The HIIT Revolution for Fat Burning Success
by Troy M. Anderson [url=javascript:pager.gotoPage(0);]
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Many people seem to think that each of the top-level coaches in the
industry swear only by their own systems, and anyone who disagrees with
them be damned. While this may be true on some levels, there is one
area of training upon which damn near everyone agrees. Chad
Waterbury has a specific program about it in his book, Berardi and
Thibaudeau have both written excellent articles on the topic, and
barely a spare moment goes by without hearing Cosgrove blab on and on
about it. Hell, even TC re-published an article he wrote on the topic.
What is this topic that seems to have everyone nodding in agreement?
It's High Intensity Interval Training, otherwise known as HIIT. Some
of you may be thinking that if all these guys have shared their
knowledge on the topic, what could I possibly have to share that would
be worthwhile to read? Well, stick with me with for another paragraph
and I'll let you know exactly what you can expect to get out of it. The
goal of this article is to share some where-the-rubber-meets-the-road
tips on how to set up a HIIT program that suits you best, whether
you're a confused newbie or a seasoned veteran who's tired of running
sprints. So, what's all the hype about?

A Burn of EPOC proportions If
you haven't heard of or read all of Alwyn Cosgrove's research articles
on how superior HIIT is for fat loss, let me get you up to speed. When
done correctly, HIIT will produce something called EPOC (Excess
Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption). What exactly does this
mean to you? It means that when you get done with a session you should
be out of breath, sweating profusely, and a little weak in the legs.
And you can wipe that smirk off your face: I am notdescribing a 'workout' with Mindi and Cindi from the Ol' Bump and Grind Club.

HIIT will also leave you breathless, sweating, and a little shaky.

Two birds with one stone Not
only will you be incinerating all that unwanted fat, but you'll also
have the chance to build slabs of muscle on your glutes and hamstrings
at the same time.

Efficiency An
intense, focused session of HIIT training should take about 30 minutes
including your rest intervals and will have you burning fat for the
rest of the day. That's efficiency in my book. Even with this
impressive list of benefits there are still plenty of people who don't
utilize this type of training in their programs. Many of them are of
the Baggypantis stringtanktopius variety.

An adult male B. stringtanktopius, in his natural habitat Normally,
this type of training wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, these
dangerous animals have been known to promote the use and "superiority"
of slow, steady-state cardio to the world of fitness competitors,
urging them to perform upwards of 3 hours a day. Isn't that like a
part-time job?

A dangerous animal Along
with the urban legend of steady-state cardio as the be-all and end-all
of fat-loss and physique-shaping exercises, here are a few other
obstacles that might keep people from adding HIIT to their programs: Sprinting.
This is the most commonly prescribed drill to use for performing HIIT.
Sprinting is a significant problem because you probably never learned
the proper way to sprint, unless you come from an athletic background.
That night you ran from the police during a frat party when you were
19? Sorry, doesn't count. Solution: You
sprint. More specifically, you perform Hill Sprints. Because of the
incline of the hill, you will immediately fall into good running form
using high knee drive and elbow drive. Most people will automatically
fall into this correct running pattern, which is facilitated by the
necessity of climbing the hill. Mentally daunting to perform.
Make no bones about it. HIIT is hard. As a matter of fact, it's so
daunting that it becomes very easy to talk one's self out of an HIIT
training. Trust me. I've been there and done that. Solution: Find
a training partner. If you're currently training, odds are you already
have a training partner. If you don't, I'd bet money there is someone
you know who would like to be doing some HIIT but doesn't want to do it
on his/her own. Not only will a training partner ensure that you
actually perform HIIT training, but you'll likely increase the
intensity of your session by challenging each other to go faster. Can't
go outside and run? I find it a little hard to believe that there are
actually people who can't go outside to train. It is more likely that
some individuals would just rather stay inside. Of course, during
certain times of the year, there are places you really can't go
outside. Solution: I have
developed a couple of programs for cranking up your indoor HIIT session
without being stuck performing sprint intervals on a recumbent bike or
banging away on a treadmill. I discuss these programs later in this
article. Need a change of pace. I'm sure there are some
hardened veterans out there who've let their programs slip for no other
reason than they're just bored with lining up, sprinting in a straight
line, and repeating. Solution:
Along with the new indoor programs detailed below, you'll also find a
few new outdoor training programs guaranteed to break the monotony of
straight line sprints.

