Hi Everyone,
Well I've been doing a ridiculous amount of cardio and doing it all wrong --for endurance.
I started from couch potato ( 3.2) and worked my way up to 4.2 power walking but did it ( with warm up and cool down) for 1 hour 50 min.
But after buying the The New Rules of Lifting for Women, I thought I better look into cardio interval training.
After looking at threads at JPFitness and watching a great video from Turbulance Training, I thought I really needed to change to HIIT.
I was really scared to try it as I have not jogged/ run since I broke my leg about 10 years ago.
Well I tried it this morning and really loved it.
I wanted to start out at a slow pace ( 6/10 of my intensity perception) as I was afraid I would hate it.
So I did 30 minutes ( including 5 min warm up and cool down)with 20 min of HIIT going up to 5 ( 12 minute mile). But I found I had to do it for 1 minute with a 2 minute recovery as Krista recommends as I couldn't handle the math of doing it for 30/45 sec.
I did not go near my sprint capacity but as I said I wanted to start out slow and build from there. Then I rested for 5 minutes and did 15 minutes of easy steady state walking. Actually that felt harder that the HIIT.
Any thoughts/advice on how to progress to faster sprinting? Should I cut out the 15 min steady state cardio after?
OMG I so love cardio --WL is so much harder for me.
I am changing my WL programs too. I am going to do Krista's workouts as I think the NRL4W is too hard for me right now. I haven't done squats or deadlifts ( have done leg presses and lunges). So I will start those now.
Meg I know you do your HIIT after lifting but I know that is too much for me right now, so I'm going to go back to alternate 3 days of cardio with 3 days of WL.
I had forced myself to take a week off as I was really burnt out from a year and a half of all that endurance cardio.
It felt so good to be back exercising today--I hadn't realized how much I enjoyed it and missed it.

Katie I'm so glad you've discovered HIIT! I think Baffled and Pat/WaterRat are big fans too. All the studies that I've been reading say that it's so much more effective for fat loss than traditional steady-state cardio. And it saves so much time! (1 hour and 50 minutes is a lot of time to spend on cardio! )

As for how to progress the intervals -- do just what you're doing. Push yourself into a high intensity zone for a minute or so, then drop back and recover, repeat etc. There isn't any special formula about how much time to spend in the various zones, so long as you're occasionally pushing yourself to your max. Do you use a heart rate monitor? I find that mine is very helpful for gauging the intensity of my intervals (I tend to slack otherwise!)

As you progress, you'll naturally need to increase your effort to get into the high intensity zone. What's a 9 now in perceived exertion will be easier, maybe a 7 or 8 in a few weeks. So you will just naturally push a little harder each time.

NROLW is a great book, but Krista's exercises are a wonderful way to start if you don't feel quite ready to jump into that program. When you're ready to try deadlifts and squats, go really light and work on form. The first squats I ever did were with a broomstick.

I think your 3 days of WL schedule + 3 days of HIIT is perfect. Have fun and keep us updated!

Thanks so much Meg!!
I was hoping you would reply.
You are a sweetheart!!
Wish I lived in Pittsburgh -I would love to have you as my trainer!!
No I don't use a heart monitor --hate having that thing around my chest--I just go by perceived exertion.
Since I am fine with my weight and maintaining --and even fine with wearing size 6 petite pants ( as opposed to size 4 I am just going to build up slowly.
My problem (?) is that I love love love Cardio but WL is another whole story.
Cardio gives me an energy high, but WL is TOUGH!! I don't even feel ready to do circuit training WL.
I was a runner till I broke my leg.
My leg is fine but I married, moved, put on weight and never got back into running.
When I decided to lose the weight --Oct. 2006-- I thought cardio power walking was the way to go. And I did lose 33 lbs that way, but....
I didn't do any weight lifting till last April and then had to begin with really low weights. ( As a runner I had completely ignored Wl)
Though I am lifting higher weights now my improvement is soooo slow.
Probably because I lost a lot of muscle with those long endurance cardio sessions in between my WL days.
Oh well, live and learn!
And I have to say I am relieved at giving up those ridiculously long cardio sessions.They were just wearing me down.
Oh and thanks to everyone on 3fatchicks who pointed me to Krista's site.
It seems just right for me now, and, Meg, I am definitely going to start my squats with the broomstick!!! --I was happy to see that in Krista's pictures!

