Alright, I can’t stand it anymore.
My mind is about to fucking explode.
I’m so sick and tired of seeing these incredibly overweight people slave away on the treadmill day after day in hopes of losing weight.
It’s a god damn epidemic and it needs to end now!
But if people continuously insist on working the treadmill, they might as well start doing something that actually gets them results. And yes, I’m talking about HIIT.
This article will be your ultimate guide to HIIT – what it is and how you can start using it to build your dream body in less time than ever.
An overview of HIIT
What is HIIT?
And no, despite what everyone thinks, HIIT doesn’t stand for Herpes, Is It Tight?
HIIT stand for High Intensity Interval Training and it’s basically a form of exercise that alternates periods of high intensity exercise such as sprinting with less intense periods of exercise such as walking.
So for example, a HIIT workout routine might have you doing 30 seconds of sprinting, followed by 90 seconds of rest.
Pretty simple, right?
How long do HIIT workouts last?
Due to the extremely intense nature of HIIT workouts, they typically never last for more than 20 minutes. An effective HIIT workout can actually be done in about 10-12 minutes if you structure it correctly.
Do I need a treadmill to do HIIT?
No, it’s possible to do HIIT on any cardio machine such as an elliptical, stair master, bike, or rowing machine but HIIT tends to be most effective on the treadmill. You can even do HIIT outside without any equipment if you want.
How often can I do a HIIT workout?
I typically recommend people to do HIIT right after their weight lifting session. I’m not a huge fan of doing HIIT on non-weight lifting days since I like to keep those days 100% rest days.
How often can I do HIIT?
Limit your HIIT workouts to no more than 3x per week. Don’t try to do more, especially if you’re doing heavy lifting since this will more than likely lead to overtraining.
Do I need to do HIIT to lose fat?
No, HIIT or any type of cardio is definitely not necessary to lose fat. When trying to lose fat, the most important thing to do is to create a calorie deficit and perform some sort of resistance training to preserve muscle mass.
Benefits of HIIT
Well, let’s see:
- You no longer have to slave away on the treadmill for 60 minutes at a time.
- Because HIIT is an anaerobic activity like weight lifting, it will actually help you preserve muscle mass.
- You boost HGH levels, which help you burn fat and preserve muscle.
- It mimics real life situations where you actually perform short intense bursts of activity. Because seriously, in what real life situation would you have to run 3 miles?
- HIIT actually shapes and tones your lower body quite nicely. For those who have very bulky looking legs, HIIT can act as a nice substitute for direct leg exercises.
Disadvantages of HIIT
Like all good things in life, there are unfortunately some downsides to doing HIIT.
- This is not a workout for lazy people. If you’re going to do HIIT, then you can’t half-ass it. If you’re told sprint for 30 seconds, then you better perform an all out sprint for 30 seconds (For help, imagine yourself being chased by a cheetah).
- HIIT can definitely impair recovery. This is not a workout that you can do every day. If you do HIIT every day, then you could be looking into some serious overtraining problems.
- Also, if you’re doing a super low calorie diet, I definitely don’t recommend HIIT.
My 2 favorite HIIT approaches
There are countless variation of HIIT, each with varying work to rest ratios.
Below, I have listed my 2 favorite HIIT approaches:
Approach #1 – 30 seconds work, 90 seconds rest
The first time I ever did HIIT, this was the approach I used. To do this workout, do the following:
- Get on a treadmill and perform a light warm-up by doing a fast walk/light walk for 3-5 minutes.
- Slightly increase the incline to about 1.5.
- Amp up the intensity on the treadmill so that you performing an ALL OUT sprint for 30 seconds.
- Decrease the intensity so that you’re back to a walking pace. Walk for 90 seconds.
- Repeat steps three and four 7-10 times.
Approach #2 – Stop and go method (15 seconds work, 10 seconds rest)
This is another approach with HIIT that I’ve been experitmenting with lately, and it’s quickly becoming my “go to” HIIT routine. This approach to interval training is a bit more unconventional but it’s definitely effective.
Also, this approach can only be done on a treadmill.
- Get on a treadmill and perform a light warm-up by doing a fast walk/light jog for 3-5 minutes.
- Slightly increase the incline to about 1.5.
- Jump to the sides of the treadmill (the parts that aren’t moving) and set the intensity to a point where you’ll be doing an ALL OUT SPRINT.
- Jump back onto the belt and sprint for 15 seconds. When jumping back on the belt, make sure you hold the railings at first. Remember, the treadmill is moving EXTREMELY fast, so hold the railings.
