I have been reading about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) as being an effective method for burning fat during workouts. Has anyone here been doing this? It consists of short intervals of intense exercise (jogging, elliptical, etc.) followed by slightly longer periods of less intense recovery exercise.

I've been doing some HIIT the past week on the elliptical, in addition to my C25K workouts. Last week, I had a pretty good week in terms of weight loss.:smile:

Here's a link to the Wikipedia article: High-intensity interval training - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

HIIT is the best-bang-for-your-workout-buck! It kicks butt in terms of fat loss-- mostly because your "afterburn"- or the calories you burn for the next several hours after your workout-- is MUCH higher than with other forms of exercise. It also kicks butt in terms of increasing your fitness levels. If you stick to a workout level that you can do for 30 minutes straight, you can increase fitness, but by taking it up to that notch that you can only sustain for a minute or two at a time with recovery in between, you can increase your fitness much faster-- because you're getting into that high intensity zone, even tho it's only a short time.

BUT- it's not for the faint of heart! It's not recommended for those with health conditions or those just starting out on exercise. It is really for people who have a base level of fitness already. Regular intervals can be used for those people-- where you go a little faster for a minute or two, then back to regular speed. HIIT is designed to take you to your max speed-- as in you could NOT go at that intensity for longer than your interval time - you should want it to end (say one or two minutes), then you recover for however long it takes you to get back to nearly normal, then go again.

For an even better bang for your buck- do it on a treadmill (where your legs have to support your body weight, as opposed to the elliptical where the machine supports it). But again, that's only for when you're ready.

I work at a gym, and when I work with young college students who want to lose fat quick, I always recommend HIIT. But they are 19 and pretty fit. For someone who has recently had bariatric surgery and may have joint problems, high blood pressure or other obesity-related conditions, I would NOT recommend it. If a person is overweight but otherwise healthy- it's probably great, if they were up to it, but always working within their own personal limitations.

Most people just aren't up to that level of exercise-- even tho you get an hour's worth of exercise in only about 20 minutes.