GUIDE TO

HIIT
These days, most guys who’ve been going to the gym for a while have
heard of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and most legitimate
exercise experts agree that it is a highly efficient way to burn fat.
However, HIIT is very misunderstood. You see, even most of the “experts”
don’t seem to understand several of the fundamental aspects of this
revolutionary exercise modality. Very few people actually understand
why it works so well, what the best interval timings are, which exercise
type is best and how effective it is versus “regular” cardio not only for
fat loss but also for preservation of muscle and even performance!
In this guide, we’ll look at all of these questions, along with
all of the other things you need to consider to get the most
out of your HIIT programme.

WHAT IS HIIT
HIIT combines “intervals” of
low-intensity exercise with
intervals of very high (95-100%
effort) intensity exercise. So for
example, you might run at just
about full speed for 10 seconds
to one minute and then jog or
walk for 30 seconds all the way
up to 4 minutes (more on ideal
interval times and exercises
later). At the core of HIIT is that
activity has to be at a maximum
or near-maximum level of effort
for a short time, followed by
activity that is of long enough
duration and low enough
intensity that it allows enough
recuperation for the next very
intense “work” interval. So it’s
basically the opposite of cardio.
Instead of a steady pace
throughout, HIIT has you working
at full tilt in short bursts, each
followed by very relaxed “active
rest” periods. The key
consideration (because most
people get this part wrong) is
getting your rest times right and
not being tempted to start the
next interval too soon - you need
to get that breathing rate and
heart rate down so you’re able to
put enough work into the next
interval!
The most important attributes
of HIIT are that you spend far day. Longer-term studies with
less time exercising and yet the HIIT actually show greater
result is substantially greater fat reductions in subcutaneous
loss and probably better adipose tissue (fat under the
maintenance of muscle tissue as skin) compared to prolonged
compared to cardio. So for the cardio sessions. Ironically, by
price of a few short bouts of burning off most of the body’s
extremely demanding activity, stored carbohydrate (glycogen),
you’ll spend less time exercising, the body is forced to rely on fat
yet get superior results! for fuel. So, especially with the
right diet adjustments, HIIT can
HOW DOES IT be an incredibly potent and
WORK efficient way to get ripped [1]
For years and still in many gyms As an example of what can be
today, trainers advocate achieved by HIIT training, a
so-called “fat burning zone” group of highly-respected sports
cardio, which is the intensity scientist at McMaster University
level of cardio at which you burn used a protocol which included
the highest “percent” of fat 60 seconds of intense exercise
during exercise. What this (at 95% of VO2max), followed by
ignores is that this zone isn’t the 75 seconds of rest, repeated for
level of intensity at which you 8-12 cycles.[2] The results
burn the most “calories” from fat demonstrated that from just
and even more importantly, it three such sessions per week the
doesn’t have much impact on training effect was comparable
how many calories and how much to training five hours a week at
fat you burn in the several hours something like 50-70% of VO2
after exercise, which is among max (ie, in the “fat-burning
the benefits of HIIT. In fact, zone”)! Other studies have
that’s one of the the key demonstrated massive
benefits, people continue to burn improvements in a number of
both more calories and a higher measures of exercise
percentage of fat long after they performance and body
finish training, thus causing a composition with only a fraction
substantially greater calorie and of the time spent exercising as
fat deficit over the course of the compared to traditional “cardio”,
probably substantially due to the
prolonged increase in metabolic
rate[3]
So obviously I’m convinced of
the incredible merits of HIIT but
some people out there are
probably thinking that regular
cardio works just fine and
wondering how much better HIIT
actually is or if it is actually
better at all. Well, let’s look at
the evidence…
THE “DISCOVERY”
OF HIIT
Back in 1985, University of
Madison researchers were trying
to find effective exercise
protocols to maintain metabolic
rate in dieters who had reduced
their calorie intake[4]. Of the
various exercise protocols they
investigated, the greatest
increase in metabolic rate was
achieved with HIIT. Despite
these seemingly very important
results, it took several years
before French Canadian
researchers, Dr Angelo Tremblay
and colleagues re-discovered
the potential of intense exercise
and did some research of their
own looking at the physical
activity and body composition of
about 2,500 subjects from The
Canada Fitness Survey[5]. Well,
after doing statistical analysis of
this large pool of subjects, Dr
Tremblay’s team quickly realised
that there was a very tight
relationship between higher-
intensity exercise and lower
levels of body fat and this
prompted them to devise a
comprehensive study that would
not only compare the results
people get from HIIT versus
cardio but also establish what
kind of metabolic changes occur
in the body that might explain
the substantial superiority of
HIIT [6].
The key measure in the new
study was the difference in fat
loss between a group that did
HIIT versus a group who did
cardio. In fact, the way the study
was set up, the HIIT group only
exercised for 15 weeks and
burned about 14,000 calories,
whereas the cardio group burned
twice as many calories over 20
weeks. So the HIIT group did
fewer and shorter sessions, thus
reflecting a real life scenario. So
according to all of the traditional
“rules” of calorie balance, the
cardio group should have lost
about twice as much fat as the
HIIT group. At this point, you may
not be surprised to hear that this
didn’t happen. In fact, not only
did the HIIT group burn more fat,
they burned nine times more fat
for every calorie they burned
during exercise! So even though
they spent less than half the
time in the gym, the HIIT group
burned over four times more
total fat!
SO WHAT THE
HECK IS GOING
ON HERE?
Well, fortunately, Tremblay and
co. took biopsies - so we’re
talking about actual muscle fibre
samples to track changes in
various enzyme activity and the
results indicate that HIIT
training had the effect of
increasing levels of the
carbohydrate-metabolising
enzyme PFK
(phosphofructokinase). Not an
