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What is High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)?
High Intensity Interval Training, often represented by the acronym HIIT, is really a big deal. HIIT training is the ideal and most effective replacement for underachieving endurance cardio.
As a matter of fact, in studies HIIT is 9x more effective at burning fat than endurance cardio.
More often than not, I have talked about HIIT workouts made up only of interval sprints. Today I would like to discuss HIIT training with resistance machines, but not to be confused with High Intensity Resistance Training, or HIRT, which I will write about shortly.
HIIT training will give you the following benefits:
- Burn more calories than endurance cardio
- Burn more fat than endurance cardio
- Increase power
- Increase speed
- Increase muscle density
- Improve anaerobic endurance
- Improve aerobic endurance
- Speed up metabolism for more than a day and a half
- Shorten cardio training sessions by at least 33%
| What is HIIT? | HIIT Theory | Anaerobic – Aerobic |
| Who Can HIIT Benefit | Who Should Avoid HIIT | Design a HIIT Routine |
| Sample HIIT Training Routines | ||
| Beginners Training 9:1 | Intermediate Training 6:1 | Advanced Training 3:1 |
|---|---|---|
| 10 second sprints | 10 second sprints | 10 second sprints |
| 20 second sprints | 20 second sprints | 20 second sprints | 30 second sprints | 30 second sprints | 30 second sprints |
| HIIT Exercise Selection | HIIT and Nutrition | Get Protein Powder |
The Theory Behind HIIT
In research, HIIT has been shown to burn fatty tissue 50% more efficiently than low-intensity exercise, and has been shown to speed up the metabolism for up to 36 hours post-exercise, helping your body burn more calories throughout the day.
HIIT is a type of cardiovascular training that is used most effectively to lose fat while also retaining muscle mass on a low calorie diet, or for staying as lean as possible on a bulking cycle.
This type of training utilizes the anaerobic and aerobic energy systems; the former has an anabolic muscle building/sparing effect, while the latter helps burn fat and conditions the heart and lungs for good health.
Anaerobic Energy System – Anaerobic means “without oxygen”. The anaerobic energy system is what provides energy in max effort attempts for up to 60 seconds. During the first 10-15 seconds the Adenosine Triphosphate-Creatine Phosphate (ATP-CP) Cycle uses up the phosphate pool, after which the body starts using glycolysis and lactic acid to derive energy.
Initially there is a very small amount of lactic acid produced. During efforts taking longer than 10-15 seconds, a large amount of lactic acid is produced, which is taxing on the muscles and the Central Nervous System (CNS). Without adequate oxygen, the lactic acid will not be flushed from the system.
Rest periods of 30-60 seconds will provide complete recovery of the ATP-CP system.
Aerobic Energy System – Aerobic means “with oxygen”. The aerobic energy system is used during sustained exercise over a period of greater than 3-4 minutes. As long as there is enough oxygen to provide energy, fatigue remains at a low level.
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Who Can Benefit from HIIT
Many people can benefit from HIIT, including those who:
- are looking to burn as much fat as possible during a cutting phase
- are looking to keep as muscle as possible during a cutting phase
- are looking to minimize fat gain during a bulking phase
- are looking to increase aerobic endurance
- are looking to increase anaerobic endurance
- are looking to burn more calories on a daily basis
- are looking to increase their basal metabolic rate (BMR)
- are looking for a change of pace from traditional endurance cardio
- are athletes who participate in a sport such as boxing, MMA, soccer, basketball, hockey, wrestling, etc…, who need the ability to repeat short maximal efforts with low-intensity recovery periods
- are looking to break performance plateaus, including those within the gym, will also benefit
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Who Should Avoid HIIT
There are just a couple people who should avoid HIIT, including those who:
- are endurance athletes who need to low intensity exercise over a period of time greater than 20 minutes. HIIT trains you for short, high intensity burst of energy.
- are prone to injury in the ankles, knees, hips, or back. HIIT is very intense and not suitable for injury prevention.
- are not cleared by their doctor to begin a high intensity exercise routine. Check with your doctor before starting HIIT.
- are impatient. You need to ease into HIIT with some beginner routines or you risk injury.
- are overzealous. You can’t use HIIT 3-4 times a week and weight training 3-4 times a week. HIIT uses maximal intensity and can quickly result in overtraining when used improperly.
- are powerlifters. HIIT does tend to sap strength. Powerlifters can integrate HIIT into their routines for positive gains, but overuse could result in a slight loss of strength.
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Designing a HIIT Training Routine
HIIT can be used for either cutting or bulking, either to add muscle and maintain low bodyfat, or to lose bodyfat and maintain existing muscle mass. HIIT is also used to improve aerobic and anaerobic endurance.
