Currently my routine is: 2 minute warmup, 20 mins of HIIT, 5 minute cooldown
I do intervals as such - 90% effort for 15 secs, 30 secs of 50% effort, repeat over and over till 20 mins are up. What do you think about this?
Would doing 30 secs @ 90%-80% effort with 90 secs @ 50% be better for any reason, or should I stick with what I'm doing now???
Thanks

I don't really do HIIT anymore, but when I did, I did 1 minute intervals. I'm not so sure how effective 15 seconds is...

Currently my routine is: 2 minute warmup, 20 mins of HIIT, 5 minute cooldown
I do intervals as such - 90% effort for 15 secs, 30 secs of 50% effort, repeat over and over till 20 mins are up. What do you think about this?
Would doing 30 secs @ 90%-80% effort with 90 secs @ 50% be better for any reason, or should I stick with what I'm doing now???
Thanks

I do a 1:3(effort:rest) ratio. I go 30 secs at 100% effort and rest for 90 secs at about 50% effort.

Here's a great article I found on HIIT: http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/training/gettinginshape.htm

I don't really do HIIT anymore, but when I did, I did 1 minute intervals. I'm not so sure how effective 15 seconds is...


Why no more HIIT??? Have u found a more effective form of cardio???

I read the Beradi article - it's right on point. I changed up my HIIT tonight - to 30 secs on, 90 secs off. One question - in his article, he mentions that your rest period should be 1/3 of your work period - I took this to mean that if I'm generating 230 watts from the bike during my sprint, then during my rest, i should be down at around 80 watts...did I interpret this correctly?
thanks again for the article, very interesting.

I do a 1:3(effort:rest) ratio[/url] I do a 1:1 ratio as per [url='http://www.musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp']musclemedia.com (http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/training/gettinginshape.htm)

I think 30 seconds is juuust long enough to make sure you can really give it your all. Much longer and I worry about fooling myself into thinking I'm going as hard as I can. 30 seconds recovery doesn't seem like enough, but some how it always is :)

I currently got to:
4 min warm up...
30 sec on (~ 90%)
30 sec off (~ 50%)
... repeat 14 more times ...
4 minute cool down

Which is 23 minutes total. I think that's long enough, and actually the time flies!

Why no more HIIT??? Have u found a more effective form of cardio???

More effective? I don't know...

All I know is I prefer 45-60 mins of low-moderate intensity cardio now as opposed to HIIT. I burn an extra 200-300 calories per workout and don't risk losing lean muscle mass. HIIT is cool, I know a lot of people swear by it, but I just wasn't seeing the results I wanted.

My switch to 45-60 min sessions only is very recent, so we will see in the coming weeks if it was a good decision.

More effective? I don't know...

All I know is I prefer 45-60 mins of low-moderate intensity cardio now as opposed to HIIT. I burn an extra 200-300 calories per workout and don't risk losing lean muscle mass.


you dont do HIIT to burn calories, you do it to kick your metabolism into high gear. Obviously longer amounts of cardio will burn more calories short term.


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i do 15 minutes of 30/30 HIIT

you dont do HIIT to burn calories, you do it to kick your metabolism into high gear. Obviously longer amounts of cardio will burn more calories short term.


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i do 15 minutes of 30/30 HIIT

Yes, I am well aware of HIITs "effect" on the metabolism. I still think I burn more calories per week by doing 45-60 min sessions as opposed to shorter HIIT sessions.

beleive me, when your body starts utilizing fat stores. your metabolism is reved up breaking down fat.

when i did hiit i did this

3min warm up
21min HIIT

21min hiit session looked like 90%-100% for one minute. than 25%-50% for one minute, than 90%-100% for one minute, etc etc

I've always wondered just how HIIT increases your metabolism AFTER your workout. Does anyone have a scientific explanation?

I was going nuts trying to get my heart rate to the correct rate for my interval even though I know it is supposed to be based on perceived effort I just could'nt quit doing it so instead of dumping hiit right off I decided to quit worrying about the heart rates as much for my individual intervals and only worry about my heart rate in on my 90% interval. like this:
3 min warm up.
gradually / slowly work my heart rate to 90% takes about 3-5 minutes
stay at 90% for at least 1 minute.
slow down and watch for my heart rate to drop to the 65-70 ish range (2-3) minutes.
then work my way up to 90% again.
rinse & repeat. when all done I've been at it about 20 - 25 minutes, and had 3 - 4 90% intervals.