Philip Looney Fit

What is HIIT?

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Other than being a snappy acronym, what is HIIT?  How can you do it?  Read below to find out more!

 

What is HIIT?
An increasingly popular workout nowadays is HIIT, which stands for High Intensity Interval Training.  Basically, this means doing a series of workout intervals with little to no rest in between the sets of exercises.  HIIT workouts are normally done in a very short, fixed amount of time.
Since one of the biggest obstacles to regularly working out is “lack of time”, HIIT workouts are a great way to overcome that obstacle since they’re relatively short workouts due to the higher intensity.    Scientific research has also shown that HIIT workouts have some advantages over steady state cardio workouts, like running, because of the higher caloric expenditure over time.  To illustrate what that means,  if you went for a 30 minute jog, you’re going to burn most of the calories for the workout during that 30 minutes.  However, if you performed a 30 minute HIIT workout, you’ll continue to burn calories at a higher rate for two hours after the workout is over.  This makes HIIT a highly efficient workout, especially if your goal is to lose weight. 

How can you do a HIIT workout?  What are some ways you can add this to your routine?  Below are three popular HIIT variations you can use, AMRAP, EMOM, and Tabata.  To give you an example of how to apply these different method to a HIIT workout, we’ll take four basic body weight exercises (Pull ups, Push Ups, Sit Ups, and Squats) and give you a sample workout you can do.  But you could very easily cycle in your favorite moves with things like kettlebells, dumb bells, and other equipment.

Make sure to do a 5-10 minute warm up before doing of any of these HIIT workouts.  You’ll also want to download a workout timer that has these different HIIT variations pre-programed (I use Trifecta for my timer, and is free is free to use)

  1. As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) – AMRAP workouts involve doing as many rounds of an exercise circuit as possible in a fixed amount of time.  You can track your progress by recording how many rounds you complete in that time, and then repeat the workout later to see if you can improve on the number of rounds you can complete.

    You can add this to your routine by doing 10 sets of 3 or 4 different exercises, and seeing how many rounds you can complete in 10 minutes.  Here’s our sample bodyweight workout you can try:

    AMRAP – 10 MINUTES
    5 Pull ups
    10 Push ups
    20 Sit ups
    20 Squats

    Record how many rounds of these 4 exercises you can complete in 10 minutes.  Then, repeat the next week to see if you can improve on your score.  As it gets easier, you can increase the number of reps or the amount of time for an increased challenge.

  2. Every Minute On the minute (EMOM) – This involves completing a number of reps of a given exercise within a minute, with your rest period only coming between when you complete the reps and the start of the next minute.  For example, if you were to do 10 pushups EMOM, and you were able to complete the 10 pushups in 32 seconds, then you would have 28 seconds to rest until starting the next exercise.  Here’s our sample workout:

    EMOM
    Minute One: 5 Pull ups
    Minute Two: 10 Push ups
    Minute Three: 15 Sit ups
    Minute Four: 10 Squats

    Do four rounds of this, with a minute rest in between each round. The total workout would be 20 minutes.

  3. Tabata – My personal favorite, the Tabata protocol is super easy to program and can be applied to almost any exercise.  Tabata is named after Dr. Izumi Tabata, who pioneered the method with his research conducted with the Japanese Olympic speed skating team.   Tabata intervals consist of 8 rounds with 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest, for a total of 4 minutes.  You can alternate between two exercises, 4 exercises, or just do one.  An easy way to do a Tabata work out is on a stationary bike.  Pedal as hard as you can for 20 seconds, and the pedal slowly for 10 seconds.  Repeat 8 times.  Simple!  Here’s the sample workout using our four body weight movements:

    Tabata
    Pull ups for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds
    Push ups for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds
    Sit ups for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds
    Squats for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds

    Do as many of each of the exercises as you can in the 20 seconds, with the 10 seconds rest being enough time to set up for the next exercise.  Complete this circuit twice for the complete 4 minute Tabata.  You can repeat this Tabata work out two more times with a two minute rest in between Tabata circuits for an 18 minute workout.

If you want a way to mix things up even more and turn your HIIT workouts into a game, you could try Exercise Cards or Exercise Dice, where your work out is based on how the cards fall!
As a side bar, this isn’t to say that I’m against steady state cardio like running or biking, as there are benefits to building endurance through steady state cardio.  I still go for a run two or three times a week.  But adding HIIT to your workout program can give you an added benefit, and is a great tool to use if you’re short on time.

Sharing is caring, so share this workout with your friends!

AMRAP

EMOM

Tabata

References:
Evidence based exercise – clinical benefits of high intensity interval training – University of Notre Dame, School of Medicine, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Aerobic interval training vs. continuous moderate exercise in the metabolic syndrome of rats artificially selected for low aerobic capacity – Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Medical Technology Research Centre
HIIT vs Continuous Endurance Training: Battle of the Aerobic Titans – Micah Zuhl, Ph.D. and Len Kravitz, Ph.D.

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