HIIT...help, please!

[rgi]

Can someone please give me an example of HIIT using a treadmill? I want to start incorporating this to maximize my running time. I have a one-year-old and need to streamline everything these days!

TIA!!!

 

[dormars1979]

Hi Tia,

An example of HIIT using a treadmill could be the following:

Minutes 0-4: warmup - easy jog or fast walk
Minutes 5-6: sprint as fast as you can
Minutes 7-8: jog/walk to recover
Repeat minutes 5-6 and 7-8 between 5-10 times
Cool down for 5 minutes

If you're more into walking, the sprints can be replaced by very steep incline walking to reproduce the high intensity of the sprint. Basically the idea is to work as hard as possible for a minute and then recover for a minute...

Hope that helps

 

[rgi]

Thanks for the quick reply! I haven't worked out since Friday and I need to get myself moving today!

Just wondering, is 30 minutes long enough, or does that depend on how high the intensity is?

 

[dormars1979]

30 minutes should definitely be enough from what I've read if you work the intervals as hard as you can. I've even seen some HIIT workouts of only 20 minutes. One good website to check out is:

http://walking.about.com/od/treadmillworkouts/a/treadmillhiit.htm?terms=HIIT

It has a sample HIIT treadmill program advocating 30 secs of work and 2 minutes recovery.

 

[Boybert]

HIIT really should go beyond 20 minutes or so. If it is longer, than generally speaking, it is not HIIT. The general concept is to all out sprint for maybe 30-40 seconds and recover for a minute to a minute and a half. If you are pushing yourself as hard as humanly possible, I doubt you will make it beyond 20 minutes of the actual HIIT. Now with a lighter warmup and cooldown, it could be roughly 30 minutes.



Debbie


I'm not gaining weight. I'm retaining food.

 

[rgi]

How often per week should I do this, and should/could every run be a HIIT workout? So two HIIT workouts a week, and that's it? I'm just looking for cardio conditioning, not weight loss or anything like that.

Thanks again! Sorry for all the questions, but I'm finding that I don't have the time to workout six days a week for an hour or longer anymore!

 

[Boybert]

I would say 1-2 HIIT workouts per week, not back to back. I wouldn't make every run HIIT as you don't want to adapt just to one type of running. I would switch off with tempo, steady state, hills, intervals, etc.


Debbie


I'm not gaining weight. I'm retaining food.

 

[kathryn]

It's usually recommended to do no more than 1-2 HIIT workouts per week (on non-consecutive days). Perhaps high-level athletes might do more, but it's a very stressful way of training, and can easily lead to overtraining and increased risk of injury.