HIIT Question

[Anonymous]

So I want to do HIIT on a treadmill. Alternating sprinting and walking. There are several variables to consider and I don't know what is best. The variables are (1) speed of my sprint (2) duration of my sprint (3) speed of my walk/recovery (4) length of my recovery and (5) number of intervals. So If I increase the speed, the time it takes to recover goes up unless I sprint for a less of time. So for example...Do I just max it for 30 seconds and recover for 90 seconds (1:3)? Do I slow it down and sprint for 40 seconds and recover for 80 seconds (1:2)? or do I slow it down even more and do 1 minute sprint and 1 minute recover (or even 30 seconds and 30 seconds) (1:1)? And then how many intervals is best? Any idea how to figure this out? Anyone know what personal trainers advise? Thank you in advance.

[Anonymous]

These are great questions and I’m interested in answers too!

[Anonymous]

I do treadmill workouts using the peloton app - they tell you exactly what to do and how the intervals work. Download the app for a free trial and take your phone to the gym - it will give you a sense of how to structure it yourself.

[Anonymous]

The Nike Run Club gives you suggested programs and will even give you cues if you listen along. That said, sometimes I just do whatever pops in my head. You can't really do it wrong.

[Anonymous]

I always aim for a 20 second sprint and 60 seconds of light jog. With those intervals I seem to be gassed way faster than any variations I have tried. Whether that actually is the best way to produce results I can't speak to, but it exhausts me, so I assume that means it's doing what HIIT is supposed to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always aim for a 20 second sprint and 60 seconds of light jog. With those intervals I seem to be gassed way faster than any variations I have tried. Whether that actually is the best way to produce results I can't speak to, but it exhausts me, so I assume that means it's doing what HIIT is supposed to.

I don't know if the goal is to be "gassed". Any of the options above "gasses" you. I think HIIT is supposed to be...100% effort for a fixed amount of time and then almost full recovery before doing again. I mean if I sprinted 100 yard 100% effort, I'd be gassed but that's not a full work out.

[Anonymous]

I don't think you can go wrong. There isn't a single way to do intervals. When I'm on the elliptical, which responds immediately to the changes in my pace, I like to follow a Tabata protocol: 20 seconds full on, 10 seconds recovery for 8-9 rounds (at least 4 minutes) and then do a more steady pace to get to a total of 15-20 minutes. On the treadmill, which takes a few seconds to gear up to full speed and slow back down, I do longer intervals but generally follow the Tabata proportion of spending more time on the high intensity with shorter recovery bouts. I'll do 2-minute run, 1-minute walk or sometimes 3-1 or 3-2. It's true that I can't go as fast when I go for 2 or 3 minutes, but I still get my heart rate way up and sometimes I'll do a 30-second faster sprint or two within the 2-3 minute running interval. I think keeping the high interval longer than the recovery one increases the challenge. When I do HITT I don't do more than 20 minutes of cardio. The point of it is to go harder for a shorter time. Generally, I do 2-3 minutes of warm-up, 10-15 of HITT, and 2-3 to cool down, unless I do Tabathas (when I do only 8-10 minutes of HITT).

https://www.active.com/running/articles/how-this-popular-hiit-workout-majorly-improved-my-running

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always aim for a 20 second sprint and 60 seconds of light jog. With those intervals I seem to be gassed way faster than any variations I have tried. Whether that actually is the best way to produce results I can't speak to, but it exhausts me, so I assume that means it's doing what HIIT is supposed to.

I don't know if the goal is to be "gassed". Any of the options above "gasses" you. I think HIIT is supposed to be...100% effort for a fixed amount of time and then almost full recovery before doing again. I mean if I sprinted 100 yard 100% effort, I'd be gassed but that's not a full work out.

Right, when I say that it exhausts me I mean that taking a minute to catch my breath won't do it. I'm done for the day and couldn't repeat that effort without a nap first.