As always, your diet is still 75% responsible for determining how these goals are achieved. Manipulate calorie intake and macronutrient ratios to gain muscle or lose fat according to your goals.
These are the guidelines I will use for creating a HIIT workout:
- We will try to perform as many reps as possible within a certain time frame.
- Each HIIT workout is broken down into at least one, but usually several, HIIT giant-set(s).
- Each HIIT giant-set consists of several super-sets of a single exercise executed at different intesities.
- Each HIIT super-set has several maximal intensity sets, several active rest sets, and one moderate intensity recovery set.
- It is during the maximal intensity set that we try to complete as many reps as possible.
Beginners should start off slow, with only 1 HIIT workout each week, because HIIT training can lead to overtraining due to the neuro-muscular load. Advanced trainees can choose to progress to 3 sets of HIIT training per week, if they can handle it.
I personally have used HIIT three times a week very effectively, to maximize fat loss and muscle retention on a low carb, low calorie diet.
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HIIT Training Routines
The two biggest differences between the following HIIT training routine guidelines are, the duration ratio of rest intervals to sprint intervals, and the total duration of the sprint intervals.
Rest to sprint ratios vary from 9:1 (lots of rest between sprints) to 3:1 (very little rest between sprints).
Sprint interval durations range from 10 seconds (easiest) to 30 seconds (hardest).
The Beginners Workout – 10 Second Sprints
Here we want to learn the system and condition our body for intense interval training. A couple weeks of beginner training should be enough for any experienced athlete to move on to the intermediate workout. Utilizes a 9:1 ratio of rest to max intensity.
1 HIIT workout per week.
120 seconds of moderate intensity
2
4
10 seconds
90 seconds
240 seconds
[(10s (max) + 90s (rest) ) * 4 (super-sets) + 240s (recovery)] * 2 (giant-set) + 120s (warm-up) = 1400s = 23 minutes 20s
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The Intermediate Workout – 10 Second Sprints
The training intensity required here is quite a bit more than the beginner’s workout. This workout might be enough for many people to get into serious shape without stepping up the intensity again. Serious athletes will look to progress further. Utilizes a 6:1 ratio of rest to max intensity.
2 HIIT workouts per week.
120 seconds of moderate intensity
2
8
10 seconds
60 seconds
180 seconds
[(10s (max) + 60s (rest) ) * 8 (super-sets) + 180s (recovery)] * 2 (giant-sets) + 120s (warm-up) = 1600s = 26 minutes 40s
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The Advanced Workout – 10 Second Sprints
A pretty hardcore HIIT session. The advanced workout utilizes a 3:1 ratio of rest to maximal intensity. With 3 giant sets in 28 minutes, that’s 30 total sprints in a half hour. You are probably looking pretty cut and feeling pretty quick if you make it to this workout.
3 HIIT workouts per week.
120 seconds of moderate intensity
3
10
10 seconds
30 seconds
120 seconds
[(10s (max) + 30s (rest) ) * 10 (super-sets) + 120s (recovery)] * 3 (giant-sets) + 120s (warm-up) = 1680s = 28 minutes
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The Beginners Workout – 20 Second Sprints
Here we want to learn the system and condition our body for intense interval training. Utilizes a 9:1 ratio of rest to max intensity.
1 HIIT workout per week.
120 seconds of moderate intensity
2
2
20 seconds
180 seconds
240 seconds
[(20s (max) + 180s (rest) ) * 2 (super-sets) + 240s (recovery)] * 2 (giant-set) + 120s (warm-up) = 1400s = 23 minutes 20s
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The Intermediate Workout – 20 Second Sprints
The training intensity required here is quite a bit more than the beginner’s workout. Utilizes a 6:1 ratio of rest to max intensity.
2 HIIT workouts per week.
120 seconds of moderate intensity
2
4
20 seconds
120 seconds
180 seconds
[(20s (max) + 120s (rest) ) * 4 (super-sets) + 180s (recovery)] * 2 (giant-sets) + 120s (warm-up) = 1600s = 26 minutes 40s
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The Advanced Workout – 20 Second Sprints
A very hardcore HIIT session. This advanced workout utilizes a 3:1 ratio of rest to maximal intensity. 15 sprints for a total of 300 seconds of sprinting.
3 HIIT workouts per week.
120 seconds of moderate intensity
3
5
20 seconds
60 seconds
120 seconds
[(20s (max) + 60s (rest) ) * 5 (super-sets) + 120s (recovery)] * 3 (giant-sets) + 120s (warm-up) = 1680s = 28 minutes
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The Beginners Workout – 30 Second Sprints
Here we want to learn the system and condition our body for intense interval training. Utilizes a 9:1 ratio of rest to max intensity.
