In place sprinting, HIIT

by John
(New York, New York, USA)

I have read a lot of studies on High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), and the results are pretty promising especially compared to long duration sustained cardio workouts. There are many different ways you can go about HIIT but I'll describe my own way.

It takes only a few minutes and it feels like you did a thirty minute workout. You need an interval timer for this to be really effective.

This is my setup:

Set the timer for thirty seconds of work and four minutes.

During the thirty second interval of "work" you run standing in place as hard as you can, like its a sprint. When the thirty seconds run out you stop and basically rest. I personally just walk around very slowly to get my heart rate down. I try to do four or five intervals of this but the key is to just do it.

If you're out of shape you might not last that many intervals when starting out but you'll progress to it.

Its a great full workout and only takes up a very small amount of time.

Since you're going full force during the work interval, you're going to feel pretty tired. Otherwise you probably aren't pushing yourself hard enough.

When I first started my calf and thigh muscles were a little bit sore and I could only do a couple of intervals as I got a bit light headed and had to stop. But I don't have these problems anymore.

Its very important to strictly stick with the intervals otherwise you defeat the purpose.

Adjust the intervals for the next workout if you feel like making it a bit harder. Like two minutes of rest instead of four minutes, or forty five seconds of running instead of thirty.

I use the timer from http://www.speedbagforum.com/timer

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