HIIT in a gym?

[J.R.]

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Although I push myself as hard as I can for the 2 minute fast portions, I understand this is not HIIT because true sprinting could not be kept up so long.


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HIIT = high intensity interval training.

You are doing intervals, so the issue is are they high intensity? The odds are short that whomever led you to this understanding is mistaken.

What they probably meant was if you are doing HIIT primarily for fat burning rfeasons, your intervals are too long, becuase they much more get into aerobic capacity at 2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy. HIIT for fat burning is more ideally features shorter, more anaerobic intervals.

[Wynton]

JR,

It was in this thread that I was told that a 2 minute interval would not be HIIT, because even if I'm working hard (and getting an effective workout), it could not be real sprinting, since that would entail something that could not be sustained after 30 seconds.

I suppose the semantics don't really matter, except that those other posts left me wondering whether I should look for something other than the elliptical machine. These machines are fine for leaving me gasping after 60-90 seconds, but it is hard to hard to mimic a sprint that would leave me in that condition after just 30 seconds.

[Mister Havisham]

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Any suggestions?

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I saw a routine where jumping jacks, burpees, and mountain climbers were 3 of the exercises. Not sure if there were other exercises or what the routine was, but I thought I would get very tired doing it as did other folks watching.

You don't even need a gym for this. Maybe the routine was 40 seconds of those 3 exercises. It took less than ten total minutes.

[Unoriginalname]

Didn't read thread carefully, so sorry if this has been mentioned:

You can absolutely do HIIT on ellipticals. Because I have injury prone knees, I don't like to do HIIT by sprinting outside or on treadmills, so I use ellipticals and it kicks my ass. I crank the resistance really high for 30 seconds and go balls to the wall, then make the resistance to the near lowest setting, and take it easy for 30 seconds. If this doesn't make you out of breath and/or near puking, then you probably aren't doing it right.

[J.R.]

That thread is making the same distinction I am. Its semantics, but HIIT has taken on a more specific connotation with the prevalence of Tabata and other's research.

For maximal fat loss, you want to be doing short, anaerobic intervals.

That said, I am troubled by the implication that running 800 meters intervals would not be HIIT. Its is, if you are running intensely.

For reference, here is a good article on Effects of High-Intensity Intermittent Training on Endurance Performance, discussing who longer intervals (2-5 minutes) are used to improve competetive performance in medium distance endurance athletes.

You can do all kinds of stuff for HIIT. Use a bike, an armed elliptical, or full body exercises like burpees or thrusters or front squats.

[shemp]

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That said, I am troubled by the implication that running 800 meters intervals would not be HIIT. Its is, if you are running intensely.


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I've never seen an attempt at a rigorous definition as far as the total length of the intervals or the work/rest ratio. There's reliance on "short" and "max effort" or "high intensity." I can't say that 30 min of fifteen 2 min elliptical sprints fits a rigorous definition or not, either. I agree about the 800s even though 800 is too long to be a true sprint "max effort."

I would say that if the workout is taking 30 minutes, then try to crank up the intensity to accomplish the same work in ~20, or consider reducing the workload to what takes ~20 minutes and building from there. And a problem I have with the elliptical, or at least how it is used, is folks don't make adequate use of self-measurement-- OP doesn't appear to be placing greater and greater demands on his body or have any ability to do so.

[That Foreign Guy]

What shemp said pretty much, except I like the elliptical for HIIT. Like the rowing machine, it can get the whole body involved, and I found that pushing with the arms forced my legs to rotate faster than they would otherwise.

Whatever method you use though (eliptical, rowing machine, squats, sprints, whole body masturbation, whatever) and whatever work intervals you choose (20s on 10 off, 30 /30, even up to 2 mins / 1 mins) the key to High Intensity Interval Training is to make the work intervals MAX effort. Get that right and the rest is mere details.

Thing is, the body hates max efforts because it means we're using up precious survival resources. It would rather make you think you're doing max effort by sending tired signals. Your job is to ignore these and force a real effort.

Anyone who's been in a tight sporting contest knows what I mean, when you're just dead on your feet but then suddenly find a bunch more energy because you need it. That's what you're looking for with HIIT (it's also one of the reasons I mostly do fast paced sports instead of classic intervals, because I find it easier to find that extra gear when there's winning and losing involved).

[Bobby Digital]

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OP doesn't appear to be placing greater and greater demands on his body or have any ability to do so.

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[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] I'm sure I could increase intensity but do I really want to be doing more than 15 sprints per session? I thought the idea was to keep the sessions under 30 minutes. Especially if I'm squatting 3 x per week.

Anyway thanks for the suggestions, gonna probably try the rowing machine again as that seemed to be the best option. Maybe some kind of rope jumping/calisthenics combination.

Didn't mean for this to turn into a "that is or is not really HIIT argument." Concern was mainly that I'm going at it on those machines hard and I'm not getting the oxygen deficiency I guess you could say, that I get from sprinting.

[shemp]

I'm sorry. I think I overshot in that sentence.

I see a lot of folks just get on "cardio machines" and go through a familiar routine-- that while demanding, doesn't vary as stimulus.

And by increasing intensity I didn't mean add more intervals, but rather try to cover more ground in the existing intervals, or shortening rest, or, or....