Warning: HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is an advanced form of cardiovascular exercise.
If you're a beginner to aerobic exercise…
You should focus on steady state cardio workouts at a lower intensity for a few program cycles before you attempt HIIT.
Consult your doctor before attempting any high intensity cardiovascular exercise. ‘High Intensity Interval Training' combines periods of high intensity cardio with periods of lower intensity cardio.
The lower intensity intervals are there only to help you catch your breath so you can continue doing high intensity cardio.
HIIT Sessions are Shorter in Duration
HIIT sessions are usually much shorter in duration than steady state cardio sessions.
Proponents of HIIT argue that HIIT saves time and burns more fat than steady state cardio. HIIT does save time and can burn more calories overall but places a lot of extra stress on the body compared to medium intensity steady state cardio.
HIIT can push your heart rate much higher than the beginning high intensity percentage of 80%. Your heart rate will be over 80% during the periods of high intensity exercise. You will be pushing very hard during the high intensity intervals, and you'll only be allowed enough time to catch your breath.
You'll then go back at it again and push your heart rate into the high intensity zone once again. HIIT is very challenging and taxing on your body.
HIIT Versus Medium Intensity Steady State Cardio
HIIT will definitely burn more calories than steady state cardio when the duration of the workouts are equal. For example, a 15 minute HIIT session will burn more calories than a steady state cardio session at medium intensity for 15 minutes.
HIIT is not magic and has trade off's just as anything else in this world. HIIT is very stressful to your body, but it does burn lots of calories. A greater amount of protein is used for energy during HIIT than medium intensity cardio.
For that reason alone, I prefer medium intensity steady state cardio.
Medium intensity cardio for a longer duration also burns lots of calories and is not even close to as stressful on your body as HIIT. I never recommend HIIT when calories are approaching minimum levels.
HIIT will cause you to overtrain much quicker than steady state cardio that is less stressful on your body.
I always suggest medium intensity cardio as the number one choice for muscle building and fat loss cycles. HIIT can be used for muscle building cycles to save time and occasionally for fat loss cycles to break through a plateau.
Most of you will not have any trouble with plateaus for a while. You have so many options for preventing plateaus with our programs that you may never have a plateau.
If you do reach a fat loss plateau, though, substituting a few sessions of medium intensity cardio for HIIT will do the trick for continued fat loss.
Never use HIIT if you've lowered your calories to minimal levels (which is not recommended anyway on WLC).
I recommend medium intensity cardio for fat loss cycles because of the decreased amount of stress compared to high intensity cardio. HIIT really stresses the body. Your body is already being stressed during fat loss cycles due to the increased cardio and decreased calories compared to muscle building cycles.
There's no need to add more stress to the body with HIIT when medium intensity cardio does the trick.
Medium intensity cardio works very, very well for fat loss. HIIT works very well also and burns more calories in the same amount of time, but places more stress on your body.
Experiment with HIIT only if you need it — it does give a good change of pace from medium intensity cardio so feel free to mix a HIIT workout in any time you want.
Layout of a HIIT Workout
To minimize the stress from HIIT workouts, I've come up with some workouts for you if you want to experiment with HIIT. Remember, HIIT is not for beginners. Ensure you have been doing medium intensity cardio for a few program cycles before attempting HIIT.
You are going to use your own perception of effort for each HIIT workout. You will use your perceived effort level for your HIIT workouts. You can find the effort levels in the table below:
| Effort Level | Percentage of Effort | Perceived Intensity |
| 0 | 0% | No Activity |
| 1 | 10% | Very, Very Easy |
| 2 | 20% | Very Easy |
| 3 | 30% | Easy |
| 4 | 40% | Getting Harder |
| 5 | 50% | Even Harder |
| 6 | 60% | Moderately Hard |
| 7 | 70% | Hard |
| 8 | 80% | Very Hard |
| 9 | 90% | Very, Very Hard |
| 10 | 100% | Maximum Effort |
The levels shown above are based on your own perception. An all out maximum effort is level 10 while a level 0 effort is no activity at all. A level 5 effort is an average intensity — not too hard and not too easy.
For example, walking lightly could be a level 1 effort, light jogging could be level 5 effort, and sprinting all out would be a level 10 effort.
Now, the HIIT workouts you are going to find over the next few pages are going to vary the level of effort throughout the cardiovascular workout. The periods of lower intensities should be used for recovery purposes and should lower your heart rate into the medium intensity range.
Use your heart rate watch to ensure your heart rate is lowering during the recovery phases of the HIIT workout. Watch it rise when you get to the high intensity portions. You can use your heart rate to help you find perceived effort levels.
For example, a heart rate around 150 may be a level 7 for you while a heart rate of 170 may be a level 10 for you. The heart rate watch becomes very useful during HIIT workouts.
Activities to use with HIIT
You can use any of the approved activities with HIIT, but I highly recommend that you use a low impact activity. Sprinting on hard surfaces is a common activity used by many people, but I do not recommend this for most people.
High impact activities lead to the development of scar tissue, joint problems, overuse problems, and more.
The foam roller becomes especially important if you use high impact activities for cardio.
HIIT is hard on your body without the added stress of high impacts each and every movement you make. Stick with low impact activities and reap the rewards of HIIT for the rest of your life without injury. Trust me on this one.
Below, you'll find different levels of HIIT workouts to use with low impact activities. Have fun.
Creating Your Own HIIT Workout
I've given you 3 HIIT workouts — each successive workout is more difficult due to longer high intensity intervals. Work your way through these HIIT workouts over time.
