds is done. I recoup for 1 minute and 45 seconds and then repeat. Its too tough to press 45 then enter on the keypad when running up the stairmill ,so I use the down arrow key (3 different keys versus 1 key). I must forewarn you that this is still tough to do when running up so make sure to hold on with one hand. Its even better if there is someone with you that can control the speed for you. I don't have that luxury :-(

I've did it 6 days in the past two weeks and lost 9 pounds so far. I am also eating ~500 calories below maintenance and performing low intensity on the treadmill 3 days a week and lift 3 days a week. I'm hoping next week I'll also start to see a decrease in the time it takes for me to recuperate.

I am guilty of not always eating before my HIIT session.

[GBs_Wife]

Okay, I am new to this. My husband posts a lot on this website and I have now decided I should do the same for motiviation. I am the typical woman who used to think I had to do cardio at least an hour a day. Pre-baby I would run 6 miles a day and then try to schedule a long run (9-11 miles) at least one day a week. On top of this I would lift for about 45 minutes. My workouts were very long and exhausting. I had the time back then for that and I felt I would see the best results in doing so. I am now 15 months post-baby and I am needing to get back into shape. I have lost all my baby weight, that is not the issue. My issue is that it is all soft. I have a very short amount of time to work out (1hr) and I am needing a workout that I feel is difficult but is also beneficial and time effective. I have been reading up on HIIT. My question is if this is performed for 15 min, what are the intervals that are suggested. 30/30? 30 seconds sprinting/30 seconds jogging for 15 minutes? In addition, what percentage should you jog at? Meaning if I am sprinting at 8.0mph on the treadmill, then how fast should the jog be? Should it still be around 5-6 -7 or comfortable at 3-4? In addition, would you suggest a total body workout 5 days a week? Let me know some of your suggestions.

[Myosin10]

Okay, I am new to this. My husband posts a lot on this website and I have now decided I should do the same for motiviation. I am the typical woman who used to think I had to do cardio at least an hour a day. Pre-baby I would run 6 miles a day and then try to schedule a long run (9-11 miles) at least one day a week. On top of this I would lift for about 45 minutes. My workouts were very long and exhausting. I had the time back then for that and I felt I would see the best results in doing so. I am now 15 months post-baby and I am needing to get back into shape. I have lost all my baby weight, that is not the issue. My issue is that it is all soft. I have a very short amount of time to work out (1hr) and I am needing a workout that I feel is difficult but is also beneficial and time effective. I have been reading up on HIIT. My question is if this is performed for 15 min, what are the intervals that are suggested. 30/30? 30 seconds sprinting/30 seconds jogging for 15 minutes? In addition, what percentage should you jog at? Meaning if I am sprinting at 8.0mph on the treadmill, then how fast should the jog be? Should it still be around 5-6 -7 or comfortable at 3-4? In addition, would you suggest a total body workout 5 days a week? Let me know some of your suggestions.

30-60 seconds sprint 8 or 9 on treadmill
60-90 seconds moderate 3-4 on treadmill

Total body workout no more than 3x a week your body needs time to recover!

[AmyInProgress]

used to do intervals(which I understand as being the same as HIIT, or they achieve the same in anycase) and he says the longer you can stay at top speed the more benefit you get.
So 1 min on and 1 min off would be about the minimum time you'd want to do. This does however take a while to work up to. I could only run at my maximum speed for 40 seconds at a time, so I was doing 40 seconds on and 40 seconds off. I use the treadmill, if I convert to miles my high and low speeds are 9.5 and 1.8 respectively.

[JosieNJ]

When HIIT is done correctly you will be working at 85-90% of your heart rate and shouldn't be able to last more than twenty seconds. If you can then you need to push yourself harder. Whats being performed if you can last over 20 seconds isn't considered high intensity but just interval training.

