Searching for the best HIIT workout you can do to maximize your fat loss or improve your conditioning? You have come to the right place.
Not only have I considered the science and studies of HIIT, but also my personal experience, along with using it with hundreds of clients at my gym, Coastal Strength & Fitness.
What Is Interval Training?
Simply put, High-Intensity Interval Training or HIIT, is alternating between a bout of high-intensity exercise and a rest period.
There are many typical ratios out there you have probably seen:
- Tabata: 20s effort: 10s rest x repeat
- 1:1 Ratio (ex. 30s effort: 30s rest)
- 2:1 Ratio (ex. 60s effort: 30s rest)
These are probably the most common and prescribed because they are guaranteed to make you tired the quickest.
But does just getting tired quick mean we are getting leaner and stronger?
We may be able to do it for one workout, but are we going to be able to keep doing it multiple times a week for months?
What Happens When You Try Interval Training?
You have probably done one of those interval workouts mentioned above before. It generally goes something like this:
“Oh yeah, I got this… I feel fast!”
“Whew, time to rest.”
30 seconds later…
“Alright, let’s go…. Man, I am slowing down, it is hard to sprint like the first time again…”
30 seconds later…
“I wish I had more time I am not ready, but #beastmode!”
4 Rounds later…
“The back of my throat is burning, and my head feels funny. Am I just a putz? Now I can barely stay upright, and my chest wants to explode out of my throat?”
Then you realize it’s only been 7 minutes and you are worthless at this point and need to call in sick to work.
Sound familiar?
We just mostly made ourselves fatigued, really fast.
I find it funny that all the blogs pushing these HIIT workouts post up pictures of lean and muscular sprinters, yet none of those sprinters do HIIT the way “experts” are telling us.
Think about it…
The 100-yard dash is a high-intensity effort that lasts 10 seconds. They don’t do it again 10 seconds later. They rest for 4, 5, 6, 10 minutes or more!
Now we are expecting people who aren’t Olympic sprinters and possibly haven’t even been working out for decades to go all out and repeat that same effort and output with only 60, 30 or even 10 seconds of rest?!
Bananas.
Even crazier is we are then going and repeating it the next day or two.
Many of us doing it 3, 4, even 5 times a week!
PROBLEM #1: We are not recovering long enough, and after a couple of rounds the high-intensity part becomes… not so high intensity. We just get tired and slop through the rest.
Problem #2: We are doing them too often. Not being able to recover and adapt fully has us missing out on the benefits.
Why is This Bad?
With exercise intensity ranging from low to high, there are different hormonal effects on the body depending on the exertion.
High-intensity interval training can elevate stress hormones.
Doing high-intensity physical activity is a state of “crisis” to the body. It limits oxygen supply to tissues, increases body temperature, reduces body fluids, stored fuel, and causes tissue damage.
Intense exercise creates a hormonal environment in the body that is like what we go through with physical injury and psychological stresses.
Luckily, with enough and proper recovery, our body adapts and becomes stronger. That way it can handle the stress next time.
This is the benefit of high-intensity training (and resistance training).
The problem is many of us can’t recover. We are going too hard initially and not able to recover from the one workout. Then we are repeating it too often and not able to recover over the days and weeks.
Understand, we aren’t just dealing with stress from your workouts. We also have other stresses in life to deal with. Work, kids, relationships, money, traffic, presidential elections, etc.
In my real world experience, this is where I find doing these types of workouts multiple times a week to be a problem. People simply can’t recover from them. We may be able to keep them up for a couple of weeks.
But sustaining them for the long term?
Eventually, we start getting sick, losing our desire to train, it opens us up to a higher risk of injuries, some people even get nauseous, sick and light headed every time during the workout!
But The Studies!?
The most commonly referenced study and the one that put HIIT on the map is the Tabata Study.
In this study, subjects performed rowing intervals: 20 sec of super-fast rowing alternated with 10 seconds of easy recovery rowing, for a total of 8 intervals, or 4 minutes.
At the end of the study, participants showed a 28% increase in anaerobic capacity along with a 14% increase in V02max.
But if you look into the research a little deeper you will see the participants also did a 10 min aerobic workout before each of the four Tabata workouts AND one 30-minute steady state aerobic workout a week.
