It’s all about HIIT continued…
Some different types of HIIT formats:
(1) HIIT (PURE CARDIO): Doing sprints, stair climbs, Skipping or any aerobic exercise (increases heart rate 80-95% MHR) in work: rest intervals. Example: 20 seconds of skipping followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeat 5 times (5 sets) with a total time of 2 min 30 sec. Take a longer rest period for 1 min and repeat 5 sets of 20:10 for total time of 2 min 30 sec. You have a HIIT (skipping) workout of 6 min.
(2) HIIT Plyometric(Cardio): Plyometric exercises involve jumping exercises. These exercises are high force; high impact movements and you need to have good amount of strength especially in your lower body (hips, knees & ankles). Not recommended for beginners. Those who already have a strength routine in place can progress gradually. Learn how to execute the jump especially the landing to avoid injuries. Examples: Basic jumps- Standing Long, high, linear, single leg jumps or hops, Jumping Jacks, Burpees, Climbers, etc. The workout can be for timing – 15 second work: 15 second rest or for repetitions – 15 jumping jacks: 15 second rest.
(3) HIIT SARQ (speed/agility/reactivity/quickness): These are skill based training. And form is very important to avoid injuries. Learn and practice the right foot placement, body placement, posture before attempting the drills. Bonus of this training: It can be a fun group activity and a good outdoor workout especially for kids. It improves your reflexes & co-ordination and needs minimal equipment. Examples: Speed Drills: high Knees, arm drives, ABC drills. Agility Drills: Ladder drills, Hurdle Drills, cone/marker drills, Reactivity/Quickness: Acceleration, deceleration & change of direction drills.
(4) HIIT Strength: Sounds like an oxymoron. Because HIIT works towards building endurance and not strength. Like I said in my earlier post, we use the HIIT format to build endurance and not strength. Strength Training builds strength. But if you do strength based movements in a circuit format, one after another without rest or with minimal rest, you train your anaerobic system similar to the HIIT format. Plus due to EPOC (Excess Post Oxygen Consumption) you burn calories after exercise. So, you get the benefits of HIIT along with strength endurance (not pure strength but strength endurance). Examples: Bodyweight or weighted movements like squats, pushups, planks, military press, lunges, pullups, and rows. Compound movements that involve your entire body are more efficient.
(5) HIIT Plyometric (Power): Power is maximum force produced in the shortest time. Exercises to train power again elicit the same responses as HIIT. Recommended for advanced trainees and athletes only. Examples: High Jumps, Long Jumps, Tuck jumps, box jumps for lower body and medicine ball tosses, plyo pushups for upper body.
(6) HIIT HYBRID: Combine moves from any or all of the above in a circuit format. The most common type used.
How to make your own HIIT workout: Pick and choose the exercises as per your skills, abilities, equipment & space. Create your intervals. It can be 1:2 or 1:1 ratio (work: rest). Or a tabata interval 2:1 (more challenging). Use an interval timer app on your smart phone. Set your number of sets or rounds. And go for it 💪. Set your total time. Repeat the workout for time. A good warm up and cool down is essential before and after your workout.
For beginners who have been trained in the basic movement patterns, I recommend MIIT-Medium intensity interval training (heart range 50-70%)… It will not drain you like HIIT but will increase your cardio vascular capacity and improve metabolism. And since it’s not as taxing on your system, you can do them more frequently. It will help build your endurance capacity gradually until you can do HIIT.
For older adults, those with injuries, a chronic joint issue or those with cardiovascular disease HIIT is a contraindication. Steady State cardio and low impact training will help improve your fitness.
And now some differences:
HIIT vs CIRCUIT TRAINING
Circuit training is a format used mostly to save time while training as well as get an added cardio vascular benefit. A set number of exercises performed one after the other without rest or with minimal rest. Timed recovery would be taken after the circuit is done. The exercises could be strength endurance based or a combination of strength (endurance) and cardio. Circuits can be for time intervals or a fixed number of repetitions. All circuits are not of high intensity.
HIIT vs METABOLIC RESISTANCE TRAINING (MRT)
MRT is a form of training that uses HIIT principles. It combines muscular endurance training and cardio. The exercises are a combination of resisted complex and explosive movements that use major muscle groups like squats, presses, snatches, etc. Resistance can be body weights or external loads (dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells) Uses faster tempo and RPE (rate of perceived exertion) is 9 on a scale of 1-10. Rest is less. (Example: CrossFit type workouts…) The benefits of this type of training: improve cardio vascular fitness, maintain muscle mass and boosting your metabolism. Ideal for weight management and fat loss goals while preventing muscles loss. Recommended only for intermediate and advance trainees who have mastered loaded movement patterns and gained sufficient skills and muscular strength through structured strength training. Not suitable for beginners.
So that’s all ‘bout HIIT.. Have fun training 🙂
PS: Video: HIIT example using lower body plyometric exercises. Video speed is altered.
Source credit: acefitness.org