I found this information in another article the other week but can't locate it now :-( Here is a blog on what true HIIT is all about and lists some benefits. If I find the other article later I'll post.

http://leighpeele.blogspot.com/2007/...e-to-hiit.html

HTH,

[eglionz]

I've had AMAZING results with HIIT. I do it for 20 mins, 4x a week. Before I did HIIT I was using the stairmill for 20 mins, lifting, THEN jogging for 20-30 minutes.

Now I just do 2 mins at level 4, then 1 minute at level 8. All of it done on an incline level of 5. I just do it until I hit the 20 minute mark.

I was straight up STUCK before I began doing HIIT. Saves me a ton of time and after only a week I was seeing new cuts.

[GBs_Wife]

Thanks for the replys. It gave me a good starting point. I appreciate it! I plan on doing a journal as well so keep your eyes open for it if interested. I will do before and after pics and will post the supplements I will be using. My husband is a MN rep and will probably do most of the log for me...I don't have the time!

[momto3]

Studies have shown that you burn more body fat, get a better cardiovascular benefit, AND a better anaerobic benefit doing HIIT than steady state cardio.

Per calorie burned, people doing HIIT lost 9 times as much body fat as those doing steady state (granted, they burned less than half the amount of calories during exercise).

People doing HIIT saw a 14% increase in their VO2 max and a 28% increase in their anaerobic capacities, versus 10% and 0% respectively for steady state.

http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/HIITvsET.html

http://cbass.com/FATBURN.HTM

I just tried doing HIIT using the Tabata method mentioned in the cbass.com article. By the end my lungs felt like they were on fire and every muscle in my body was screaming!

[SophieM]

I just tried doing HIIT using the Tabata method mentioned in the cbass.com article. By the end my lungs felt like they were on fire and every muscle in my body was screaming!

Yup, that's HIIT

[momto3]

Thanks, Sophie. By the way, you look great!

[SophieM]

Thanks!

[v4nity]

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[v4nity]

Hey. So I just wanted to get this straight

I can ditch my 60 minutes of cardio for 20 or 30 for this interval training?

I may have just fell in love. Would you ladies suggest the treadmill?

Also ray from trainwithray said to do weights first then cardio. True? Anyone had good luck w this?

I plateaued about 3 months ago and don't feel then I'm getting better.

Clean eatting and hiit sounds good to me.

[Kai2008]

I wouldn't say that you can't do more than 20 sec doing HIIT. I started doing HIIT recently as an addition to my cardio. I can tell you I go full out as hard as I can possibly handle for 1 minute followed by a moderate pace for 1 minute and continue for up to 20 minutes. My max heart rate is 190 and during my high intensity bouts, I get up into the 180s. So, I'm definitely going at a very high intensity and I can last for the full one minute (barely but i do make it). After starting this, I have to say I'm a bit addicted now that going for a long moderate pace instead of HIIT just seems like i'm not working hard enough anymore. I've definited noticed results.

[carbcraver]

Wow i've not came on for a while and seen all the replies to my original post.
Seems to be the new craze though. I think josieNJ is totally spot on.
This is a really good thread, it goes on for a while but is quite interesting, my boyf. found it for me - http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...threadid=99420
Does seem like you are working flat out if your HR is up there, but i just dont see how u can keep it up there for a full minute...
I think its still a good idea to work the aerobic system too though with some longer steady cardio work.
I always do my weights before cardio, my bf told me its the best way.

[SophieM]

I think its still a good idea to work the aerobic system too though with some longer steady cardio work.

HIIT gives you a better aerobic benefit than longer, steady state cardio.

[carbcraver]

But if for instance i want to do a half marathon ie endurance training then surely i'd be better with a few longer runs than just performing HIIT sessions each week??

[SophieM]

But if for instance i want to do a half marathon ie endurance training then surely i'd be better with a few longer runs than just performing HIIT sessions each week??

Things like that, yes. Long distance running will have to play a part in. I thought you meant just a general increase in aerobic capacity. Sport specific training is a different game all its own.