HIIT questions

[Bruno93]

For someone who has never done it before, how would you start it off? How much time sprinting vs "resting? How much rounds? I'm starting it this Monday, will only be doing 1x a week for now, slowly building up to 3 times a week thoughout my cut.

 

[DocDePanda187123]

15-30sec sprint intervals followed by 1min rest intervals for 5-10rounds is how I started but it also depends on your current fitness level. If you're not fit you'd want to start at the low end and if you're pretty fit you could start more aggressively.

 

[MrRippedZilla]

I don't recommend HIIT if you plan on cutting to very lean levels - say sub 10%.

IME it simply has more negatives than positives - eats into recovery, potentially disturbs resistance training performance, doesn't burn more cals vs longer LISS/moderate cardio sessions, etc.

Now if your an athlete and maintaining overall performance is the main goal while dieting - then that's another story

 

[snake]

When I did tried it, I did it on a track. Walk 200m, jog 100m, sprint 100m. 5 times around and I'm ready to puke.

I have seen guys using a pause monitor and stopwatch. They are looking to hit a target pulse rate and hold it for a given amount of time and then recover to a specified pulse rate. Now that's over the top. How the hell am I to read some gadget while my eyes are bouncing around in my head and the only thought I have is whether or not anyone knows CPR.

Don't strain over the details; keep it fun. The fact that you're out there doing it and not sitting on the couch with a bag of chips between your legs is what's important.

 

[DF]

Outside on a track what snake said.... That will kick your ass. What I've done starting out on a tread mill is fast pace jog 1 min then walk 2 min ... Repeat. As your endurance improves 1min fast jog 1 min walk ect...

 

[Bruno93]

I don't recommend HIIT if you plan on cutting to very lean levels - say sub 10%.

IME it simply has more negatives than positives - eats into recovery, potentially disturbs resistance training performance, doesn't burn more cals vs longer LISS/moderate cardio sessions, etc.

Now if your an athlete and maintaining overall performance is the main goal while dieting - then that's another story

I've heard that the true benefit of HIIT is how it boosts up the metabolism for the rest of the day, along with the fact that HIIT breaks down the fat into your blood stream, and then you do a more moderate, steady state cardio to burn it off. Is it true? Or just broscience?

 

[MrRippedZilla]

I've heard that the true benefit of HIIT is how it boosts up the metabolism for the rest of the day, along with the fact that HIIT breaks down the fat into your blood stream, and then you do a more moderate, steady state cardio to burn it off. Is it true? Or just broscience?

The "afterburn" from HIIT is true but its drastically overstated - we're talking about an extra 50-100cals. Woopee.
The rest of the stuff about doing steady state to burn off the fat in your bloodstream or whatever is broscience.

Basically a 20 min HIIT session burns 200cals plus an extra 50-100 post session = 250-300
A basic 30-40 min moderate/LISS session = 250-300

The whole point of cardio when dieting is to burn off some extra cals right? So why work twice as hard to burn the same amount of cals?
Again, IMO HIIT is not worth it when cutting.

 

[jennerrator]

all I can say is if you have everything else on track, HIIT will bust the fat pretty Fing quick..so, you wouldn't need to do it for a long period of time...now, that's if you are fairly lean already which from your video you seem to be..such as I am..2-3 weeks of 3x a week for me and that's all I need...this is my experience

 

[coltmc4545]

The "afterburn" from HIIT is true but its drastically overstated - we're talking about an extra 50-100cals. Woopee.
The rest of the stuff about doing steady state to burn off the fat in your bloodstream or whatever is broscience.

Basically a 20 min HIIT session burns 200cals plus an extra 50-100 post session = 250-300
A basic 30-40 min moderate/LISS session = 250-300

The whole point of cardio when dieting is to burn off some extra cals right? So why work twice as hard to burn the same amount of cals?
Again, IMO HIIT is not worth it when cutting.

Sprinters body mass vs. Long distance runners body mass. That's all I'll say. End of argument.

 

[MrRippedZilla]

Sprinters body mass vs. Long distance runners body mass. That's all I'll say. End of argument.