Hi Katie! Welcome! Meg is right, I am a big fan of HIIT, because, unlike you, I don't like cardio, and love WL! I too was a runner of sorts until I was injured (severe PF in my left foot) and my knees are giving out anyway. I do my HIIT on an elliptical to avoid the impact to my knees. But what helps me is to use the podcasts for the Couch 2 5K running program. You can find them here He takes all the time watching out of it, and yet makes sure you do enough and long enough intervals. I'm not crazy about his music - it's kind of techno and I'm a country music gal, but whatever, it keeps you moving.

HIIT = High Intensity Interval Training?

That's a total guess.

Sorry to thread crash, but I've seen this acronym before and am just now getting brave enough to ask.

Kara

I started doing HIIT about 2 months ago and really like it also. I found a few free podcasts on itunes that helps me with the 20 minute interval. It's listed under their fitness section and is by Stin/My thought Coach. PM me if you don't find it and I'll send you the link (it's on my other computer).

I have read that if you do cardio after strength training that you have less stiffness and I've found that to be true. I typically do a 20 minute HIIT after my strength training sessions and rarely have muscle aches afterwards (and I'm doing fairly heavy weights). I sure don't miss the long slow cardio sessions.

You hit it on the nose Kara!

I really think it's a temperament thing as much as anything. I have always disliked endurance cardio, because by nature and in all things, I'm more a sprinter than a marathoner. So for me, HIIT and weights make much more sense than running for hours and hours and hours because I enjoy the short bursts of very intense activity. But if you really like endurance cardio, I'd think there would have to be weight programs designed to complement it. The goal of the program in the NROL books is gaining strength and muscle, so endurance cardio is only 'wrong' if your goals are strength and muscle gains. All this is by way of saying, if you like endurance cardio best, don't think that you MUST switch over to heavy weights and HIIT.

As far as speed goes though, you just build up to it. Start with a brisk trot or steep incline and bump up your pace every session or two. The only thing to remember is that for the HIIT to be effective, you need to pushing yourself as hard as possible for the one minute that you're doing high-intensity. I generally feel as though I won't survive the last 5-10 seconds of each sprint period.

I'm good at acronymns. My husband is in the Air Force so I have to deal with many on a daily basis!

So, what's the point of HIIT? Who is it designed for? What are the benefits? How do you work it into your workout routine?

Kara

I'm pretty advanced in my fitness stage at this point, but this is what my HIIT is:

Warmup: 5 minutes @ 3.5 mph
Run: 1 minute @ 10.0mph (max of treadmill)
Walk: 1 minute @ 3.0mph
(Repeat for 20 minutes)
Cooldown: 5 minutes @ 3.5 mph
Total: 2.38 miles

I am pretty sure I started my "run" intervals at about 6.0mph, this is what I've worked up to. If I run outside, I run to the first light pole, walk to the next, run to the next, etc. for about 20 minutes.

For it to be "HIIT" you should run at the intensity where you are unable to complete another interval after the 20-25 minute time. Whatever speed this is depends on your fitness level.

Good luck!!!

Kara - there are tons of internet articles out there if you do a quick search. The claim is it burns more calories, improves performance, heck, probably improves memory if you as some folks! It works for me in that I get an intense workout in an amount of time I can bear. There is absolutely no way I could spend an hour or more on the elliptical or treadmill. When I was training for my half marathon (walking) last spring, I had training sessions of up to 4 hours. I did every single one of them outdoors where at least I had something to look at and some varied terrain.

Kara, HIIT is more efficient at burning calories during exercise, and, as Pat said, it eliminates the need for long, tedious cardio sessions. But the other important claim is that there's something about the way your body processes oxygen after the exercise session that keeps your metabolism revving at a higher rate for the rest of the day, and hence, burning more calories all the live long day. I can't remember the acronym for that part (EPOC?), but I like it!

EPOC is right. Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption. And O2 is the fuel of metabolism. What this means is that for hours (and I've seen studies saying for 24+ hours) you'll be burning calories at a higher rate after a good HIIT session.

So HIIT packs a one-two punch: you burn more calories exercising at a higher intensity while you're doing it and then you burn more calories for hours afterwards just doing everyday activities. How cool is that?!

I love the fact that my muscles are burning calories while I sleep and I'm burning extra calories all day and night after doing HIIT. Makes me get my lazy behind up to the gym every day!

Here, here, sister!

Sacha - thanks for posting your workout routine. I gave it a shot last night with intervals of 3.0mph and 5.5mph and felt like I got a good workout!

Does anyone else have a HIIT routine they'd like to share? I'm looking to spice up my workouts.