unexpected result because this
enzyme converts the huge
amount of glucose used during
intense exercise into ATP
(immediate muscle fuel).
Strangely, despite the fact
that cardio training uses much
more fat for fuel, it didn’t
increase levels of the fat-
metabolising enzyme HADH
(3-hydroxyacyl coA
dehydrogenase). But the real
bombshell was that levels of
HADH did increase substantially
in the HIIT group - and other
studies have shown that HIIT
stimulates a variety of other
fat-burning enzymes too[7,8,9].
The question is, why would an
activity that uses almost
exclusively carbs for fuel need to
increase the level of so many
major fat-burning enzymes? This
seems to make zero sense! And
the million dollar question is
“how the heck can burning fewer
calories cause greater fat loss”?
HOW THE BODY
MANAGES ITS
FUEL
It is well-known that as the
intensity of exercise increases
(such as with HIIT), so does the
percentage use of carbs (glucose)
for fuel. So the theory that cardio
burns more fat than HIIT seems
pretty iron clad but the body has
very complex ways of adapting to
the various stresses it is exposed
to and this scenario is one
example. The key to this anomaly
lies in our limited capacity to
store carbs as glycogen for later
use as fuel for intense exercise.
We can store huge amounts of
fat, certainly more than we could
ever use up in one bout of
exercise but with carbs, it’s a
different story. Even a large man
who exercises regularly will only
store a maximum of about 600
grams of carbs (a little over 2400
calories)[10]. Making some
normal assumptions, like that our
large guy lifts weights, does HIIT
and doesn’t overeat carbs, at
some point his body is going to
have to make adjustments to
preserve these limited stores of
glycogen or his performance is
going to suffer. Of course, this is
exactly what the body does. It
senses this energy deficit and
knows it will be called upon to
perform intense exercise again
before long and this begins to
explain the increase in fat-
burning enzymes that occurs with
HIIT.
PRESERVATION stronger several weeks in the measuring devices). So it looks
OF GLYCOGEN future. like HIIT done on a spinning bike,
You see, whilst adapting to doing stair climber, rowing machine or
HIIT, the fuel ratios the body HIIT TIMING & some other device that requires
uses for many hours after BURNING FAT, some kind of vigorous pushing or
exercise change NOT MUSCLE pulling against resistance, would
dramatically[11]. This is because One of the key considerations be the most intelligent choice to
the body is focussing on for people concerned with avoid the pitfalls of combining
replenishing glycogen and the gaining muscle and losing fat is cardio with weight training.
only way it can do this is in the doing a type of fat-burning
absence of a high carb intake is activity that doesn’t interfere HIIT (AND
by minimising the burning of with muscle growth, strength CARDIO) TIMING
carbs for energy and the only development and recovery. I’ve talked before about the fact
substantial alternative fuel Unfortunately, it’s no secret that that you shouldn’t do your cardio
available to provide this energy strength training and moderate after lifting, as many
is fat. So the reason HADH (the and intense cardio impairs the bodybuilders still do. Of course
fat-metabolising enzyme that response to both, making you most professional bodybuilders
increased massively in the HIIT smaller, slower and weaker. And do their cardio at a completely
group) levels went through the this isn’t just some bodybuilding separate time than their weight
roof wasn’t due to the body “bro-science”, a review of 20 of training but most regular guys
adapting to using more fat the highest-quality studies on who hit the weights hard but
during exercise (because it this very topic, published in the have a job and other
doesn’t), it was a result of Journal of Strength & responsibilities and interests
greater use of fat for fuel for Conditioning Research and can’t make it to the gym
several hours following exercise! demonstrated that combining twice a day, do their cardio after
This, in turn, explains the aerobic exercise to resistance lifting. They do it after as
majority of a phenomenon called training lead to 30 per cent less opposed to before because they
“EPOC” (excess post-exercise muscle and 15 per cent less don’t want to use up valuable
oxygen consumption) that is strength[13]. However, the energy that may detract from
occurring. authors of this study also noted their strength prior to lifting. The
that frequent, short cardio reason I advise against this is
EPOC sessions were less detrimental that over and above the negative
EPOC (also known as the to muscle and strength gains effects of adding cardio to your
“afterburn” or “turbulence”) than longer cardio sessions and lifting programme, doing cardio
refers to the increased when short, intense, sprinting- right afterwards seems to mute
metabolic rate and burning of type exercise sessions were some of the anabolic signals that
calories and fat that occurs after added to weight training, the are stimulated by lifting weights.
exercise. This increase can last negative impact on strength and
for over half a day and increase muscular development no longer CARDIO AND
calorie burning by over a existed! PROTEIN
third[12]! Amongst hardcore gym Just as important (and SYNTHESIS
goers, the most common fascinating), is the fact that Many readers will know the
explanation for this increased while walking and jogging had meaning of “Protein Synthesis”.
energy demand was thought to the expected negative effects It is the process that builds and
be primarily a result of the on muscle, cycling did not! This is repairs muscle tissue. Several
energy cost of repair of muscle important for two reasons: 1) it things increase the rate of
tissue rather than topping up shows that a more “power protein synthesis and therefore
glycogen. However, in order to oriented” activity like cranking accelerate muscle building -
continue to meet the demands of pedals won’t reduce muscle like hormones like testosterone and
exercise, sparing glycogen is a more “momentum oriented” IGF-1, protein and amino acids
more likely to be the body’s activity like walking or jogging and of course weight lifting
priority from an evolutionary and 2) most of the most relevant itself. The key thing to
perspective - so it can survive by HIIT studies were done on cycle understand when it comes to the
running faster and longer ergometers (think spinning bike cardio debate is that all of these
tomorrow rather than becoming with some fancy scientific stimuli increase muscle by