HIIT Warm-Up Before
we get to the programming portion, we do need to warm up. A warm-up is
absolutely critical because of the intensity involved when performing
HIIT. It's not uncommon for individuals to experience some sort of
major soft tissue injury because they improperly warmed up. This leaves
a bad taste in their mouth about HIIT training. Case in point, at a
recent dinner with my wife and another couple, I was the only one who
hadn't had either a major soft tissue injury while sprinting or
experienced one of the other obstacles listed above. Below is
a warm-up session that I have effectively used to keep my clients and
athletes injury-free during their HIIT sessions. You'll need a course
that is 10-20 yards in length. All drills are to be performed at one
(1) repetition for a round trip.
Drill 1 - High Knee
Drill 2 - Butt Kicker
Drill 3 - Lateral Shuffle
Drill 4 - Carioca
Drill 5 - High Skip
Drill 6 - Gorilla Walks


HIIT Programs for Indoor/At-Home Enthusiasts There
are plenty of unconventional pieces of equipment that one can use to
build a really effective and fresh HIIT training. Equipment like
kettlebells, sleds, sandbags, etc. are very good tools for this type of
training. That said, I am going to limit the scope of the programs in
this article to only include exercises and items that the average
trainee will be able to do or have available at a moment's notice.
We'll save all the really cool things that you can do with the above
not-so-conventional implements for another article These first
few programs are designed for those who want to dust off their pieces
of home fitness equipment (a.k.a. the treadmill or recumbent bike) or
would like to perform intervals at their commercial gym.

Now is your chance to finally use the friggin' thing. Note:
Most of these programs will require that you grab a dumbbell or two and
take a hike over to the cardio equipment. I can't imagine most gyms
being huge sticklers about this. However, if this is the case, and
although it might be a pain, I'd recommend that you pause your piece of
equipment, walk over to the dumbbell area, perform your high intensity
training and then walk back. Actually, I'm pretty sure you will
appreciate the extra time to rest as you walk back to your cardio
equipment. Indoor Litivinovs — Yeah, I stole this idea from the genius named Dan John. This one is a beauty because of its simplicity.
Equipment: 1) Interval — 1 moderately heavy dumbbell
2) Cardio — Treadmill
Intervals: Perform
a work interval of two-hand dumbbell swings by grasping the dumbbell by
its head and performing swings. The goal here, as it is for each of the
work intervals described below, is to perform as many swings (or
snatches or thrusters or whatever) as you possibly can before moving to
your rest interval. Perform your rest interval by walking on the treadmill.
Note:
Your fitness level will determine the speed at which you keep the
treadmill during your rest interval. If you are a beginner, walking may
be most appropriate. If you are advanced, a light jog at 5.5 to 6.5 mph
would be an appropriate rest.
Vertical Power Interval — This is another treadmill-dumbbell variation.
Equipment: 1) Interval — 1 moderately heavy dumbbell
2) Cardio — Treadmill
Intervals: Perform
a work interval of dumbbell snatches. Since this is a unilateral
exercise, I recommend alternating your snatching arm for each interval.
Perform your rest interval on the treadmill by doing steep incline walking. Note:
If you're a beginner, a 6-8% incline would be most appropriate. If you
are advanced, use a 10-15% incline. I do not recommend jogging or
running during this set of intervals. Walk at a pace of approximately
3.0 to 4.5 mph. Total Body Blast Off — This combination utilizes a recumbent bike and a set of dumbbells.
Equipment: 1) Interval — 1 pair light to medium dumbbells
2) Cardio — Recumbent Bike
Intervals: Perform
a work interval of dumbbell thrusters. Thrusters are performed by
holding the dumbbells at shoulder level and performing a squat that
continues directly into an overhead press, immediately reverses
direction back into a squat, and repeats. Then perform your
rest interval on the recumbent bike peddling at a rate and resistance
that you perceive to be between a 5 and 7 on an RPE scale of 1-10, with
10 being most difficult.

Bare Minimum Circuit
— This combination utilizes an elliptical and just your bodyweight.
Logistically this may be be the easiest combination to perform in a
very busy gym.
Equipment: 1) Interval — Your body
2) Cardio — Elliptical Machine
Intervals: Perform
a work interval of bodyweight squat thrust and jumps. Squat thrust and
jumps are performed by completing a normal squat thrust, then exploding
from the bottom position into a fully extended jump with arms reaching
high overhead. You'll then absorb your landing with a partial
squat and continue directly into the next repetition of the squat
thrust. Then repeat. Perform your rest interval on the
elliptical at a rate and resistance that you perceive to be between a 5
and 7 on an RPE scale of 1-10, with 10 being most difficult. Below
is a basic progression chart. The two variables that are being
progressively adjusted are the rest-to-work ratio and the total ratio.
Both are being incrementally adjusted to ensure that you continue to
develop higher levels of fitness as well as maintain appropriate levels
of disturbance to ensure that you don't plateau with your fat-loss
goals.
Quick Notes: Remember the first two letters in HIIT stand for High Intensity.
This means that your work intervals need to be all-out. In other words,
you need to perform as many reps as possible. As
you progress from beginner to advanced, you may need to adjust the
intensity of your rest intervals. What as a beginner was an appropriate
amount of rest may be too much rest as you become more advanced. In
that case, simply increase the intensity of your rest interval (e.g.,
steeper incline on treadmill, higher level of rate and resistance on
bike). Generally speaking, at the completion of your "rest
interval," you should feel almost recovered. If you desire more
objective feedback, I'd recommend utilizing a heart rate monitor.
However, I find that using the intensities, repetitions, and rest
protocols shown below will generally produce the almost recovered
effect most of the time.

