Adventurous Philosopher

I recently stumbled upon a different type of fitness routine. It is called HIIT. It stands for high-interval-intensity-training. Basically the idea is push yourself as hard as you can for a couple minutes then slow down (still working out, but walking as supposed to running) until your heart rate slows down which is another couple minutes depending on how good of shape you are in. When your heart rate slows down, you run again for a couple of minutes. This cycle is repeated a few times depending on how in shape you are.

HIIT to burn fat?

I researched online a lot and found may statements claiming that HIIT actually burns more fat even tho you work out less time. This is supposedly accomplished by not allowing your body to get use to the work out so your body never enters the calorie conserving mode. Many websites (muscle building websites) also claim that most of the calorie burning is done during the rest of the day, not while you are working out. This is due to raising your base metabolism.

Frequency and duration for HIIT training

The charts most websites list have 8 weeks listed then a couple week break. HIIT training is done 3 or 4 times a week. Charts start as low as 4 minutes (about 4 cycles) and reach an hour (about 45 – 75 cycles).

HIIT experiment

From the research I have done, this seems to be something body builders do a lot of. I am not into body building, but I am into not having a lot of fat on my bones. So if body builders use this, why cant I?

I made my own chart based on the many charts I have found and my fitness level. I decided to start slow so I don’t get bored over do what so many people do which is kill themselves then stop working out. There are many different ways to use HIIT such as biking, running, or stairs. I decided to do 30 seconds walking followed by 30 seconds jogging and ramp that up as needed to get to my target heart rate. I chose walking because I don’t want to wake up and drive 15 minutes to do a 5 minute workout.

The time of day I chose is morning about 15 minutes after I get up and before eating. This is to burn more calories. Following this, it will be about an hour or so after I finish working out until I eat which is supposed to be best.

My Chart

My Workout History

I tend to move around a lot and do a Pilates class every Saturday. I really want to be able to hike for hours a day, days upon days, and not feel sore. I occasionally hike, whitewater raft, take long walks, swim, etc. I have some fat I would love to lose, so I will be happy to report what I have found out by doing this experiment.

For those of you interested, here mas the best link I found for information on HIIT and there chart.

Adrienne

This entry was posted on Friday, August 3rd, 2007 at 3:37 pm and is filed under The Adventurer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.