HIIT newbie, some questions

i just read about HIIT and it sounds great, and not as boring as 50 minutes of regular cardio. my questions are:

1. should i perform HIIT after i lift?

2. i read that HIIT burns fat overtime, after you're done and are resting. i usually am drinking my post workout shake within 5 minutes of walking out of the gym (whey+h2o+dextrose+glutamine). does consuming all those calories immediatly after lifting and HIIT effect the fat burning process at all?

3. i run about 7 miles in 50 minutes of cardio. what would be a good duration of HIIT to start with?

4. i started working out lightly about 11 months ago, but only go extremely serious about it 4 months ago, and am not on any strict diet. my strict diet which i'm about to start will be a 40/40/20 pcf and 1790ish calories, i weigh 180. would doing HIIT 3 times a week be too much?

thanks in advance
 
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There are different ways of doing it but I do what Bill Phillips recomends in his book Body For Life. He says to do high intesity cardio 3 x a week for 20 minutes each session in the morning before you eat and not to eat for an hour afterwards. I run sprints down a soccer feild jogging back each time for a total of 10 sprints. Hope this helps.
 
There are different ways of doing it but I do what Bill Phillips recomends in his book Body For Life. He says to do high intesity cardio 3 x a week for 20 minutes each session in the morning before you eat and not to eat for an hour afterwards. I run sprints down a soccer feild jogging back each time for a total of 10 sprints. Hope this helps.

i don't think following someone elses HIIT routine will help me.
 
i just read about HIIT and it sounds great, and not as boring as 50 minutes of regular cardio. my questions are:

1. should i perform HIIT after i lift?

It's not so much a ' should ' or ' shouldn't ' issue, but you certainly can do HIIT after weights if that's more convenient for you ....and with no significant adverse effects to muscle mass ( if that's what you're concerned about ) IMO.

i2. i read that HIIT burns fat overtime, after you're done and are resting. i usually am drinking my post workout shake within 5 minutes of walking out of the gym (whey+h2o+dextrose+glutamine). does consuming all those calories immediatly after lifting and HIIT effect the fat burning process at all?

Good question.

The reason fat ( i.e stored fat ) is burned afterwards is because your body used fat to get the energy it needs to restore spent energy stores like glycogen. On one hand, this glycogen replenishment is maximized as soon after exercising as possible so timely post workout nutrition to optimize glycogen replenishment ( and fat burning needed to do it ) would seem to make sense IMO. Then again, some of that energy you're consuming may supplant the need for stored fat to be used for energy in glycogen replenishment. But since that shake may be digested within 1 hour or so and the post exercise burn you get from HIIT could stretch to 12 hours +, I'd say you're probably O. K. to still have your shake post HIIT.

I don't know for sure either way, I'm only guessing ....perhaps one of our resident nutritional experts can chip in on this question ....it's a good one.

3. i run about 7 miles in 50 minutes of cardio. what would be a good duration of HIIT to start with?

Perhaps 25 minutes or so...5 minutes warm up, 20 minutes of intervals, 5 minute cool down.

Generally speaking, most HIIT sessions are so intense and taxing, they seldom go beyond 30 minutes.

But you certainly could do a less intense form of intervals over 50 minutes if you wanted to.

4. i started working out lightly about 11 months ago, but only go extremely serious about it 4 months ago, and am not on any strict diet. my strict diet which i'm about to start will be a 40/40/20 pcf and 1790ish calories, i weigh 180. would doing HIIT 3 times a week be too much?thanks in advance

Are you looking into HIIT to help you lose fat ?

If so, how many pounds of fat and by when ?
 
It's not so much a ' should ' or ' shouldn't ' issue, but you certainly can do HIIT after weights if that's more convenient for you ....and with no significant adverse effects to muscle mass ( if that's what you're concerned about ) IMO.



Good question.

The reason fat ( i.e stored fat ) is burned afterwards is because your body used fat to get the energy it needs to restore spent energy stores like glycogen. On one hand, this glycogen replenishment is maximized as soon after exercising as possible so timely post workout nutrition to optimize glycogen replenishment ( and fat burning needed to do it ) would seem to make sense IMO. Then again, some of that energy you're consuming may supplant the need for stored fat to be used for energy in glycogen replenishment. But since that shake may be digested within 1 hour or so and the post exercise burn you get from HIIT could stretch to 12 hours +, I'd say you're probably O. K. to still have your shake post HIIT.

I don't know for sure either way, I'm only guessing ....perhaps one of our resident nutritional experts can chip in on this question ....it's a good one.



Perhaps 25 minutes or so...5 minutes warm up, 20 minutes of intervals, 5 minute cool down.

Generally speaking, most HIIT sessions are so intense and taxing, they seldom go beyond 30 minutes.

But you certainly could do a less intense form of intervals over 50 minutes if you wanted to.



Are you looking into HIIT to help you lose fat ?

If so, how many pounds of fat and by when ?

thank you for your informative answers. yes, i'm going to enter a cutting phase so i'll be trying to lose fat from HIIT. i don't really have a fixed date that i need to lose a certain amount by, just doing it to keep a low BF%. interesting about the shake too, i'm going to try it though.
 
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