000 MUSCLE & FITNESS

substantially the same signalling
pathway in the body that we will
over-simplistically call “mTOR”.
mTOR “turns on” protein
synthesis in muscle[14]! In the
opposing corner, as discussed
above, we have the “catabolic”
signalling effects caused the the
body’s adaptation to cardio
training and the key enzyme that
is stimulated by cardio is AMPK
(AMP-activated protein kinase).
It is the conflicting effects of
mTOR and AMPK that brings us
to the conclusion that cardio
should not be done after hitting
the weights because AMPK
shuts down mTOR. Usually, you
get a nice 6 to 24 hour
stimulation of the mTOR
pathway after lifting and this is
currently believed to be the
primary pathway that triggers of
muscle growth but studies
clearly demonstrate that all it
takes is a burst of AMPK from
doing cardio and mTOR goes
right back to pre-workout
levels[15]
It would of course make sense
that adapting to weight training
involves signalling and
adaptations that make you
stronger and more muscular and
that cardio training stimulates
signalling that improves
endurance and discourages
anabolic signals and this is
exactly the dynamic that exists
in the human body. So the
bottom line here is that in an
ideal situation, you wouldn’t do
cardio but instead you’d do HIIT
and do it at least six hours after
weight training. Otherwise, you
could do HIIT after lifting (as HIIT
doesn’t seem to be catabolic) or
cardio before lifting or cardio at
a completely separate time of
the day (all ideally on a spinning
bike, stair climber or rowing
machine).
For those who still aren’t
convinced, I’ve included a little
more science that backs up this
evidence: Scientists from James
Madison University found that
doing cardio after lifting
substantially blocked muscle
fibre growth[16]. The American
College of Sports Medicine
journal recently published a
study that showed that doing
aerobic training before weights
increased mTOR and its
downstream signalling protein
p70-S6K but decreased the
catabolic protein myostatin[17].
Research published in the
Journal of Strength &
Conditioning Research also
found that doing aerobic
exercise before weights
increased fat burning versus
doing it afterwards[18]. Finally,
another study in the Journal of
Strength & Conditioning
Research in 2008 showed that
gains in muscle were almost
doubled by performing some
cardio before each weight
training exercise, a concept
called ‘cardioacceleration’
versus doing weights followed by
cardio[19]. Judging by the above
research, not only is cardio
before weights better than doing
cardio after but it may be better
for muscle gains and fat loss
versus lifting weights alone and
certainly versus doing cardio
afterwards!
Additionally, doing cardio
before lifting doesn’t seem to
actually impact upon strength
performance, except to a small
extent upon leg strength (as
measured by squat performance)
[20]. Bench press performance
was unaffected and this was a
fairly substantial, 45 minute
cardio session prior to weights.
HIIT FOR
IMPROVING
PERFORMANCE
OK, as far as performance,
technically, some athletes,
sports and coaches have been
using a form of HIIT for many
decades. Boxing uses several
three minute rounds with one
minute rest, so as to resemble
the requirements of a boxing
match. Swimming training
almost always incorporates a
“pace clock”, which has the
swimmer swimming a certain
distance and then being allowed
to rest until the clock comes
around to the next designated
swim interval. Often rowers and
sprinters do the same. So this
isn’t a new concept for
increasing performance.
Back in 1996, Professor
Tabata developed a high-
intensity protocol to look at the
effects of moderate-intensity
endurance versus high-intensity,
intermittent training on
anaerobic capacity and VO2 max
at the National Institute of
Fitness and Sport in Japan[21].
The Tabata protocol consists of
doing eight, 20 second intervals
with only 10 seconds of low-
intensity cycling before starting
the next intense bout. In highly-
trained cyclists, it was
concluded that Tabata-style HIIT
may improve the function of both
anaerobic and aerobic energy
systems significantly and that it
increased VO2 max to a greater
extent than just about any
previous exercise protocol.
Another example of improving
performance measures with HIIT
training occurred when a group
of researchers from McMaster