HIIT Programs for Outdoor Enthusiasts The
following program is a simple outdoor running program. This is a High,
Medium, and Low intensity running program I have used with my clients
that has produced overall running fitness as well as assisting with
aesthetic goals. Be sure to use the same warm-up sequence as above for
this program.
Try to find a good sprinting partner who will push you to your limit.
General Guidelines Day
1 — 100 meter sprints. These should be all-out sprints leaving nothing
extra in the tank. This is the high intensity running day. Day
2 - 400 meter sprints. Although these are termed sprints and you will
be attempting to sprint, your speed will be significantly slower due to
the added distance. This is the medium intensity running day. Day
3 — 800 meter runs. Again, these runs will be a bit slower. However,
the goal here is actually to add a little distance, thus working on
general endurance. This is the low intensity running day. This
program has been designed with the intent of utilizing your local
track. If you don't have a track close by, you could use a soccer
field. Each session should last approximately 35-45 minutes depending
on how closely you stick to the rest interval protocols. Lastly,
I'd strongly recommend you give yourself at least one day of rest in
between your high intensity running day and any kind of intense
resistance training session that places a lot of demand on your lower
body. This way you won't have to compromise performance. The
last HIIT training in my bag of tricks is strictly for those who are a
little on the masochistic side or want to do HIIT-type training but
just don't have enough time to commit to one of the more in-depth
programs. For those of you who fit that description, welcome to Tabata
hell! I'm sure many of you have heard of this protocol and maybe a few
of you have even tried it out. If you have, you realize that I'm not
joking about the "hell" part.

Tabata Protocol Background The
Tabata protocol is a conditioning protocol developed and studied by a
Japanese researcher named, of all things, Dr. Tabata. He found that
performing 20 seconds of max effort or 100% work level followed by 10
seconds of medium to low level work performed for a 4 minute work cycle
was an extremely productive method for increasing both aerobic and
anaerobic fitness. Now, before you go gangbusters with Tabata,
understand that this may very well be the toughest 4 minutes you ever
spend in your life. Okay, you've been warned. There are a
couple of drills I prefer for Tabata. They are similar in that they
both hammer the legs, especially the posterior chain. Drill 1
— This drill is for all of you who either cannot run because of
orthopedic health or simply prefer not to run. Pick a medium weight
kettlebell or dumbbell and perform two-hand swings for the entire
Tabata protocol.
Drill 2
— This is about as simple as it gets. Find a space where you can
measure off approximately 100 meters/yards. Again, soccer fields and
tracks work very well. Once you have your spot, you'll sprint during
the 20 second work intervals and jog/walk during the 10 second rest
intervals. When you reach one end of your 100 meters, just turn around
and go back the other direction. It just doesn't get much simpler than
that. Below I've sketched out exactly what the Tabata
protocol looks like on paper, and how exactly you will need to set up
your stop watch. This is probably the best damn 4 minutes of HIIT out
there. Good Luck.
Work Interval #1 — 20 sec
Rest Interval #1 — 10 sec
Work Interval #2 — 20 sec
Rest Interval #2 — 10 sec
Work Interval #3 — 20 sec
Rest Interval #3 — 10 sec
Work Interval #4 — 20 sec
Rest Interval #4 — 10 sec
Work Interval #5 — 20 sec
Rest Interval #5 — 10 sec
Work Interval #6 — 20 sec
Rest Interval #6 — 10 sec
Work Interval #7 — 20 sec
Rest Interval #7 — 10 sec
Work Interval #8 — 20 sec
Rest Interval #8 — 10 sec My
whole goal in writing this article is to highlight the variety of HIIT
programs available and to provide several programs that have worked
successfully for my clients in both the realm of enhanced performance
and aesthetic results. After all, doesn't everyone desire to be both
lean and functional? Whether you are an athlete, bodybuilder,
or someone who just wants to look good 'nekkid,' HIIT training should
be a staple in your overall training plan. Hopefully, this article was
able to shed a little more light on the importance of this aspect of
training and show exactly how one should go about programming this type
of training into an overall training cycle.

About the Author Troy
M. Anderson is the owner of Integrated Evolution, LLC, of Tempe,
Arizona. Troy is often referred to as "the McGyver of coaching" for his
unique ability to build effective fitness programs using only the most
basic equipment.
For more tools,
techniques, and instructional video that will enhance your training and
accelerate your results, visit Troy's site to sign up for Troy's free Blue Collar Fitness Report.


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