H.I.I.T anyone done it?

[686crew]

What I want to know is if anyone has done any High Intensity Interval training, if so, what kind, what were the intervals/program and what were the results?

I'm thinking about trying it.

 

[Mercere]

I do sprints twice a week when cutting. I do 8 sets of 20 sec on, 40 sec off followed by 4 wind sprints of 10 sec sprint, 30 sec jog. I lost fat while doing it, but that has more to do with the diet. Although I believe it helped. Also, I had noticeable increase in work capacity and GPP. One warning: If you're out of shape, you can't do HIIT.

 

[luigisacs]

I do sprints twice a week when cutting. I do 8 sets of 20 sec on, 40 sec off followed by 4 wind sprints of 10 sec sprint, 30 sec jog. I lost fat while doing it, but that has more to do with the diet. Although I believe it helped. Also, I had noticeable increase in work capacity and GPP. One warning: If you're out of shape, you can't do HIIT.

If what you say is true, then how does one get into shape then? Does doing extended cardio do that? No. Doing HIIT is akin to weight training in that you must gradually work your way up. A new lifter isn't doing 300 pound squats the first day, so it would be silly for someone new to HIIT to be doing 8 full ot sprints, followed by wind sprints. Start slow. 1 or 2 sprints and work you way up.

 

[Mercere]

If what you say is true, then how does one get into shape then? Does doing extended cardio do that? No. Doing HIIT is akin to weight training in that you must gradually work your way up. A new lifter isn't doing 300 pound squats the first day, so it would be silly for someone new to HIIT to be doing 8 full ot sprints, followed by wind sprints. Start slow. 1 or 2 sprints and work you way up.

Let me elaborate. If you are grossly out of shape, like an obese individual with a sedentary lifestyle, it can cause a stroke or a heart attack. If you are a normal out of shape person, you can't push yourself to the level that you need to push to reap the benefits of HIIT training. You can get into shape with moderate intensity intervals or short brisk paced runs. Instead of doing 1 or 2 sprints, you can do 4 or 5 intervals with a pace that will leave you gassed, but not all out sprints. You can then increase the intensity of the intervals until you can do all of them sprinting, then increase the number of intervals. Just like working up to a 300 pound squat by keeping the sets and the reps the same, but increasing weight workout by workout. That's how I did, worked for me.

P.S: To make a clarification: Doing extended cardio will get you in shape, it just won't increase anaerobic work capacity.

 

[jagerbombme]

Let me elaborate. If you are grossly out of shape, like an obese individual with a sedentary lifestyle, it can cause a stroke or a heart attack. If you are a normal out of shape person, you can't push yourself to the level that you need to push to reap the benefits of HIIT training. You can get into shape with moderate intensity intervals or short brisk paced runs. Instead of doing 1 or 2 sprints, you can do 4 or 5 intervals with a pace that will leave you gassed, but not all out sprints. You can then increase the intensity of the intervals until you can do all of them sprinting, then increase the number of intervals. Just like working up to a 300 pound squat by keeping the sets and the reps the same, but increasing weight workout by workout. That's how I did, worked for me.

P.S: To make a clarification: Doing extended cardio will get you in shape, it just won't increase anaerobic work capacity.

a jog to a person out of shape is a sprint, so as long as they are hitting it as hard as they can, then it is HIIT and it will give them benefits. just because your sprint is faster doesn't mean it's burning more calories than the next guy who is running as fast as he can. i disagree with that part of what you said.

 

[Sim882]

I personally think extended cardio does prepare you for HIT.

I was someone who for tennis was doing 10km runs daily, and then decided to try sprint intervals HIT. First time, I struggled to do 20 minutes, but within 3 weeks could do an hour of sprint intervals. I think the aerobic base helped me be able to do hardcore sprinting sessions quite quickly.

I still do the sprint HIT, but find with squats, jump squats and tennis it quite unforgiving on the knees, so I mix up the sprint HIT with incline treadmill HIT which I find more knee friendly.

One word of advice - make sure you stretch your hamstrings after sprint HIT, as otherwise they will get very stiff

 

[Mercere]

a jog to a person out of shape is a sprint, so as long as they are hitting it as hard as they can, then it is HIIT and it will give them benefits. just because your sprint is faster doesn't mean it's burning more calories than the next guy who is running as fast as he can. i disagree with that part of what you said.

A jog is not a sprint depending on the individual. It will be equally painful but there will be different physiological responses. Semantics aside, that's basically what I was trying to say. Instead of trying an all out sprint which you can maintain only for 5 seconds and can do 1-2 intervals of, you can pick an intense pace that will allow you to gas yourself and complete more intervals. That way you'll increase your work capacity and anaerobic conditioning. That way you'll do a complete workout in which you pushed yourself to the hardest instead of a 3 minute workout which you tried to maintain a pace you couldn't. The 3 minute guy won't reap the true benefits of the HIIT. The only thing I insist is it's only HIIT when you are doing an all out effort instead of pacing yourself, the speed doesn't matter.

 

[TSO]

To be honest, I prefer walking. Not only is it better for the joints, you don't risk losing muscle as much as you do using sprints or HIIT.

 

[theguy351]

I personally think extended cardio does prepare you for HIT.

I was someone who for tennis was doing 10km runs daily, and then decided to try sprint intervals HIT. First time, I struggled to do 20 minutes, but within 3 weeks could do an hour of sprint intervals. I think the aerobic base helped me be able to do hardcore sprinting sessions quite quickly.

I still do the sprint HIT, but find with squats, jump squats and tennis it quite unforgiving on the knees, so I mix up the sprint HIT with incline treadmill HIT which I find more knee friendly.

One word of advice - make sure you stretch your hamstrings after sprint HIT, as otherwise they will get very stiff

an hour? the last 40 mins arent doing anything for you bud, everyone knows 20 mins max....if ur doing an hour, your not pushing yourself, and therefore not doing hiit correctly.

 

[jagerbombme]

an hour? the last 40 mins arent doing anything for you bud, everyone knows 20 mins max....if ur doing an hour, your not pushing yourself, and therefore not doing hiit correctly.

i agree. to last 20 minutes is a struggle