Thread: What is this HIT and HIIT stuff?

High Intensity training and high intensity interval training?

HIIT prevents your body from reaching whats called a steady state. which is when you are doing a cariovascular excersise at the same level for a long period of time, your body trys to save calories, preventing you from burning as much as possible.
To perfom HIIT, there are many different ways to do it but the basic idea is to start at a low-very low level for a medium time period, then change levels to almost 100% to your ability for only a short time period(usually somewhere between 20-40seconds) then go back down to your low level. repeat this anywhere from 15 to no more than 20 minutes. By doing HIIT it keeps your heart rate changing from state to state and your burn a lot more calories than traditional cario.
I would not recommend doing HIIT more than 3 or 4 times a week because you dnt want to over-do it and exhaust yourself. add this exersise into your routine a few times per week and you will burn calories for almost the entire day, and you will lvoe the results.
I hope this helps you or anyone.

whats a very low level?

Whatever you feel is easy...walking to a light jog.

I do an HIITish style jog every so often. Basically I count to 60 in my head while i walk briskly, then count to 60 while I run. Repeat a few times. I honesly haven't noticed that it burns fat much more effectively than other kinds of cardio, but it's nice to change things up a bit.

like BiggT said i think its only good to do this a few times a week

i personally run 2-3 miles mon, weds,friday
and do a fake firefighter VO2 training test thats on my treadmill every tues, thurs, saturday
the firefighter test i have is slightly different then what BiggT described though, its just increasing speed for one minute, then increases incline at that same speed for a minute, then increases the speed at that incline....so on until you cant do it anymore

i think this still qualifies as HIIT but im not sure since there are no "break" periods

very good for cardio though

HIT is high intensity training. It is a form of resistance training that involves very low volume workouts which are performed to complete failure. Most HIT protocols follow single factor program guidelines.

HIIT is high intensity interval training. It is a form of cardiovascular conditioning that involves relatively short periods of anaerobic exercise with recovery periods where aerobic exercise is performed.

I don't know if this is HIIT exactly but I ran 5 minutes at 4.5 mph then went a minute at 9 mph. Should I increase my frequency of how many times I kick up the intensity.

What i do is; walk/run at 4.4mph then go upto 9 mph for about 30 seconds or until my legs had enough usually after 30-40 seconds then i go back to 3mph and recover and do this again. Of course i have the incline at 10.0 while doing this. it helps a lot

Originally Posted by thefutureisnow

I don't know if this is HIIT exactly but I ran 5 minutes at 4.5 mph then went a minute at 9 mph. Should I increase my frequency of how many times I kick up the intensity.

It's all relative. If your conditioning is such that you are pushing yourself really hard after a few cycles like that, then fine. I would try to shoot for 4 cycles like that (Total of 24 minutes). As you adapt, I would focus on dropping the time you are performing the exercise at recovery level. Eventually look to get the active rest portion down to 2-3 minutes. As that becomes too easy, you can always incline the treadmill some more or kick up the intensity a notch during your higher intensity stints.