Yea...

So we're just going to ignore the drastically different diets, drug protocols and genetics are we?

Go grab a skinny Kenyan, who eats a low protein high carb diet and doesn't take "muscle building" anabolics.
Now have him train like a sprinter.
Guess what? He will look NOTHING like a sprinter.

 

[MrRippedZilla]

I forgot to mention the fact that Sprinters actually lift and marathon runners don't.

But yea I'm sure it's that HIIT sprinting that has them looking good.
Not the high protein diet.
Or the resistance training.
Or the steroids.

 

[PillarofBalance]

I think it's biggest advantage is simple the economics of it. Only two reason I ever did it.

1. Cardio is boring as hell and it takes much less time. I don't have 40 minutes to devote to it.

2. It's a very fast warm up in the winter time. 2 or 3 40 yard prowler pushes gets my legs ready to go.

The best answer I have seen to the age old question of what's the best type of cardio training is - the kind you will actually do.

 

[DocDePanda187123]

I think it's biggest advantage is simple the economics of it. Only two reason I ever did it.

1. Cardio is boring as hell and it takes much less time. I don't have 40 minutes to devote to it.

2. It's a very fast warm up in the winter time. 2 or 3 40 yard prowler pushes gets my legs ready to go.

The best answer I have seen to the age old question of what's the best type of cardio training is - the kind you will actually do.

I thought you don't speak Spanish???? Qué es esto brujería?

 

[PillarofBalance]

Qué es esto brujería?

Wut

10 characters

 

[DocDePanda187123]

Wut

10 characters

Translation: what is this sorcery?

 

[HDH]

I don't recommend HIIT if you plan on cutting to very lean levels - say sub 10%.

IME it simply has more negatives than positives - eats into recovery, potentially disturbs resistance training performance, doesn't burn more cals vs longer LISS/moderate cardio sessions, etc.

Now if your an athlete and maintaining overall performance is the main goal while dieting - then that's another story

I tend to agree with this. It is stated very well.

HIIT has it's place but it depends on the goals.

For strict cutting purposes, slow and steady wins the race.

H

 

[Azog]

I don't recommend HIIT if you plan on cutting to very lean levels - say sub 10%.

IME it simply has more negatives than positives - eats into recovery, potentially disturbs resistance training performance, doesn't burn more cals vs longer LISS/moderate cardio sessions, etc.

Now if your an athlete and maintaining overall performance is the main goal while dieting - then that's another story

This is spot on. When I'm dieting I can't do HIIT. It will kill me.
When I do it though, it's 30sec sprint 1min30sec cruise.

 

[Bruno93]

So general consensus is to forget about HIIT, and just add in more LISS sessions or something (I'm already doing it once a week, will probably add 1 or 2 more sessions this week, doing it fasted, first thing in the morning by the way). Thanks guys. And yes, I'm planning on hitting 8-10% bf before going back to bulking, and I guess once I start approaching that level of leanness will be hard with all the workouts and low calories already factored in.

 

[Trauma RN]

I used the Tabata timer ap on my phone for getting ready for my show.
I HATE cardio...PERIOD...I cant run to save my life, but I did do this-
treadmill at 9
tabata timer= 20 sec of run 10 sec of rest...
What I did is let the treadmill run, hop to the side and then run, hop to the side, and so on....
This just happens to work for me.

 

[Azog]

So general consensus is to forget about HIIT, and just add in more LISS sessions or something (I'm already doing it once a week, will probably add 1 or 2 more sessions this week, doing it fasted, first thing in the morning by the way). Thanks guys. And yes, I'm planning on hitting 8-10% bf before going back to bulking, and I guess once I start approaching that level of leanness will be hard with all the workouts and low calories already factored in.

I wouldn't day forget HIIT. I actually like it better since it takes less time. I need a lot of LISS to replace a 15-20 min HIIT session's effects. That's just my experience. That said, when I am running really low cals and have been for a while, HIIT seriously hinders my ability to recover from training. At that point I do LISS, since I'm not willing to sacrifice training sessions/intensity for HIIT. My dog also likes when I do LISS...more walks for him.