That is a total of 70 mins a week of aerobic conditioning. This is important because the slow and easy conditioning that people think they don’t need was a BIG part of the results that the study touts.
The second thing to note is that the study was specifically for increasing anaerobic capacity and Vo2 max.
It has nothing to do with fat loss.
My takeaway is that reaching your peak conditioning takes a combination of aerobic and anaerobic training, but you need to build your base and work towards the more extreme protocols over time.
If fat loss is your primary goal, building muscle and developing the proper nutrition habits are always the most important factors.
Remember, when in the calorie deficit required for fat loss, your recovery abilities are small. A ton of high-intensity work is going to do more harm than good.
What to Do
You made it to the fun part!
Now that we know what we are trying to avoid, it is quite simple.
Get out of your head that you are just trying to make yourself tired. You will want to start easy and establish a base. Then focus on progressing your interval workouts, just like you would with resistance training.
This way you give your body time to adapt and avoid the pitfalls.
My favorite starting ratio is a 1:4 work to rest. But there is a way to figure out EXACTLY the best rest intervals for YOU. We will get to that in a moment.
First, we need to select an exercise. Some great options are:
- Air Bike
- Rower
- Running
- Sled Pushing
The bike, sled, and rower work very well if you are starting out or overweight because they are low impact. If you have built up to running and can do it pain-free, it is a great option.
Focus on doing your high-intensity intervals for 30 to 60 seconds.
Based on what kind of shape you are currently in, this is easy to figure out. Go as hard as you can and once your performance or output starts to drop, end your interval. You want to keep the intensity high each round!
Over time as you get in better shape you will be able to increase the effort you can only do for 30 seconds for 60 seconds.
Rest for 2-4 minutes.
Recovery into an aerobic range being the goal. Meaning your heart rate is between 120-140 beats per minute, or you could have an easy conversation. If you are brand new to interval training, you might even need more. That is fine.
Getting enough rest, in the beginning, is key to being able to recover from these workouts and keeping a high intensity on each interval.
To find the ideal rest ratio for your current fitness level, use a chest strap heart rate monitor.
You simply do your interval and wait for your heart rate to return to roughly 130bpm. Then do another interval.
In the beginning, you will have to rest longer, but as you get in better shape your rest needed will shorten.
The goal is over time to increase your high-intensity interval and decrease your rest interval.
This approach may feel slow and tedious, but I promise you it will deliver better results than just jumping into HIIT training AND will be sustainable over the long haul.
The Best HIIT Workout
Do 1 x a week. Ideally as a finisher after one of your strength workouts or on a designated conditioning day along with some mobility work.
Workout Option 1
Warm up: 10 mins. Light pedal, row or walk/jog.
1a) 30s High-Intensity Effort on the Bike, Rower or Running
1b) 2-3 Min rest (until you feel fully recovered)
Repeat for 5 Rounds Total
*Strive over time to slowly increase you high-intensity interval and decrease your rest. Work on reducing your rest first. Then eventually making the interval longer and harder. (That’s what she said).
Then adding more rounds. (That’s what she said.)
Workout Option 2
A second option that is my personal favorite involves using a heart rate monitor. The ones with the chest strap are best.
Warm up: 10 mins. Light pedal, row or walk/jog.
1a) *30s High-Intensity Effort on the Bike, Rower or Running
1b) Rest until your heart rate returns to 130 beats per minute.
Repeat for 20 mins total.
*increase over time or to whatever length you can maintain your max effort
This works perfectly for beginners or advanced trainees.
Poor cardio or great cardio.
You are getting direct feedback from YOUR body. If you can do more intervals, then you will by default do more intervals in the 20 mins because of shorter rest time needed. If you should only be doing a couple and longer to recover between intervals, that will be the case.
The great thing is this will help you progress FASTER, by not over doing it. Your body will be able to recover, and you will easily see improvements over time.
Remember these big takeaways, and you will start seeing much better results from your interval training:
- Keep Your Intensity High. Don’t let it turn into tired, poor movement.
- Rest longer, until you feel close to completely recovered.
- Only do one session a week.
- Track your progress over time. We want to be lean and strong… not just tired.
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