HIIT Me Baby One More Time

First off, I can't believe I referenced a Britney Spears song...

In the last newsletter installment I went over why at Carter Fitness we do not use steady state cardio as a primary fat loss tool.  I will not go into it in depth again, but suffice it to say that for the time you put in, the return in terms of fat loss is not all that great. If you missed it you can check out the entire article here. Then I alluded to the solution:  Intervals.

This type of training protocol has been know by many different names including  intervals, sprints and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), energy system work and even sometimes cardio (although technically incorrect). It doesn't really matter what you call it, the point is for fat loss it is far superior.  Basically after a few minutes of warm up, you alternate periods of all out effort (sprints) with periods of low intensity work (rest).  You repeat this a few times and then call it a day.

Some months back I wrote a piece on how much better HIIT style workouts actually are with the studies to back it up.  One study showed the HIIT group lost 900% more fat than the steady state group.  Another study showed that the metabolic elevation from a HIIT style workout lasted over 38 hours.  You can read the full article here.

So now you know how cool it is, and how great it works.   Now I'll show you how to put it into action.  The thing with HIIT training, and training in general is that it is as much art as it is science.   So there are a million ways to implement a HIIT program.  My preference is to either do it on non-weight training days, or directly following your weight training.  That will maximize the fat burning.  

You need to start out relatively slow and work your way up.  You can perform this on most any piece of cardio equipment you like including stairmasters, stationary bikes and elliptical as well as any bodyweight stuff like squats, actual running, stairs, heavy bag work etc.  My example will use the stationary bike.

Let's assume the bike has ten resistance levels, with 1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest. We will also assume the HIIT will be performed three times per week. Here is what I would prescribe for a relative beginner is decent shape with no major injuries or other health issues.

To be clear a sprint or the "on" should be an all out effort.  It lasts only 30 seconds in this example, and that means that it should be so hard that you could not do 31 seconds.  For a sprint on a bike, you would both increase your pedaling speed, and the difficulty level on the bike itself.

Week One
Mon.	5 min warm up 30 secs on / 60 secs off x 3 5 min cool down
Wed.	5 min warm up 30 secs on / 60 secs off x 3 5 min cool down
Fri.	5 min warm up 30 secs on / 60 secs off x 4 5 min cool down
"on" = level 5 , "off ", warm up, cool down = level 2
Week Two
Mon.	5 min warm up 30 secs on / 60 secs off x 4 5 min cool down
Wed.	5 min warm up 30 secs on / 60 secs off x 4 5 min cool down
Fri.	5 min warm up 30 secs on / 60 secs off x 5 5 min cool down
"on" = level 6 , "off ", warm up, cool down = level 2
Week Three
Mon.	5 min warm up 30 secs on / 60 secs off x 5 5 min cool down
Wed.	5 min warm up 30 secs on / 60 secs off x 5 5 min cool down
Fri.	5 min warm up 30 secs on / 60 secs off x 6 5 min cool down
"on" = level 7 , "off ", warm up, cool down = level 3
Week Four
Mon.	5 min warm up 30 secs on / 60 secs off x 6 5 min cool down
Wed.	5 min warm up 30 secs on / 60 secs off x 6 5 min cool down
Fri.	5 min warm up 30 secs on / 60 secs off x 6 5 min cool down
"on" = level 8 , "off ", warm up, cool down = level 3

This is simply a hypothetical progression, and can be played with and altered in many different ways. In the beginning the whole workout only takes 14 minutes, and at the 4 week mark it is only taking 19 minutes- and 10 of that is warming up and cooling down. If you do this after your weight training you can almost completely eliminate the warm up.  

Other alterations can be made such as adjusting the work to rest ratios (more advanced can go 1:1) and changing the apparatus.   Another similar style of workout that can be used as an alternative or compliment to HIIT is the Tabata. You can check that out here.

Have at it, and let me know if you have any questions.

Joshua Carter
The Body Transformation Expert
Carter Fitness
joshua@carterfitness.com

http://carterfitness.com
818-337-6175