Truth about HIIT

[snorkelman]

For those of you who don't know, high intensity interval training (HIIT) is when you do cardio, alternating 30 seconds - 2 minute periods of very high intensity aerobics (above your target heart zone) with 30 seconds - 2 minute periods of low to moderate intensity (the
recovery period).

HIIT is not for beginners. If you rarely exercise, HIIT is NOT for you until you build up several weeks of daily exersize.

A lot of people have been posting about doing HIIT workouts. Why? Well, HIIT burns a lot of calories during the workout, and especially after the workout. Your metabolic rate stays elevated longer after the
workout is over than if you just do a constant pace cardio. This increase in the metabolism is called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).

If you do HIIT, you can burn about 75-150 more calories in 24 hours than if you just do a regular constant steady pace cardio. That is not a huge deal, but it does add up. One problem is that most people who do HIIT, do it for 12-20 minutes (excluding warm up and cool down).

The key is that you need to burn calories to lose fat. If your intensity is moderately high and you sustain a regular (constant pace) cardio workout for a long duration (30-45 minutes), you're likely to burn far more calories than a brief HIIT workout.

Another thing about HIIT that surprises most people is that weight training has a much higher magnitude of EPOC than aerobic
training (so yes, weight training burns fat).

What does this mean to you? If your goal is to lose fat and you are not lifting weights, you should first start weight training. THEN you should begin to consider HIIT.

[2big4mysize]

actually HIIT is for our areobic part of the Atkins required exercise program for those of us who do it and most of us do it alternating by the minute for more then those 12-20 min metioned above. not sure what site that HIIT info came from.

you don't have to be in any better shape to do HIIT then you do to lift weights either as the high intensity part of the HIIT is based on your Oxygen levels too but since we don't have the fancy machines to measure when we have reachesd our VO2 max we substitue reaching our heart rate max target, not a superbly conditioned athlete's either. SOme folk can reach it just walking up a fight of steps so the amount of energy and efort will vary greatly for each person
. when I started just upping the speed to 4.5 MPH was enough now cause I'm in better shape it takes a much faster spes and higher incline to reach that heart rate. FredT was a quatermiler so for him it was alternating 1/4 miles sprinting all out and jogging, IAP had his trainer standing there pushing treadmill controls for him. Loonatika figured out her own speeds just as each of you can if you want to give it a try.

Dr Atkins tells us to do both aerobic and resitance training so lift weights for your resistance and do any aerobic program you want from WATPs to HIIT what your boidy is in shape for will determine what level you need to be exercising at to achive your cardio and your weight loss fat burning. As you get in better shapoe you will need to increase your duration speed and intensity just to get the same workout.

Happy low carbing..