- Jump back to the sides and make sure you hold the railings. Rest for 10 seconds
- Repeat steps four and five for 10-12 minutes.
Make sure you’re progressing over time
HIIT is just like weight lifting – you need to continuously progress.
Doing the same workout day in and day out isn’t going to benefit you. Every time you do a HIIT workout, you need to try your best to progress forward.
This means increasing the speed, increasing the incline, increasing the total amount of sprints done, or decreasing the rest time. As long as each workout is slightly harder than the next, then you’re good to go.
Stop running, start HIIT-ing
Look, I’m not saying that traditional running is completely useless. It’s just not the magic pill that everyone makes it out to be.
I mean, there are situations where running is better than HIIT (e.g. training for a marathon), but most people do endless amounts of running in hopes of losing weight and in that case, running isn’t the best solution.
Feel free to ask me any questions you have on HIIT in the comments below and if you guys found this article helpful please consider “liking” an sharing it with your friends.
P.S. Rusty Moore just came out with a new cardio workout program called Visual Impact Cardio. I normally don’t like to push products too much on my site, but this is honestly the best complete cardio workout to help you lose weight right now. It combines both HIIT and low intensity cardio in strategic ways to help you get in the best shape of your life.
I have worked out for years I was doing three hours a day of boxing, zumba and weight training. Now working, commuting, and going to school I want to workout at a high intensity level I am used to however do not have the time I used too. This sounds like an awesome workout and have been doing a few I have found online. As a woman our biggest thing is weight loss, will 20 minutes of HIIT every other day, weight training, along with healthy eating do the trick??
Jolee
Yup. But make sure to do some resistance training as well.
What are your thoughts about doing HIIT before lifting on upper body days?
Not a fan. I would do it after.
Any specific/scientific reasoning or just personal preference?
HIIT requires a TON of energy so if you lift after you won’t be able to lift with as much intensity, make sense?
Hey Keith. I’ve read that there are some studies suggesting that doing aerobic activity before weightlifting can actually impair the muscle repair and growth process. One article seems to suggest that even doing prolonged aerobic activity on off days can still impair muscle repair and growth and hence seems to recommend high intensity interval training on off days for roughly 20 minutes. So to me it seems intuitive that doing high-intensity interval training with weights such as kettle bells or push-ups and such things might actually be counterproductive and i’m better off doing weightlifting three days a week alternating with two days of high intensity interval training on a bike or something and then maybe a sixth day with steady state aerobic activity and resting on the seventh day. How does that sound?
I don’t think it impairs it. Some of the top bodybuilders in the world do 45-60 min of slow cardio on their off days when cutting. I’m not suggesting it but it is an option.
It’s not necesssariily counter productive, it just depends how much work you want to put in one a certain day. I personally would do the high intensity conditioning stuff on the same day as weight training.
After weightlifting should I drink a protein shake before doing HIIT, cause of muscle loss?And in the sprint interval should I push myself 100%? a 80% of my max speed isn’t good enough (let’s say vel 10 on the treadmill )?
No you don’t need protein shake after weights before HIIT. You should push yourself 100% of your ability.
Hi I am one of those fitness fanatics who have worked out on a moderate intensity for 45 to 60 minutes on the cardio machines at the gym or outside jogging. If I start doing HIIT two or three days a week, can I still do moderate intensity exercise on the other days. I enjoy doing cardio 6 days a week and mainly do it to maintain my body weight and to clear my mind.
If it doesn’t negatively affect your performance and you’re happy with the way you look then go for it.
I’m diabetic and just started HIIT, and have found that I’ve needed to reduce my insulin as the workout can last up to 24 hours after finishing the training. Is this true?
Regards
You’ll have to consult a doctor or an expert on this. Yes, you tend to burn more calories with HIIT after your workout, but it’s not a ton.
Is true: as most exercise you do and less weight you have your insuline need is reduced.
My youngest son has diabetes type I.
When he does exercises (play football, go to gym) he need less insuline.
Sorry I think it would be better if you consult your doctor on this matter.
Yep, if you aren’t educated in diabetes definitively you MUST.
But after ~10 years of been diagnosed and been told by our diabetes specialist I can ensure that you must reduce your insulin dose when you workout else you are at risk of hypoglycemia not only at workout time but some time after.
FWIW my wife and I run an small non profit diabetes association which aids +/-40 poor children. IDF has been sending us the insulin for those kids for several years now.
Regards.
Yeah man, don’t trust me when it comes to diabetes :p but goodluck with everything.
