Question about HIIT

[jaykay]

I saw 2 workout plans involving HIIT and is wondering which one is better-- both for results and for how hard it is on the body.

The first one is a 16 week program which involves increasing cycles of the HIIT routine every 4 weeks, so the time of the HIIT increases and this is really supposed to cut down on body fat. The first four weeks you do it 3x/week, then the next 4 weeks do it 4x/week, etc up to 5 and 6x/week by the last four weeks. Is it okay to continue doing my weight lifting 3x/week while doing this intense cardio? I feel up to the challenge for this workout.

The second plan says to do only 2, 25 min HIIT sessions a week, and on weight lifting days do about 10 min moderate cardio.

Thanks!

[cyclistrob]

Personally, HIIT 6 times a week seems excessive. At most I'd recommend 4 times a week after building up a good base. Try HIIT for 8 weeks 3 times a week progressively making each week a little more difficult than the last. This could be by adding a few extra intervals, or reducing your recovery time between intervals. Then you could do the last 8 weeks at 4 times a week, again making each week progressively harder than the last. I'm sure you can get great results with only 3 times a week if you're going at 100% intensity during each HIIT session.

[jaykay]

And it's okay to weight train on the days I do hiit?

[Lady C]

If you can do HIIT effectively AFTER weights then do it. I'll bet it is too tough to do after weights. I would just do moderate cardio instead.