plan on being sore....

i have been working on a hiit (high intensity interval training)workout for my clients to do on days they aren't training with me. yesterday i tried out the one i've been working on....today i am very sore, as the night goes on it is becoming increasingly worse:)

a little background on hiit:
hiit is an acronym meaning high intensity interval training. simply put, hiit is based around this concept: go fast then go slow. repeat.

hiit is the best when it comes to burning off fat. studies have shown that it can be up to 10 times more effective at burning fat than normal steady state cardio. this is because the intense intervals result in the release of fatty acids that steady state cardio just cannot release. also, hiit results in increased hgh (human growth hormone) levels and epoc (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption). hgh is a fat burning hormone, higher levels means higher fat burning. The good thing about hgh is that it maintains muscle mass at the same time it is burning off fat!

epoc is pretty much the afterburn effect of your workout which causes you to burn off calories.

warning:
the drawback to hiit is that in its very nature it is intense. this means it is impossible to perform hiit every day. if you are performing hiit every day you might not be doing it correctly. performing hiit every day will result in over training and injuries. Plus if you are really going all out for your intervals your muscles will be too tired to perform the next day.
check with your doctor if you have any questions about performing this type of a workout!!


a few charts i found on line can help you create hiit workouts according to your fitness level, not mine, not your friend, not the person next to you on the treadmill!

and now....i am sure you have been anxiously waiting for this....

here is what i did.

5 minute warm up with incline at 1 and speed at 7 on the treadmill

now set the incline to 15 and speed at 6.1

(stand on the side platforms until treadmill is adjusted to the incline/speed)

you are going to run for 30 seconds at 6.1

then hold on and step on to the side platforms

for a 30 second rest interval.

during this 30 sec. you will turn up the speed to 6.2

leaving the incline at 15 for the entire workout.

continue the workout this way:

30 sec run @6.2

30 sec rest

30 sec run @ 6.3

30 sec rest

30 sec run @ 6.4

30 sec rest

30 sec run @ 6.5

30 sec rest

30 sec run @ 6.4

30 sec rest

30 run @ 6.3

30 sec rest

30 sec run @ 6.2

30 sec rest

30 sec run @6.1

put incline back to 1 and set speed to a comfortable cool down speed

cool down for .25 mile

yeah...have fun with that:)

and

remember to scale speed and incline according to your fitness level!