When you said that I need to “progress forward,” does that mean the next time i do HIIT, the settings on the treadmill (incline and speed) should be higher? Does that mean I need to keep increasing them the next time I do HIIT? And keep going harder after each time?
Yes the next session should have higher settings. It doesn’t need to go up every single workout but over time, your workout should be substantially more challenging.
Hey, I love HIIT workout, but I find difficult to incorporate it into my routine, because after the legs day, my legs still sore for at least 3 days. I just want to know if I can sprint with sore legs, I can do it, I’m just afraid to not recover enough from my legs workout. Thanks
Yeah that can be a problem. If you really want to do HIIT, either change up your workout so you’re not just training legs 1x per week otherwise you would need to wait out the 3 days OR you could do HIIT on your leg day but that would be a bit overkill.
ok, i will try, thank you for you fast answer
Hello I would like to ask your opinion on Workout Trainer by Skimble. I’m currently doing a program and I think it’s using hiit but I’m not quite sure. Anyway I will try to give you an idea of it. I’m following a 3 weeks program and in the schedule it says when I should workout. Yesterday I did a 25 minutes workout and today 30 minutes. It’s usualy 15/60 seconds work with kettlebell or just bodywheight exercices and 5/20 rest. Sometimes with no rest between exercises. My questions is about the rest days because on the schedule is saying I have workout tommorow and what do you thing about that? For the week it’s 5 days workout, last week was 4 days. Bear in mind I’m not doing anything else. No cardio or weight lifting. Tommorow workout is 18 minutes.
Thank you for your help.
I’ve never done or heard of it so I can’t really comment on it. Are you seeing results from it? Do you like doing it?
Yes I can see results and I do enjoy it more than weightlifting. I just don’t want to go into overtraining. You said on your post maximum 3 days a week and this week I’ll do 5.
Well it’s different, for HIIT I’m assuming you’re lifting as well.
Hey Keith, Ive started doing the Prison bodyweight workout program and I was wondering if I should do HIIT right after the workout or if I should do it before. I train 6 days a week on this program so how often should do HIIT on this program? Thanks Jake
I always do it after. If you train 6x per week, I wouldn’t do HIIT more than 3x/per week.
I have been working out for 2 yrs and have only lost 25 pds. I need to lose at least 25 more. I just can’t seem to move the scale anymore. I change up my workouts so i know that’s not the issue. I have just started doing HITT. How long does it usually take to see results?
Amy
You should be able to lose a pound a week. Is your diet in check?
I was wondering if it’s okay to take a jog on my hi it of days. I do hiit 3 times a week and a little 20 min of Pilates 3 days. I alternate days. But I also jog, not run. I love jogging because it helps clear my head and I REALLY LOVE THE RUNNERS HIGH. Am I training to hard?
Do you feel more tired than energized? If so you’re probably training too hard.
Thanks for the
quick answer. I feel calm focused and great. When I run (out side) I feel wonderfull .
Hello Keith, I gotta question: I’ve came back to regular physical activity in May this year after a few months of break. I obviously started with HIIT alone, I was absolutely popped because of lack of activity and really nasty diet 😀 worked for me. I was increasing the level of intensity and time of my HIIT, till I reached 50s of work- 10s rest or 50s work- 50s skipping rope- 10s active rest( by “work” I mean different bodyweight excercises) With that second option my HIIT now lasts about 45 minutes, I really like it. Not so long ago, about two weeks, I’ve added some calisthenic workouts for my programe, and believe me, two days after that leg day I’m pretty wasted 😀 my question is, considering this brief image of how I work out, is it reasonable to continue on that to lose more of my bf and stay lean? I don’t do HIIT on my leg day, when I do upper body I do HIIT in the morning and upper body in the evening. Thank you 🙂
Losing body fat is about consistently staying in a caloric deficit.
As long as you don’t hurt yourself or burn yourself out with this way of training, you can continue.
How long do you burn body fat after a hiit session…ive heard 48hours but unsure.
If you worked out again before the 48hrs (if this is correct) would it stop the fat burning & you would have been better to rest.
It can last up to 48 hours but the amount burned really isn’t that much. You can workout before the 48 hours, it won’t stop anything.
will I burn more fat doing the STOP and GO method on the HIIT or will I burn more fat doing the slow, fast method? Can I do HIIT twice a day to burn more fat?
Don’t do it 2x per day. Either way is good.
I’ve been doing the stop and go every day for ten minutes,I feel great. Is that to much or counterproductive? With eating right and stop and go every day,I’ve been losing between 1/2 lb to 1lb every day. Amazing!
You should be ok. But don’t expect the 1 pound of weight loss every day to last much longer.