HIIT me!

Exactly one week ago I blogged about how my love for the gym has grown in the past year. And one thing I am looking forward to in September is being at my apartment throughout the week with gym access a mere 2 flights of stairs away! When the gym is that close, it makes laziness a very pitiful excuse :P

Today I worked on back, biceps and abs and then jumped on the treadmill for some High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). What is HIIT? It's a strategy often used to improve athletic performance in short training periods. In a nutshell, it's cardio that's performed at such intensity that you experience excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). Or, in basic terms, you consume more oxygen recovering from your workout than you would doing normal cardio. In terms of fat loss, it can be increased by 9x!!

It's important to note that HIIT shouldn't replace cardio but should be seen as cross training. And as always, too much of a good thing is bad. According to Pete McCall, an exercise physiologist (American Council on Exercise in San Diego), HIIT should be done "two to three times a week with at least 48 hours of recover between training sessions."

Here's what my workout looked like:

Time	Level	Reps
5 min	3-4 (warm up)	1x
10 min	5-6 (90 sec)
	7-8 (30 sec)	5x
1 min	5-6	1x
2 min	9-10 (10 sec)
	5-6 (50 sec)	2x
1 min	5-6	1x
2 min	9-10 (20 sec)
	5-6 (40 sec)	2x
1 min	5-6	1x
2 min	9-10 (10 sec)
	5-6 (50 sec)	2x
1 min	5-6	1x
10 min	7-8 (15 sec)
	5-6 (45 sec)	10x
5 min	3-4 (cool down)	1x

By the end my back was drenched with sweat! And my calves burned but it was the GOOD kind of burn. The one that makes me want to do this again and again...with a 48 hr rest period, of course ;). I'm not looking to lose weight but I do want to work on my tone so I'm excited to see the results of doing HIIT on a frequent basis!

Have you tried High Intensity Interval Training before? Are you more of a sprinter or a long-distance runner?