By now, if you’ve been following exercise trends, I’m sure you’ve heard about high intensity training and how it’s the best way to induce fat loss in a limited amount of time. Programs like P90X, Insanity, and the many variants use some type of HIT protocol to push people to and beyond their perceived limits, allowing them to both increase their fitness as well as lose substantial amounts of weight in fairly short amounts of time. Used correctly, they’re an excellent tool to keep as part of a well rounded workout plan.
If you’re interested in some science-y reading, check out this article on HIT training in females, this article about using HIT training in cardiac patients, and these articles about HIT training and insulin, both in older adults, and young people.
Instead of focusing entire workouts around HIT (or HIIT) training, I like to roll it in with some other type of training. I find it less mentally taxing and that my results are far greater having a combination of lower intensity and high intensity work.
Here is a sample 60 minute workout. In this example, I end-cap a strength-type workout with HIT.
Warmup, 10 minutes – Dynamic movements, starting small like skipping, working up to high knee pulls and short sprints, gradually increasing in speed
Workout
Burpees, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds rest, 8 rounds.
1 Minute Rest
3 Sets Squatting Exercise – First set at 50-60%, second set at 70-80%, third set at 90-100%. You be the judge.
1 Minute Rest
3 Sets Pushing Exercise – Same as above, Wall Pushups/Knee Pushups/Full Pushups
1 Minute Rest
3 Sets Pulling Exercise – Same as above, Rows, Flex Arm Hang, Chinup/Pullup
1 Minute Rest
Sprint Pyramid, Equal Time On and Resting, 10s-20s-30s-40s-40s-30s-20s-10s. This can be done on a bike, running, on a rower, or any other piece of “cardio” equipment you’ve got. Your “On” speed should be as fast as you can safely go and you shouldn’t be able to continue at that pace after the time is up.
Cooldown, 20 minutes – Light cardio work for about 10 minutes, a jog or easy spin on the bike, followed by 5 minutes of dynamic stretching as in the warm up, and 5 minutes of static stretching.