HIIT
Above, you see I mentioned the acronym HIIT twice in the more technical workout. High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT Training is a concept that is becoming more and more popular. HIIT also has the highest EPOC of any workout possible. Unfortunately, I feel that the few who know about it don’t execute it properly. There is a cousin to HIIT Training known as Interval Training that most end up doing.
Let me paint a picture. You walk into the gym and put your wind suit on. You walk out into the cardio room and find an open treadmill. You step aboard and slide the speed up to 3.2. After about five minutes, you move the speed up to 5.5. You then move the speed back down to 3.2 after you feel winded. You repeat this process for about 45 minutes and call it a day. Sound familiar?
This is called Interval Training. Much better than hopping on the treadmill for a monotonous jog at a constant 4.8, Interval Training is still not as efficient as HIIT Training in achieving weight loss. Here is how HIIT differs:
You have the same wind suit on and you even hop on the same treadmill. You start out at a walk at 2.8 and let your body warm up for about five minutes. You then hop off the treadmill and start stretching. My clients always get worried when they see how long I’m warming them up. My mottos is, “If the warm up is long, then you know the workout is hard!”
After a nice, deep stretch, hop back on the treadmill and go at 4.2 for about 3 minutes. By this time, your muscles should be limber and you should be ready for one minute of pain. I now want you to crank the treadmill up to the highest speed possible without killing yourself. For most people, this is about 8.0. You should only be able to maintain this for one minute. If you can handle it any longer, you aren’t going fast enough. If the treadmill doesn’t register as fast as you can go, then take your workout outdoors. If at the end of 1 minute, you aren’t praying to just reach the slider to slow down the treadmill, then you didn’t have it fast enough! I’m talking about life or death speed here! If you want a killer body, you gotta give me 1 minute of pain.
After one minute, slow the treadmill down to a crawl. The purpose is to get your breath back for another heart-pounding minute. This usually takes about three minutes before your heart rate returns to 120-130bpm. After you have your breath back, crank the treadmill up again and give it all you’ve got for one more minute!
Repeat this cycle five times. After the fifth cycle, put the treadmill on 3.0 and cool down for five minutes. Step off the treadmill and do another stretch. Take your time and continue stretching until your heart rate is completely back to normal. Congratulations, you’ve just completed your first HIIT Training session.
If at the end, you don’t feel completely exhausted, then you may consider making your maximum effort harder next time. I personally go outdoors to run with a weighted vest and run uphill in order to get my heart rate as high as needed for HIIT training. This means that eventually even running as fast as you can outdoors isn’t enough resistance.
The idea is to give your body 5 minutes of pain over the course of a 30 minute workout. Really take your time in between bouts to make sure all lactic acid leaves your muscles and you’re nice and relaxed for your next set.
I’ve coached hundreds of athletes who do mediocre interval training and think they are doing HIIT training. If you don’t feel like you are going to die at the end, then you only did interval training and not HIIT training.
I also mentioned HIIT Style Boxing on one of the workout days. I believe this is a very fun workout that also incorporates HIIT Training. If you’ve ever seen a professional boxing fight, you may have noticed how exhausted they are after a boxing match. It is astounding to know that these boxing matches rarely last more than six minutes! This is the epitome of HIIT Training. The boxer goes in for a three minute round and pummels his adversary as if it is life or death – sometimes it is. After only a few rounds, the bout is over and a winner is declared. Both contestants are drenched with sweat. It is no surprise that boxers have some of the greatest physiques of all time. They are consistently doing HIIT training and their cross training also results in high EPOC.