University used a protocol which
included 60 seconds of intense
exercise (at 95% of VO2max)
followed by 75 seconds of rest,
repeated for 8-12 cycles.[22]
The results demonstrated that
from just three such sessions
per week the training effect was
comparable to training five hours
a week at something like
50-70% of VO2 max!
These are two of the best
available studies for improving
exercise performance with HIIT
MUSCLE & FITNESS 000
and so for performance despite the subjects spending support from a review of the
maximisation, it looks like rest less than half as much time on scientific studies as the best
intervals can be slightly shorter the treadmill. So a ‘30 second / duration for the high-intensity
or slightly longer than the four minute’ protocol is certainly interval when the goal is to burn
intense intervals for the effective for burning fat[23]. fat. As far as the low-intensity
purposes of performance However, scientists in recovery interval, probably two
improvement but the range of Montreal, Canada showed that to four minutes has the best
either 20 or 60 second intense 10 to 15 bouts of 15 to 30 support for fat burning.
intervals is to broad to give us seconds at high intensity So in conclusion, for fat loss,
any real hints as to the best combined with much longer low 30 seconds of high-intensity
intervals for performance. intensity bouts, caused nine with two to four minutes of
times more fat loss per calorie low-intensity seems to be the
THE BEST burned during exercise than best interval setup.
INTERVAL TIMINGS traditional cardio[24]. As far as
FOR BODY fat-burning results, this seems HIIT WORKOUTS
COMPOSITION to be by far the most impressive At its most basic, any activity or
Let’s face it, most people do HIIT of the published results and type of equipment which would
to burn fat and different interval seems to back up the original ‘Dr. be used for cardio can be used
work/rest periods will be Lemon’ protocol. for HIIT. the crucial keys to
appropriate for influencing body Besides the studies above, success are to go virtually “all
composition versus influencing there is a study that looked at out” on the intense intervals and
performance. High-intensity how many calories were burned to take long enough on the
bouts studied in the scientific using intervals of (high/low) low-intensity intervals to
literature have lasted from 15 30/30, 60/30, 90/30, and facilitate adequate recovery so
seconds to over two minutes for 60/606. The 30/30 and the as to be able to hit the intense
the high-intensity bout and up to 60/60 burned one third more intervals hard! With regard to
four minutes for the low- calories than the other two but timing, the 30 second “high” /
intensity part of the interval. So this misses the point of HIIT – two to four minute “low” timing
which one is best? that it is the metabolic changes should presently be considered
and the post-exercise calorie the optimum interval ratio for fat
WHAT THE burning activity that confers its loss. The best research to
RESEARCH SAYS advantages, not how many support a particular type of
When veteran sports scientist Dr calories you burn during activity indicates that the
Peter Lemon conducted a study exercise. spinning bike may be best.
that had subjects do six bouts of So as far as the ratio of high / However, as stated earlier,
30 seconds of high-intensity low in HIIT programs, it looks like sprinting, stair climbing, using a
exercise, interspersed with four until more research is available, rowing machine or doing burpees
minutes of low-intensity running, short bursts of probably 30 are probably similarly effective,
they burned over twice as much seconds but possibly as little as so choose an activity from those
fat as typical aerobic cardio, 15 seconds has the most which you enjoy the most.

WARNING!
Consult your doctor before embarking on a program of HIIT! If you are
unfit, increase the intensity and duration of exercise very gradually,
starting from a very moderate level of intensity. As with any exercise
program, it is especially important with HIIT that you warm up
appropriately and do some brief stretching of the appropriate muscles.
Remember, progressing too quickly or not warming up is a sure-fire way
of suffering an injury!

000 MUSCLE & FITNESS

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MUSCLE & FITNESS 000