Why HIIT is so HOT

When I ran track in high school, I dreaded every Tuesday and Thursday.  I'd get butterflies in my stomach early in the day and by the end of the school day, I knew I was in for it. Pain.  Lots of it. Possibly some puking. But mostly pain.

Because Tuesdays and Thursdays? They were interval days.

What are intervals?  The kind I did in high school track (and still do now) are workouts where you run at just below max effort for a sustained period of time, then rest for a period, then repeat.  I continued doing this when I started heart rate training (which you can find out more about at the tab above).  In high school, our intervals consisted of ladders around the track (200m, 400, 600, and so on).  Now I typically do a 5-10 minute warmup, then do half mile or quarter mile repeats.

For awhile now, I've been seeing all the buzz around HIIT on the interwebs.  I thought HIIT (which stands for "high intensity interval training") was a fancy name for what I was already doing.  So I ignored it.

Until I decided to write about intervals.  I had a whole post written that snarkily commented on how HIIT is basically the same stuff many of us have been doing for years.  Of course, I researched HIIT a bit while writing.  And this is when the wheels fell off my 'theory' that it HIIT is what I have been calling 'intervals' all these years.

Ohhh, HIIT is intervals.  But its not the kind I thought they were.  So what's the difference?

HIIT is.....
Short, intense spurts of all-out exercise, followed by a short rest period, and then repeated numerous times.

What are the benefits?

• Burns a lot of fat
• Your workouts can be much shorter
• Gets your metabolism all fired up even after you are done working out (like an afterburn, so to speak)
• You'll get faster
• You'll be able to run farther on regular runs without zonking out as quickly

What are the drawbacks?

• Its not easy and it hurts. A lot.

Recently Shape Magazine did a segment on the benefits of HIIT training.  Among the benefits listed are these tidbits:

• Healthier heart (due to pushing yourself into your higher heart rate zones, like I did here)
• Encourages fat loss, not muscle loss.
• Increases metabolism even AFTER you stop your workout

Additionally, HIIT may also increase EPOC (stay with me now), which stands for "excess post-exercise oxygen consumption", which is basically the amount of oxygen your body takes in post-workout to make up for its 'oxygen debt'.  In other words, 'the afterburn'.  Ya know- when the magic happens.  Your cells repair, oxygen is needed to convert the lactic acid you made during exercise, and your body continues burning calories/fat. Win, win, win.

There are all sorts of HIIT workouts in the web, but there are 3 main methods that you'll see over and over:

Tabata Method
Turbulance Training (which also incorporates strength training, not just cardio, more info here)
Little Method

Since each of these varied so much from my longer, more sustained intervals, I decided to give one a try. I settled on the Tabata Method and out I went.  After warming up, I ran at an all out spring for 20 seconds, then jogged for 10 seconds, then all out spring for 20 seconds and so on until I had done 8 sprints.  Then I rested for a minute and did another cycle of 8.  All told, I did 3 sets. I also looked absolutely ridiculous - imagine someone running by you at full speed then suddenly coming to a halt then speeding up again....straaange!

At first, I thought there was no way 20 seconds would be enough.  By the end of my 3rd set, I was pooped and could barely eek out 15 seconds. Getting to 20 seconds felt like an eternity.  Which is kind of the point.

It was definitely strange, mentally, to be done in roughly 20 minutes, but I was covered in sweat and could barely breathe, so I definitely felt like I had just done one of my normal interval workouts, except in half the time.  Frankly, this type of training seems just to good to be true, but I'm willing to give it a try to see if I notice any differences.

Have any of you tried any HIIT training? Thoughts? Tips?