HIIT makes no sense.

P

pau1

0
I just did my first ever HIIT yesterday. It was on a trademile, with walking rate at 4 m/hr for a minuter and running at 10 m/hr for another minute. I repeated this for about 25 minutes, of which few minutes in the beginning and few at the end were used to warm up and cool down respectively.
Needless to say, I was very tired.
However, I realized that my average heart rate through out the session was somewhere between 165-170, sometimes reaching close to 185 beats/min.
I have read many times in many articles that to lose weight or to lose fats, you need to keep your heart rate around target heat rate zone which is anywhere between 60 to 85% of one's maximum heart rate. Anything below this is basically useless. And being closer to 85% of max heart rate is cardiovascular range where as towards 60% is weight loss range.
In my case, my heart beat much faster during HIIT than any other cardio session I have done before. So can someone tell how HIIT is superior to a normal cardio, when you are supposed to keep your heart rate in your target heart rate range? Or are all the articles that I read wrong, and all the markings and lables they have on cardio machines false?
 
The times during which your body reduces fat is dependant upon which energy system is currently engaged. Your body has 3 primary energy systems - which are systems it uses to get energy for your activity. One of them burns phosphagen, another one burns carbs, and one of them burns fats / proteins.

When you do HIIT, you "trick" your body into engaging the fat burning system prematurely. Normally your body wouldn't start burning fats until you went through the bulk of your glycogen stores. With HIIT, your body engages the fat burning system much faster than it would otherwise.
 
Thank you for your explanation Fil.
If your explanation is true then the whole idea about Target Heart Rate or Weight Loss Heart Rate seems contradictory.
I guess the only way to find out is by putting it in action and seeing if there is any changes.
I have just started HIIT training and I will see where I will get in about a month. If nothing improves, I will be back to targeting Weight Loss Heart rate. At least , I won't be losing anything by not doing HIIT and still enjoying my cardio.
 
HIIT is working for me, im running a lot faster and am a lot stronger for it. It also seems to preserve muscle a lot better than steady pace. i still throw in a couple of steady states to try to improve endurance but after focusing on HIIT im feeling a lot fitter

But from what ive read on here and elsewhere it really does vary from person to person.

The best thing about HIIT is that i can be out of the gym half hour earlier!
 
Fil said:
The times during which your body reduces fat is dependant upon which energy system is currently engaged. Your body has 3 primary energy systems - which are systems it uses to get energy for your activity. One of them burns phosphagen, another one burns carbs, and one of them burns fats / proteins.

When you do HIIT, you "trick" your body into engaging the fat burning system prematurely. Normally your body wouldn't start burning fats until you went through the bulk of your glycogen stores. With HIIT, your body engages the fat burning system much faster than it would otherwise.
Click to expand...
Well said.

Or one can choose fasted am cardio that taps directly in fat stores at low intensity.
 
:D hi guys,
this is marco and i'm a new member of this website...please be patient with my english, i'm italian..
i'm a great fan of the High intense interval training.
For the things i've understood about HIIT, and applying in my daily trainings, besides for most of my clients, the basic difference between HIIT and the normal aerobic cardio work, is in the fact that HIIT doesn't work on the calories you effectively burn during the training...on the contrary this amount will always be lower than the normal cardio activity, so why should we choose to work on HIIT? :rolleyes: ..simply because we'll start burning calories AFTER the training.
so...while during the normal aerobic work we finish to burn few minutes after the end of the session...in the HIIT ( due to the huge stress given to the body to afford that hard session and because of the big amount of glycogen spent during this workout) we start to burn...after the shower....:D
yes....you heard and read me correctly....
to replenish all the basical functions in the muscles, such as the normal quantity of glycogen in the fibres and the much bigger stage( respect of the aerobic work) in the Supercompensation( the process in the recover time to rebuild up the muscles we broke in the workout, to make'em stronger and able to afford the same stress that smashed them).. our body will face a such big stress that will speed up the metabolism and most of all will force it to work much longer....i've read that this period can last ( in the extreme intense trainings) up to 10 hrs...but generally for the normal and human people can be aroung 3hrs.....definitely much more than a normal 60 minutes cardio aerobic session.
that's why for example the kickboxing trainings( if done correctly and with the right intensity,work/rest period) are one of the most effective way to experience a HIIT.
the good thing of this last discovery is that you can do it wherever you want, whenever you want, and with whatever you want...tradmill, crosstrainer, climber, bike, outdoor runnings, hill sprints and weights..
i hope to have cleared this concept...and in case something was wrong or you have different or new explanations...well...i'll be very happy to read and learn them!!
thanks guys..
see you soon!
Marco M.
 
