Hey all

As some of you know already, (if it isnt obvious yet) I'm in muay thai kickboxing and trying to increase my cardio to fight longer. However, I am also trying to lose fat.

So..The workout I'm doing now..I wonder about. It is good for my cardio, but what about fat loss? I'll show it to you:

2 min warm up
1 min running at 8kph
1 min running at 9kph
1 min running at 10kph (10kph is basically 90% effort level for me)
2 min rest (in muay thai, there is 3 min rounds followed by 2 min rest)

I repeat this 3-4 more times before I do a solid fixed pace run at 7kph for 10 minutes.

Now..I got it structured like a muay thai round (as the idea in that is to constantly get more aggressive with each passing minute, hence the minute speed increases to simulate the pace of the fight) but is this good for fat loss too?

I ask because I keep reading everyones HIIT program, and its always like:

1 min 70%
1 min 90%
1 min 70%

etc etc for like 15-20 minutes straight. Mine is sort of like that, I go from 70 to 90% effort but then I take a two minute rest where I drop it down to around 5.5 kph. Is this wise?

Despite being modelled after a thai boxing round, do you all think I should eliminate my 2 minute rest in between "rounds" and just proceed like everyone else does their HIIT? I'm worried that if I do that, I will somehow lose the cardiovasular ability I've been working on - I think about it and I have serious concerns about training my cardio system to go very hard one minute then slower the next, it could be counter-productive in a fight.

On the other hand, it may burn more fat. It could also prove to be beneficial to my cardio. I just don't know.

See my dilemna here? I need some real feedback as I'm just wondering what direction to go.

If I were you, I would eliminate the rest. You want active recovery for your "rest" intervals while doing your cardio. So your "rest" interval should be about 60% of your perceived maximum effort.

I would think this would help your increase your C/V endurance in a fight.