Once you've gained some experience with HIIT workouts, you can start developing your own HIIT workouts with varying levels of intensity.
Be sure to keep your workouts under 30 minutes and more than 15 minutes including warm up and cool down. You are required to include a warm up and cool down period. Other than that, feel free to design any HIIT workout you want.
Have fun creating your own workouts. You can even combine different activities into one workout. Be creative.
For example, during low intensity intervals you can jog and for high intensity intervals you can jump rope. Carry your jump rope with you as you jog.
Level 1 HIIT Workout
Duration: 21 minutes
Warm Up Interval: 3 minutes
Cool Down Interval: 3 minutes
High Intensity Interval: 15 seconds
Recovery Interval: 45 seconds
Number of Sets: 15
You will alternate periods of high intensity with recovery periods…
| Minutes | High Intensity Effort | Duration | Low Intensity Effort | Duration |
| 0 – 3 | Warm Up | Warm Up | Warm Up | Warm Up |
| 3 – 4 | 6 | 15 seconds | 3 | 45 seconds |
| 4 – 5 | 7 | 15 seconds | 4 | 45 seconds |
| 5 – 6 | 8 | 15 seconds | 5 | 45 seconds |
| 6 – 7 | 9 | 15 seconds | 6 | 45 seconds |
| 7 – 8 | 9 | 15 seconds | 6 | 45 seconds |
| 8 – 9 | 9 | 15 seconds | 6 | 45 seconds |
| 9 – 10 | 9 | 15 seconds | 6 | 45 seconds |
| 10 – 11 | 9 | 15 seconds | 6 | 45 seconds |
| 11 – 12 | 9 | 15 seconds | 6 | 45 seconds |
| 12 – 13 | 9 | 15 seconds | 6 | 45 seconds |
| 13 – 14 | 9 | 15 seconds | 6 | 45 seconds |
| 14 – 15 | 9 | 15 seconds | 6 | 45 seconds |
| 15 – 16 | 9 | 15 seconds | 6 | 45 seconds |
| 16 – 17 | 9 | 15 seconds | 6 | 45 seconds |
| 17 – 18 | 9 | 15 seconds | 7 | 45 seconds |
| 18 – 21 | Cool Down | Cool Down | Cool Down | Cool Down |
Level 2 HIIT Workout
Duration: 21 minutes
Warm Up Interval: 3 minutes
Cool Down Interval: 3 minutes
High Intensity Interval: 30 seconds
Recovery Interval: 30 seconds
Number of Sets: 15
You will alternate periods of high intensity with recovery periods…
| Minutes | High Intensity Effort | Duration | Low Intensity Effort | Duration |
| 0 – 3 | Warm Up | Warm Up | Warm Up | Warm Up |
| 3 – 4 | 6 | 30 seconds | 3 | 30 seconds |
| 4 – 5 | 7 | 30 seconds | 4 | 30 seconds |
| 5 – 6 | 8 | 30 seconds | 5 | 30 seconds |
| 6 – 7 | 9 | 30 seconds | 6 | 30 seconds |
| 7 – 8 | 9 | 30 seconds | 6 | 30 seconds |
| 8 – 9 | 9 | 30 seconds | 6 | 30 seconds |
| 9 – 10 | 9 | 30 seconds | 6 | 30 seconds |
| 10 – 11 | 9 | 30 seconds | 6 | 30 seconds |
| 11 – 12 | 9 | 30 seconds | 6 | 30 seconds |
| 12 – 13 | 9 | 30 seconds | 6 | 30 seconds |
| 13 – 14 | 9 | 30 seconds | 6 | 30 seconds |
| 14 – 15 | 9 | 30 seconds | 6 | 30 seconds |
| 15 – 16 | 9 | 30 seconds | 6 | 30 seconds |
| 16 – 17 | 9 | 30 seconds | 6 | 30 seconds |
| 17 – 18 | 9 | 30 seconds | 7 | 30 seconds |
| 18 – 21 | Cool Down | Cool Down | Cool Down | Cool Down |
Level 3 HIIT Workout
Duration: 22 minutes
Warm Up Interval: 3 minutes
Cool Down Interval: 3 minutes
High Intensity Interval: 60 seconds
Recovery Interval: 60 seconds
Number of Sets: 8
You will alternate periods of high intensity with recovery periods…
| Minutes | High Intensity Effort | Duration | Low Intensity Effort | Duration |
| 0 – 3 | Warm Up | Warm Up | Warm Up | Warm Up |
| 3 – 5 | 6 | 60 seconds | 3 | 60 seconds |
| 5 – 7 | 7 | 60 seconds | 4 | 60 seconds |
| 7 – 9 | 8 | 60 seconds | 5 | 60 seconds |
| 9 – 11 | 9 | 60 seconds | 6 | 60 seconds |
| 11 – 13 | 9 | 60 seconds | 6 | 60 seconds |
| 13 – 15 | 9 | 60 seconds | 6 | 60 seconds |
| 15 – 17 | 9 | 60 seconds | 6 | 60 seconds |
| 17 – 19 | 10 | 60 seconds | 7 | 60 seconds |
| 19 – 22 | Cool Down | Cool Down | Cool Down | Cool Down |
Remember to use all of these workouts only if you're in pretty good cardiovascular shape.
You need to be in good shape to do these high intensity interval workouts. If you're not yet in good shape, start with low intensity cardio and then move to medium intensity cardio for a few months.
Then, you'll be ready for these workouts with your doctor's permission.
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