How much HIIT is too much?

  • I'm planning my own fitness plan and want to add some HIIT. I have lots of weight to lose (100+ lbs). How much HIIT is too much?
  • Per day? Per week? If you are really doing HIIT, it's pretty tough to do more than 30-35 minutes even if you are in shape. Remember, the exertion level is perceived by you. I generally tell clients who are healthy but need to lose weight to do HIIT 3 times a week and add one or two sessions of "regular" cardio. Are you doing any other exercise or just cardio?

    Mel
  • When I was doing HIIT, I had to work up to it. I usually only did a few minutes every time I did cardio (I would try to do it in the middle). It seemed to take a long time to work up to regular, somewhat extended HIIT. But it's very effective so add it, but slowly.
  • Excuse my lack of education on this but what is HIIT? High interval intensity training? lol that was just an educated guess.
  • I think it actually stands for High Intensity Interval Training (darn good guess). Basically the idea is that (after warm up) you go as hard as you possibly can for a short period followed by a moderate pace and then more high intensity, back & forth mixing it up.
  • Oops .. I did fail to elaborate. I have mainly been doing cardio and wanted to add weight training and HIIT. So, working out 6 days a week, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't overdoing it. I think I'll start slowly like Susanje suggested and gradually work my way up to doing it 3-4 days a week, 20-30 minutes at a time. Does this sound reasonable?
  • I like ... this article about HIIT ... I like HIIT a lot because it just feels like I've worked harder...