marco m. said:
:D hi guys,
this is marco and i'm a new member of this website...please be patient with my english, i'm italian..
i'm a great fan of the High intense interval training.
For the things i've understood about HIIT, and applying in my daily trainings, besides for most of my clients, the basic difference between HIIT and the normal aerobic cardio work, is in the fact that HIIT doesn't work on the calories you effectively burn during the training...on the contrary this amount will always be lower than the normal cardio activity, so why should we choose to work on HIIT? :rolleyes: ..simply because we'll start burning calories AFTER the training.
so...while during the normal aerobic work we finish to burn few minutes after the end of the session...in the HIIT ( due to the huge stress given to the body to afford that hard session and because of the big amount of glycogen spent during this workout) we start to burn...after the shower....:D
yes....you heard and read me correctly....
to replenish all the basical functions in the muscles, such as the normal quantity of glycogen in the fibres and the much bigger stage( respect of the aerobic work) in the Supercompensation( the process in the recover time to rebuild up the muscles we broke in the workout, to make'em stronger and able to afford the same stress that smashed them).. our body will face a such big stress that will speed up the metabolism and most of all will force it to work much longer....i've read that this period can last ( in the extreme intense trainings) up to 10 hrs...but generally for the normal and human people can be aroung 3hrs.....definitely much more than a normal 60 minutes cardio aerobic session.
that's why for example the kickboxing trainings( if done correctly and with the right intensity,work/rest period) are one of the most effective way to experience a HIIT.
the good thing of this last discovery is that you can do it wherever you want, whenever you want, and with whatever you want...tradmill, crosstrainer, climber, bike, outdoor runnings, hill sprints and weights..
i hope to have cleared this concept...and in case something was wrong or you have different or new explanations...well...i'll be very happy to read and learn them!!
thanks guys..
see you soon!
Marco M.
Click to expand...

I am extremely confused with your argument, the only thing I can gather from it is that you are saying we don't burn calories while training, ?? Is that what you're saying?? And what do you mean by training? Lifting or cardio or both?

I was also confused with something else you said in regards to HIIT after cardio. HIIT is in place or regular cardio, it is not meant to be an afterthought after regular cardio.
 
AJP said:
I am extremely confused with your argument, the only thing I can gather from it is that you are saying we don't burn calories while training, ?? Is that what you're saying?? And what do you mean by training? Lifting or cardio or both?

I was also confused with something else you said in regards to HIIT after cardio. HIIT is in place or regular cardio, it is not meant to be an afterthought after regular cardio.
Click to expand...


hi mate,
sorry for my english...i'll try to explain my concept again and more clearly.
i didn't say that with HIIT we don't burn calories..obviously we do it....but the point and the secret strenght of this kind of training is that you burn many more calories AFTER the training, during your rest!
The HIIT must be worked lonely...not after the regular cardio... i meant to say that doing a comparison between the normal cardio and the HIIT we have the difference i told above:
cardio = x calories burnt during the training, but none after the training.
HIIT= y calories burnt during the training ( with x bigger than y) , but Z calories burnt after the training ( with Z much bigger than x)...so at the end we have (Z+y) for the HIIT extremely bigger than x for the cardio.
the other good thing of the HIIT is that to spend that big amount of calories you need much less time than the one required for the normal aerobic work.
so you gain results in less time....without getting bored running for 1 hr ( for example) ..
the bad thing is that you need to be really keen to work hard!!!
if you don't push your muscles to the highest threshold of work ( CLOSE TO THE FAILURE POINT) you can't create the big unbalance of glycogen in the muscles, necessary to speed up your metabolism to work and keep working for much longer time!!!...so you need high motivation...or a trainer...or a partner to push eachother to the limit!!....and after..remember ALWAYS at least 48hrs of recover on the muscles you worked so hard...do jogging...do upper body...but don't do other sprints...or fast running....give your legs the right time to recover and replenish the storage of glycogen and fibres!..if not you'll keep working with something broken..and you could experience injuries!:eek:

to finish my explanations:)D ) : WITH training i mean every kind of workout you can do....outdoor running ( ie: sprinting on the hills, sprinting on the track...)....doing INTENSE interval training on the cardio machines ( X-trainer, treadmill, bike, rower..) or with weights ( ALWAYS PUSHING AT YOUR MAX THE MUSCLES)..
one thing i forgot to say in my previous post is that HIIT should be worked focusing the training on the BIG MUSCLE GROUPS ( LEGS-glutes included- , CHEST AND BACK).
that's why when you talk about HIIT you usually hear about running stuff....only because you engage the legs and therefore the LARGE MUSCLE GROUPS....and doing weights ( with HIIT principles) you should work on Chest and Back.

i hope to have been more clear this time....sorry about that guys..
feel free to criticize me in case i'm still not clear..
just trust me...this HIIT is really a bomb....it really works.....unless you cheat with yourself......but if you work it seriously....no problem..you'll get results!

Take care
Marco m.
 
Ahhhh ok, I understand what you're saying now. I definitely agree, and I'm sure we all do here. This topic comes up very often, and we all know the benefits of it.
 
The truth is, there are a lot of reasons why HIIT works better, and it is more scientifically complicated than anything we typically think of. This is very new in the fitness world.
 
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