All you have to keep in mind if you want to start with HIIT training

HIIT training is one of the best ways to train if you have little time to exercise and want to get fit relatively quickly.

Although this may seem like a sale of smoke, it is not, because although the good part is that many calories are burned in a very short time, the bad part is that doing a HIIT training is the least similar to walking around field.

HIIT training: Why it’s a great strategy?

HIIT, or “high intensity interval training”, is a method that requires very little time, but a lot of effort concentrated in a short space of time, hence its name.

If we have any way of measuring our oxygen consumption, we have to know that HIIT is carried out from 80% of VO2 max if we want to achieve the EPOC effect. This intensity, although it is relative for each person, is relatively high, and a certain previous level of training is recommended.

This effect EPOC (Oxygen Excess Post-Training), is that the consumption of calories by the tissues of the body remains high even once we have finished training, so that in this way we do easier to reach the caloric deficit needed to lose fat.

If we intend to carry out a session of HIIT, we have to know that a working relationship – adequate rest is between 1 – 2 and 1 – 4 , that is, for every second we train, we will rest between two and four seconds.

It is usually recommended to perform the series from ten to thirty seconds of work, since a shorter period of time would be insufficient to generate an effective stimulus, and a longer period of time would not allow us to train at the right intensity.

As for the work series, these tend to oscillate between eight and twelve, although there is not an amount that generates a consensus in the scientific community.

How to perform a HIIT training

The versatility is another of the advantages that HIIT has, and that is that you can perform this type of training in many ways depending on the type of exercise, work time, intensity …

As for the type of exercise performed, the HIIT in sprints (in which case it is known as SIT, of Sprint Interval Training) is the most usual, although you can also use the rowing machine, the skipping rope, the stationary bicycle, strength exercises with bars, dumbbells and kettlebells or with one’s own body weight, combat exercises such as kickboxing, or elliptical exercises (in which case it is not especially recommended for the discomfort that it can generate on the knee).

As for the type of time and intensity, there are many different types of HIIT training, of which the most popular are the Gunnarsson protocol, the Tabata protocol and the Tanisho protocol.

Gunnarsson training

The Gunnarsson tends to like a lot because it does not rest passively at any time, and therefore the feeling of being exercising at all times and taking advantage of time is maintained throughout the activity.

This method consists of carrying out work intervals of 10, 20 and 30 seconds at 90, 60 and 30% of the intensity as a function of VO2max, respectively.

The usual thing, given that the intensity oscillates so much, is that we use a static bicycle or a SkiErg to show us the power watts, since in this way we can establish an intensity that limits the work periods.

Tabata Training

The Tabata is one of the best known methods of HIIT, and is that despite the ratios of work – rest that we have discussed before, the Tabata consists of training for twenty seconds, and then rest ten.

Although the Tabata was conceived at first as a way of working with the stationary bicycle, strength exercises such as pull-ups or push-ups are usually carried out in the form of a circuit.

Training Tanisho

With the Tanisho, the reverse is the case with the Tabata; the work-rest intervals in this case are from ten to twenty, so the level of demand for this method is considerably lower.

In any case, this training will allow us to perform a greater total volume of work because rest between sets is higher and therefore the accumulated fatigue will be lower.

However, the exercises that we will perform in this method will be the same that we can choose to perform a Tabata session (squats, military press, rowing machine …).