What is HIIT?

rad3585

I've been seeing this a lot on this board and did a little research, but every source seems to say something a little different. Can anyone explain what HIIT is exactly? Thanks in advance!

jennabob

High intensity interval training

raynes

Basically it's a really great way to burn a ton of calories in a shorter amount of time.

When I think of HIIT, I think of 1 minute sprints followed by a 2 minute recovery, repeated for about 15-20 minutes.  If you are truely pushing yourself during the sprints, then you shouldn't be able to finish more than 20 minutes.

You can do intervals on pretty well any piece of cardio equipment, though true HIIT can't be done on a treadmill (too much lag in adjusting speeds) but you can come pretty close.

Basically for the sprints pick a resistance/speed that is challenging for you.  Something that gets your HR up to around 90% of max, and do that for 1 minute, then slow down/reduce the resistance for 2 mintues until your HR (mostly) recovers.

I've been doing mine on the treadmill and alternate between a recovery pace of 3.5 and sprints of 7.5-8.0.  In the sprints my HR is usually up to 170-180 and for recovery is usually get back down to 130 or so.

HIIT is much more beneficial for you than steady state cardio because it creates an afterburn effect.  It's been shown that you burn more calories in the hours following a HIIT session than just steady state cardio.

rad3585

Thanks raynes! That's exactly the info that I needed.

KabFrr

Good to know!!