A good way to burn fat without loosing all your muscle is to do HIIT training.

High Intensity Interval Training is a quick explosive way to burn fat.

If you want lots of info, scan the HIIT forum and ask for programs. Basicly after a warm up you sprint for 1min, then jog for 2mins then go back to sprinting, then running and so on and so on for 20mins.

the more fit you become the longer and faster you will be sprinting, but you always stick to 20mins.

Because it only takes 20mins, you will not feel as tired as if you were running for an hour, but you will have burned off the same amount of calories. HITT should be done 2-3times a week.

Remember to warm up and cool down. And if your lifting weights do your lifting 1st.

Dont do any exercise before eating breakfast, this exercise is high intensity and you may get dizzy and passout if your not well fuled.

VERY IMPORTANT - Take it slow, its much harder than it sounds.

program ideas

warm up= (slowly building your heart rate to 130-150)
cool down= (bringing your heart rate down to 110-130)

s= sprinting (fast enough to last only 1min)
r=running (fast enough to last only 3mins)
w= walking (at a pace to keep your heart rate high-swinging your arms)


begginers - run, sprint, walk
warm up
r-2min
s-1min
w-3min
r-1min
s-1min
w-3min
r-2min
w-2min
r-2min
w-2min
cool down

intermediate - sprint, walk
warm up
r-2min
s-1min
w-1min
s-1min
w-1min .............continue 1min walk and 1min sprint for 20mins

advanced - sprint, run
warm up
r-3min
s-1min
r-2min
s-1min
r-1min....................continue 1min run, 1min sprint for 20min.

If anyone wants to add, change or even re-write this, just post it below and I will edit it in.

I would never do HIIT everyday and especially not twice per day! HIIT is an anaerobic exercise like resistance training. If you are doing this everyday, which I advise not to, when are you supposed to resistance train? This sounds like a sure track to overtraining to me. I would recommend to use HIIT at most, 3 times per week. Even that is a lot, I usually use it myself or the clients I train twice per week. If you are not getting the results you are after, it is time to look at other variables of your regiment like nutrition. Or add some SS cardio to the mix.

To add to this sticky, HIIT has come to be very popular, especially on the web forums nowadays. It is nothing new and exciting though, it has been around for years. There is good reason for its rise in popularity though. High Intensity Interval Training is a very efficient and effective way to burn calories and aid an energy deficit diet. It is popular notion to believe that running at a constant speed hours on end is the only way to burn fat through exercise. This is a very ineffective way of training. There is a time and a place for steady state cardio, but if fat loss is your goal, then HIIT is the way to go.

Steady state cardio is aerobic exercise. You usually do it for 30+ minutes. Some go over 60 minutes which is insane to me! Using this form of exercise, you actually burn more calories than had you performed a session of HIIT. You also burn more fat calories doing steady state cardio over HIIT. "So why am I telling you to do SS cardio over HIIT?"

HIIT on the other hand, is an anaerobic exercise that stresses the body to a greater degree over the long run. One of the physiological functions/outcomes of interval training is an elevated Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption rate (EPOC). With this, though you burn more calories doing SS cardio over HIIT, HIIT elicits extra energy burn for up to 24 hours! This is huge when you are trying to lose fat. Remember, altering your body composition really comes down to energy (calorie) balance. Using HIIT will help you burn more energy once all is said and done.

HIIT is merely the alteration from high intensity to low intensity training. It can be done with any facet of exercise, have it be running around the track, on a bike, in a pool, on a treadmill, using an elliptical, etc. There are no set time limits you must stick to, just as long as you alter the intensities. My favorite is the track. I don't even clock myself. I sprint the straight aways and walk/light jog the curves. Treadmills are what most resort to but they can be a pain since each time you switch your intervals, you must wait for the speed of the machine to speed up or slow down. What matters is you find something that works for you.

It is best to do Interval Training on non-resistance training days. You are tapping into the same energy systems for HIIT as you would for weight training. So, as you can imagine, doing both can lead to overtraining. Also, a session of HIIT should be much shorter then a SS cardio session. You could effectively train using HIIT in a 15 minute session. My average session goes for 20 minutes.

I have been lurking on this board and have contributed now and then on others and the one thing that stands out amongst trainers and trainees is the frequently used term "HIIT" to describe their training. High Intensity Interval Training is not new...however, it has gained popularity in recent years due to 3 factors:
1.) Its quick
2.) Its intense (heart rate shoots up high)
3.) It burns alot of calories and its not boring.

The most important of these factors is 1 & 3. People love something short and quick and effective. Its part of the time factor--instant gratification BS that this country is known for. However...in order for HIIT training to be effective, #2 has to be an important factor. Too important to ignore, actually.

I have seen and read so many logs and seen people in action on the treadmill, bike, or circuit express line and have been approached with, "John, how about that for HIIT training?"