With this 30 second sprint protocol, we are reducing the recovery set significantly due to the length of active rest.
1 HIIT workout per week.
120 seconds of moderate intensity
2
2
30 seconds
270 seconds
60 seconds
[(30s (max) + 270s (rest) ) * 2 (super-sets) + 60s (recovery)] * 2 (giant-set) + 120s (warm-up) = 1440s = 24 minutes
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The Intermediate Workout – 30 Second Sprints
The training intensity required here is quite a bit more than the beginner’s workout. Utilizes a 6:1 ratio of rest to max intensity.
With this 30 second sprint protocol, we are reducing the recovery set slightly due to the length of active rest.
2 HIIT workouts per week.
120 seconds of moderate intensity
2
3
30 seconds
180 seconds
120 seconds
[(30s (max) + 180s (rest) ) * 3 (super-sets) + 120s (recovery)] * 2 (giant-sets) + 120s (warm-up) = 1620s = 27 minutes
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The Advanced Workout – 30 Second Sprints
A severely hardcore HIIT session. The advanced workout utilizes a 3:1 ratio of rest to maximal intensity. Only 12 sprints, but 360 seconds of sprinting.
With this 30 second sprint protocol, we are reducing the recovery set slightly due to the length of active rest.
3 HIIT workouts per week.
120 seconds of moderate intensity
3
4
30 seconds
90 seconds
60 seconds
[(30s (max) + 90s (rest) ) * 4 (super-sets) + 60s (recovery)] * 3 (giant-sets) + 120s (warm-up) = 1740s = 29 minutes
If you wish to make micro-progressions within each workout, feel free to adjust any of those variables accordingly. For example you can shorten active rest or recovery set duration, you can add additional super-sets within the giant-set, you can increase sprint time, etc…
Read this recent post I wrote about integrating cardio training into your workout routine. Or if you want you can skip straight to the sample workout routines, which are about halfway down the page.
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Exercise Selection
Of course you have the option to select from a variety of exercises, but you should choose exercises that are conducive to this type of training. Choose exercises that do not allow you to rest between reps.
Deadlifts or power cleans, or any exercise that requires you to rest the bar on the floor between reps, is not a good exercise.
Here are some great exercises for HIIT training:
- Plain old running sprints
- Sled drags
- Hill sprints
- Stair sprints
- Treadmill
- Bicycle sprints on the road
- Bicycle machine sprints
- Rowing sprints on the water
- Rowing machine sprints
- Cable, barbell, or dumbbell rows
- Jumping jacks
- Jumping rope
- Burpees
- Squat thrusts
- Squats
- Jump squats
- Lunges
- Boxing
- Kickboxing
- Hang cleans
- Hang clean and press
- Hang snatch
- Dumbbell snatch/swing
- Kettlebell snatch/swing
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HIIT and Nutrition
Numerous studies have proven that the oxidation of fat in increased during exercise when following a low carbohydrate and high fat diet. Intense cardio such as HIIT is most efficient at burning fat, since fat molecules have a much higher concentration of energy than carbohydrates.
Other studies have proven that during a diet where carbs are restricted and a lot of fat is consumed, up to 70% of the energy requirement during high intensity activities comes from the oxidation of fat. When athletes use a diet high in carbs, such activities would derive 80-90% of the energy from glycogen.
Therefore, use a high protein, moderate fat, low carbohydrate diet to make the most efficient use of HIIT.
Optimizing nutrition for HIIT during a cutting phase:
- 500 calories under daily maintenance requirements
- High Protein (40% of total calories)
- Low Carbs (20% of total calories)
- High Fat (40% of total calories)
Optimizing nutrition for HIIT during a bulking phase:
- 500 calories over daily maintenance requirements
- High Protein (40% of total calories)
- Moderate Carbs (35% of total calories)
- Low-Moderate Fat (25% of total calories)
Some nutritionists recommend a higher level of calories during a bulking phase, but my experience has been that increasing carbohydrates too much while bulking, often results in unwanted fat gains. Using HIIT to prevent those fat gains could be a reason to experiment with higher levels of carbs (+40% of total calories) while bulking.
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Resources:
Rakobowchuk, Tanguay, Burgomaster, et.al. Sprint interval and traditional endurance training induce similar improvements in peripheral arterial stiffness and flow mediated dilation in healthy humans. The American Physiology Society. 2008.
Chesley A, Hultman E, Spriet LL. Effects of epinephrine infusion on muscle glycogenolysis during intense aerobic exercise. Am J Physiol 1995;268:E127-34.
Kirkendall, Donald T. Creatine, Carbs, and Fluids: How Important in Soccer Nutrition?. Sports Science Library. 2008.
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