HIIT Cardio, The best Cardio for weight loss ?

Mrs P

Female Moderator
Is it the best cardio for weight loss ?
While you can achieve your weight loss goal by combining diet, strength training, and even steady state cardio, HIIT can take your fat burning to the next level. IMO.


What is HIIT?

HIIT stands for high intensity interval training.
You work really hard for a short burst and then have an active recovery period.
You would repeat this workout routine numerous times for the best effect.

The Benefits of HIIT

Ramps up fat burning.
HIIT provides a great workout for your legs.
The intense intervals allow for the release of fatty acids into the bloodstream. Additionally, HIIT results in increased HGH levels.
Finally, and possibly most importantly, HIIT results in EPOC, an after-burn effect which causes you to burn calories for hours after your workout is completed.


Sprint Interval Length

There are a few components of HIIT that you can vary. The first is the length of the sprint intervals. Shorter intervals of 15-30 seconds allow you to exert more effort during the sprints. This increased level of effort will result in a stronger release of HGH. Additionally, these shorter intervals will release more fatty acids into the bloodstream.

Longer intervals of greater than 30 seconds require more perceived effort. These result in a greater number of calories burned. Additionally, these longer intervals deplete glycogen levels (carbs) allowing your body to burn more fat after the completion of a workout.

Recovery Length

The recovery length also impacts the effects of HIIT. This is the walking or jogging portion of the workout that allows your muscles time to recover.
The length of recovery is relative to the sprint interval. If you sprint for 30 seconds and recovery for 30 seconds, the ratio is 1:1If you sprint for 15 seconds and recover for 45 seconds, the ratio is 3:1.

The longer the recovery in relation to the sprint interval (2 or 3:1), the more effort you can exert in the next interval.
This increased effort will again result in a stronger HGH release.
Additionally, longer recovery reduces the risk of overtraining.

A short recovery relative to the sprint interval (1:1) results in lactic acid buildup, glycogen depletion, and a greater after-burn effect (EPOC).
However, this can lead to a greater risk of overtraining.

The first phase

The first part of the workout is short interval HIIT with a long recovery ratio.
For these intervals, you sprint 15 seconds and recover (jog) for 45 seconds.

You can beging with a warm up for 2 minutes and then perform 8 sets of this type of HIIT for a total workout of 10 minutes.

For the second phase, You could perform 25 minutes of steady state cardio (light paced jog)
This provides an active recovery for your muscles.

The final phase
Is performing long interval HIIT with short recovery periods.
This will fully deplete your body of glycogen allowing for a greater after-burn effect and fat burning once your workout is complete. You could perform 1 minute sprint intervals with 1 minute of jogging.

The sprint intervals for this portion are not as intense as the first phase, by necessity as your muscles will be slightly tired. It’s best to keep this final phase to around 10 minutes as well.

So there you have a 45 minute HIIT workout that I believe is the best cardio for weight loss. This routine should allow you to burn belly fat fast no matter how close or far you are from your ideal weight.

I personally love HIIT cardio, I'm currently doingit 2X a week, and getting great results.
 
Nice Thread Mrs P, i think this deserves a sticky because a lot of people still ruins their cardio training by training at 60% of their capacity for 30mins with that crappy lie of fat zone burn.

Intervals cardio training is the best training in 2011, the user is not only burning cals he's also giving a good hand to his maximal O2 consumption and also to the internal component such as blood flow, cardiac output, blood pressure, a significative increase for the blood quantity (volume), pulmonary adaptations, cardiac dimensions, heart rate of course, stroke volume, etc.

It develops the system on the aerobic part but also a part on the anaerobic which is great. To whoever that prefers doing cardio outside, i'd recommand doing it with floor lamps ! 1 ON, 1 OFF depending on their distance... You're better focussing on your effort than focussing on your wristwatch... get me?

Also, it is important to know that before going into short intervals 1:1 for 30s-30s or even 15s-15s it's important to follow a strict progression because this one of a intense exercise that if you don't follow any progression or you don't have any good background, you can get some serious injuries. Whether you start with classic intervals which are 60s-60s whether you do as Mrs P said, 1:2 or even 1:3.

It is important to add that the jogging part must be over 50% of your capacities, as in if you do intervals around 9,5 on 10 according to Borg scale, you have to stay around 5 out of 10. I know it's pretty hard to know exactly what you're on this is why other factors exist such as mets, % VAM, etc. If you guys need some help you can drop me a line in my inbox and I can give you a hand to find your % VAM to run at exactly the right speed to get the best results according to your capacities. I can even add it here if it interest some of you.

Intervals are done by groups, so i think it'd be great to add a rest-in-between-run, which is like if you're doing something like 3x(5x30'')/30'' it's important to add a rest inbetween such as 3x(5x30'')/30''/3' so that means 30sec ON, 30sec OFF, 5 reps, 3 sets with a 3 minutes rest in between. Of course the rest-in-between-run is not a passive rest, it needs to be active rest so it's still over 50% of your capacities.

Intervals are really intense on your body so you shouldn't do it more than 3 times a week, if you still want to hit cardio, do some continuous-slow (i.e. 60% 30min), continuous-rapid (i.e. 80% 30min), or even continuous-long-slow (i.e. 60% 90min) but I think with the decent intensity of 3 times a week intervals, you CLEARLY get what you're looking for.

David

Edit : Here's borg scale !
4.bp.blogspot.com/-S1y5p5urFZc/TZM5JZKV6jI/AAAAAAAAFUU/u9QWqw672oc/s1600/BorgScale.jpg
 
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Thanks David :)

Very good info you posted as well... I love to do Cardio outside, just don't get the chance to do it often. =/
So I do it in my home gym.