[Anonymous]

I found this...

https://www.stack.com/a/your-complete-hiit-training-guide

I thing it just suggests to vary the HIIT workouts. On another note...I tried to do a "tabata" HIIT on the treadmill. 20 seconds on 10 seconds off was not practical on the treadmill so I did 40 seconds sprint and 20 seconds walk. After four intervals of this, I did 1 minute walk. I did this for 4 total "sets" (16 total intervals) for 20 minutes. Again, I have no idea if this is any better than any of my other HIIT workouts but it was something different and tough. The 20 seconds rests go by so quickly.

[Anonymous]

I like to use the 10-20-30 app ... it has you do 30 seconds slow, 20 seconds moderate, and 10 seconds full out. You can do this multiple times in a row and it can be exhausting. Give it a try.

But then sometimes I'll just plod plod plod along for 5 minutes, and to a 1 minute really fast (not full out sprint, but as fast as I can sustain for a minute.

Or I'll increase the speed by a little bit each minute untill I get to my max, then I'll start going down again.

Mix it up!

[Anonymous]

So this is just an observation that really doesn't make much sense but I thought I'd share. This is from my Fitbit.

On Tuesday, I did a 20 minute Tabata workout where it's 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for 8 rounds, then a one minute break. Do this 4 times. I guess warm up and cool down added 6 minutes. The workout consisted on burpees, high knees, jump squats, scissor jumps, push up, mountain climbers, skater jumps, and a few others.) According to my Fitbit, this 26 minute workout burned 181 calories (avg bpm was 100). After this work out, I went on the treadmill and did 30 second sprints followed but 30 seconds of slow walking. I did 10 intervals for a total of 11 minutes. According to my Fitbit, this 11 minute workout burned 151 calories (avg bpm 142). Later that night, I went for a 17 minute walk that burned 186 calories (abg bpm 123). Something must be up with my Fitbit; otherwise, walking burns more calories than the Tabata workout. In addition, it looks like intervals on the treadmill burn a lot more calories than the tabata workout as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So this is just an observation that really doesn't make much sense but I thought I'd share. This is from my Fitbit.

On Tuesday, I did a 20 minute Tabata workout where it's 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for 8 rounds, then a one minute break. Do this 4 times. I guess warm up and cool down added 6 minutes. The workout consisted on burpees, high knees, jump squats, scissor jumps, push up, mountain climbers, skater jumps, and a few others.) According to my Fitbit, this 26 minute workout burned 181 calories (avg bpm was 100). After this work out, I went on the treadmill and did 30 second sprints followed but 30 seconds of slow walking. I did 10 intervals for a total of 11 minutes. According to my Fitbit, this 11 minute workout burned 151 calories (avg bpm 142). Later that night, I went for a 17 minute walk that burned 186 calories (abg bpm 123). Something must be up with my Fitbit; otherwise, walking burns more calories than the Tabata workout. In addition, it looks like intervals on the treadmill burn a lot more calories than the tabata workout as well.

If your pulse was at 123 during a walk I don't see how it could have been at 100 during your workout. There must be something about the jarring movements that causes the thing to lose its read? Or, it's just wrong.

[Anonymous]

agree with varying it based on your ability. you shouldn't be able to do more than 20 minutes or so, otherwise you're not really doing HIIT.

[Anonymous]

and don't get caught up in the details.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So this is just an observation that really doesn't make much sense but I thought I'd share. This is from my Fitbit.

On Tuesday, I did a 20 minute Tabata workout where it's 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for 8 rounds, then a one minute break. Do this 4 times. I guess warm up and cool down added 6 minutes. The workout consisted on burpees, high knees, jump squats, scissor jumps, push up, mountain climbers, skater jumps, and a few others.) According to my Fitbit, this 26 minute workout burned 181 calories (avg bpm was 100). After this work out, I went on the treadmill and did 30 second sprints followed but 30 seconds of slow walking. I did 10 intervals for a total of 11 minutes. According to my Fitbit, this 11 minute workout burned 151 calories (avg bpm 142). Later that night, I went for a 17 minute walk that burned 186 calories (abg bpm 123). Something must be up with my Fitbit; otherwise, walking burns more calories than the Tabata workout. In addition, it looks like intervals on the treadmill burn a lot more calories than the tabata workout as well.

Fitbits are notoriously bad at properly measuring heart rate during HIIT workouts, where your heart rate quickly goes up and down. They are much better during steady state cardio.