And honestly, all I saw was a classic interval session.

Yep....just a simply interval with mixed times and maybe an increase in speed level or incline. Thats not real HIIT people...

Real HIIT is INTENSE...real HIIT makes you want to barf, pass out, or lie down. Real HIIT tests you..every session...

If your so called-HIIT session is longer than 12 minutes, then it wasn't intense enough. The idea of HIIT to raise the heart rate up to max or near max levels to intermittently challenge the energy systems of the body (ATP vs. glycolosis vs. oxidative phosphorilization)

HIIT is meant for people with high fitness levels that exhibit great cardiovascular output, high lactate thresh holds, and considerable muscular power.

Simply increasing the level on th treadmill to #8 from level #5 is not HIIT (sorry to say)...that is classic interval. Intervals are not bad either, but they do not increase heart rate to the maximal level that deems it the term "HIIT".

How do you know if you are training using HIIT or regular intervals? With HIIT, intensity levels are so high (for 10 seconds to 1 minute - depending on training goal and fitness level) and heart rate shoots up to near max levels. How do you know if you have hit near max levels of heart rate? Your throat will become HOT...your form (mechanics) will lag and your HR will drop slowly to its working capacity once the intensity (level) decreases.

I hope this post will help you differentiate what you call HIIT--- I may call just regular intervals. I don't practice HIIT all the time, because I know it takes alot out of me and kicks my ass--thats why I respect it so much.
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Agreed! Real HIIT does make you totally lethargic, sick, and feeling like you're going to die within about 5 min!! LOL. But it's so worth it. A year ago I really hated cardio (now I like it a bit at least). And I went then from about 145 lbs to 128 with a combination of HIIT and HST (Hypertrophy Specific Training). At 145, I barely had any muscle, so rest assured that I was looking kind of fat. Def it was sitting around my mid-section and my confidence was low. I started gaining some weight since a pageant I did 5 years ago; when I was super lean and maybe at 120 lbs. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and started working out. Well as many of you know working out is like drugs to most people - I got addicted to lifting weights and to shaping my body. I became very strong once I started following a simple diet of 6 meals per day, HIIT and HST training - I was able to squat 210 lbs. at 130 lb weight one year ago when I lifted heavy. I'm 5'8, and at that point I was not strong at all!! Within 4 months of healthy dieting, heavy weight training and HIIT I was the strongest ever!!! And it felt awesome!

For anyone not familiar with HIIT, it takes time to start liking it. Like everything else in life, the body likes the stay with the familiar, the comfortable, the constant. But with time habits form and a passion is built up once the results are seen. And then - it's all down hill! Well, not necessarily. There are plateaus. But those can be transcended. I would recommend HIIT to anyone who is serious about results in fitness and personally I prefer it to long cardio even though it's brutal. That's because of the effect it has. I value my muscles so much as they are so hard to build in the 1st place. And I like to keep as lean as possible so that you can see the actual muscles! In my opinion muscles mean little if you have a ton of fat over them - you then look, well, fat. I always wondered about the guys in the gym who are huge and FAT - they say they are in the bulking phase... They never seem to get off of it though. That used to be my excuse for not being shredded and super lean - I would say that I am bulking up. Reality was that I hated cardio and never got lean.

Anyway, hope this post helped. Go HIIT, go!! ;-)

Anna Kubit

never noticed you on the HST website anna.

This HIIT looks good, but I find it hard to believe that one can burn significant calories in 12 minutes?

what about 4 mins
Forget the Fat-Burn Zone
Testosterone Nation - The Tabata Method

Do some searching on excess post exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) and it effects on energy expenditure.

Great info here. I like HIIT too, fits my psyche much better aswell- I cant stand running forever in semi-slow pace but I love to push it to the max.

Note to anyone involved in this thread.

This is an info only thread, Please do not post comments or questions.
I will be deleting post without useful information in the next few hours.

Three time a week I

on a 2 incline
5min at a 3mph
15min at a 7mph
then
1min at a 10mph
2min at a 4mph
1min at a 10mph
2min at a 4mph
1min at a 10mph
2min at a 4mph
1min at a 10mph
2min at a 3mph

My goal with this is to keep fat gain t a min during a clean bulk period and maintain good times for the 5K races. around 23min. Any advice would be helpful. I have been running again for 1 year. Thank you

The calorie burnoff is in the hours AFTER the HIIT session. This is called "afterburn," or, in exercize physiologist's lingo, post-exercise oxygen consumption. It can last for 24 hours--an elevated resting metabolic rate.

that's odd... this is what i was doing when i started my path to weight loss... never quite figured out why i lost (and maintained) 45lbs in 3yrs (i'm a realist... 10lbs a year is my target). when i get to 220-230, il start toning... or maybe i should start now... will read other threads to see ^_^

HIIT, Tabata sprints or 30mins jogging while cutting?