I'm doing HIIT twice a week now, thinking about increasing it to 3 X a week.
 
great post Mrs. P ! So how do I motivate my wife into embracing this routine. After 3 kids, she is still struggling with the belly fat, although she has made great progress with her walks and rec soccer league. She'd like to loose between 10 -15 pounds and it's those last 10 pounds that are being really stubborn . I would even do the routine with her , as I'd like to drop 10 pounds as well. Any hints...suggestions ??
She doesn't like going to the gym and prefers to walk or jog outside. And we do have a treadmill at home. She would like to reach her goal by mid-summer.
 
great post Mrs. P ! So how do I motivate my wife into embracing this routine. After 3 kids, she is still struggling with the belly fat, although she has made great progress with her walks and rec soccer league. She'd like to loose between 10 -15 pounds and it's those last 10 pounds that are being really stubborn . I would even do the routine with her , as I'd like to drop 10 pounds as well. Any hints...suggestions ??
She doesn't like going to the gym and prefers to walk or jog outside. And we do have a treadmill at home. She would like to reach her goal by mid-summer.

Thanks :)

I could totally understand what she's going through, it was hard for me to loose my belly fat after my 3rd child.

First she should check her diet, cardio is essential for fat loss, but Diet is # 1.
Also she should be drinking plenty of water, she start increasing the amount she drinks little by little, I drink a gallon or 1 1/2, it helps me not overeat, helps me not be bloated, etc.

If she's not used to doing cardio I suggest she starts by taking walks in the park, she can time herself, and increase the intensity & time as she goes.

I always tell everyone, to take the stairs instead of the elevator, I know it's not the most convinient thing, but it works, little changes here and there is what's going to get her where she wants to be.

As far as HIIT, is really great, I love it, she has to be careful with injuries, I would start at a level she feels comfortable with and build it up from there.

Here's a vid from youtube, that shows u how to do a HIIT routine... Of course she would not be doing the intensity the girl in the vid is doing, but it would give her an idea of what she should be doing.

http://youtu.be/fdWsReGs5T0

You can motivate her, I workout with my husband and I love it, he motivates me & I do the same for him, You'll see once she starts seeing results she's going to be hooked for life.

Let me know if there's anything else I can advise you on from a women's point of view.

Good luck to her :)
 
I have a love/hate relationship with interval training. I will say every time Ive got in top shape HIIT was incorporated. I been utilizing since the mid 90's on and off no better way to burn unnecessary fat.
 
I have never been a big fan of HITT. In the past, there has been lots of muscle lost with this. Not saying it does not work for some people...because it does.

I have a lot more success with low-mod intensity for longer durations
 
I do loose weight faster with HIIT, but I feel I get better results from low-mod intensity for a longer time as well conrad
 
I hate cardio! I wrestled for 9 years so my cardio consisted of puttin on plastics and sweatshirts and going for a jog, but great read i learned a lil.
 
the method in the video posted (running for 30 secs/stopping for 30 secs) is for people whose fitness level isnt up there yet?
 
I used a variation of HIIT i used a HRM set my high and low heart rates. 165 high 135 low. Then i would run till i hit 165BPM jog/walk till i hit 135BPM repeat for 30-40 min 2 times a week. worked well enough for me to drop 2:00 minutes off each mile i run AND got me down to 226lbs.
 
I used a variation of HIIT i used a HRM set my high and low heart rates. 165 high 135 low. Then i would run till i hit 165BPM jog/walk till i hit 135BPM repeat for 30-40 min 2 times a week. worked well enough for me to drop 2:00 minutes off each mile i run AND got me down to 226lbs.

What was your starting weight and how long did it take you to get to 226.. That's my goal weight.. I'm 280 right now.. Too heavy to run.. So I guess I walk up hill on treadmill in interval of how steep the hill? Any suggestions assuming my diet is in check?
 
I started at 299lbs. it took me a long time over a year, BUT that was because i had 4 operations. I would lose 20-25lbs. have a operation then gain 7-10 lbs. I did that for over a year. It was very frustrating. I started out walking on a treadmill. when i started out i could barley do 20 min. Buy a HRM and base your w/o of % of your max.
Target Zone Calculator for heart rate monitors
I like using the link above because you use age and resting h/r. as you get in better shape the zones will change.
 
HIT is really good, however it's not useful after a workout. It's better to do that on separate days. And after a workout low-intensity cardio is better. At least for me.
Also if I do HIT before a workout, I'm quite exhausted, so workout is not as good as it could be..
 
HIT is really good, however it's not useful after a workout. It's better to do that on separate days. And after a workout low-intensity cardio is better. At least for me.
Also if I do HIT before a workout, I'm quite exhausted, so workout is not as good as it could be..

I agree. I do hiit no more than 2 days a week and that is my only training for that day. If you are doing it correctly it will leave you gassed!:bigok:
 
Would P90x qualify as HIIT? My wife is doing it again. She and i did it in the past and she got toned and lost about 30 lbs! I lost too much weight so I hit the weights instead.

She is back on it again along with me cooking her food so her diet is in check for the most part. Whats your advise for her losing weight, Mrs P? Just trying to figure out a plan for the Mrs. ya know? She will be taking need2slin as well and I have her on GHRP-2 & CJC. Does this sound good to you?
 
three kids and still hard at it, Mrs. P? Incredible! We're expecting our second (and last) and after that we're both going to get back to our glory days!!
 
three kids and still hard at it, Mrs. P? Incredible! We're expecting our second (and last) and after that we're both going to get back to our glory days!!

Aww, Congratulations !!

We're done , 3 keep us busy for sure,
I love kids, I sometimes want another one..
but I haven't lost my mind yet..lol

Take care of that preggo Wife :)
 
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