You shouldn't be doing HIIT too often.
HITT explained
- Thread starter R.Lewis
- Start date
I have a question. Im doing HIIT and my heart rate and everything goes up as high as its supposed to. But what Im not sure about is what happens if your heart rate doesn't drop too much before sprinting again? Does it HAVE to drop? Its not as if I cant do my sprint hard enough. Does my HR still HAVE to drop significantly?
My question (as it seems I do not have the education of some people in this forum) is that why every elite athlete on the planet does a form of HIIT in sport (IE:NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, etc etc) and the only athletes that do SS are well... marathon runners, tri-athletes, and cyclist, why would I want the body of the latter? Why look like a moving skeleton, with low muscle mass, when I can look lean and strong like a sprinter?
It is somewhat elementary, and I am sure I will get chewed out on here, but I am confused.
It is somewhat elementary, and I am sure I will get chewed out on here, but I am confused.
Hey Cameron940, please don't fail to acknowledge the fact that these marathon runners, cyclists and triathletes ARE elite athletes. They just don't look the way you think they should 
They look this way because of what their bodies need to be able to do in order to excel at the sport.
Gymnasts have a typical physique, swimmers have a typical physique, weightlifters have a typical physique, etc. For the most part, you can pretty much tell what sport a person is into by looking at their physique.
Cyclists are in fantastic aerobic condition, and triathletes are nothing less than amazing in what they can perform (they have to excel in three disciplines, and just think about how tough an Ironman Competition is!). Personally, I think marathon runners are completely insane and look like they've spent too much time in a concentration camp, but if they enjoy what they are doing and think they look great, who am I to say "you look like a walking skeleton?" They are doing what they love to do, and I know I certainly couldn't do what they do.
When I was in track and field, my training was very different from the longer distance runners. I was muscle-packed; they looked like they needed a decent meal. Our bodies looked very different because our disciplines and training methods were different. I thought I looked fantastic. The long distance runners thought they looked fantastic, too
So at the end of the day, I think it just boils down to personal preference and body perception. And also what you like to do "fitness-wise". If I loved to run miles on end, perhaps I'd be more content to have a different looking physique. But I've been hooked on muscle and looked this way for so long, I can't imagine looking any differently. It just wouldn't be "me".
They look this way because of what their bodies need to be able to do in order to excel at the sport.Gymnasts have a typical physique, swimmers have a typical physique, weightlifters have a typical physique, etc. For the most part, you can pretty much tell what sport a person is into by looking at their physique.
Cyclists are in fantastic aerobic condition, and triathletes are nothing less than amazing in what they can perform (they have to excel in three disciplines, and just think about how tough an Ironman Competition is!). Personally, I think marathon runners are completely insane and look like they've spent too much time in a concentration camp, but if they enjoy what they are doing and think they look great, who am I to say "you look like a walking skeleton?" They are doing what they love to do, and I know I certainly couldn't do what they do.
When I was in track and field, my training was very different from the longer distance runners. I was muscle-packed; they looked like they needed a decent meal. Our bodies looked very different because our disciplines and training methods were different. I thought I looked fantastic. The long distance runners thought they looked fantastic, too
So at the end of the day, I think it just boils down to personal preference and body perception. And also what you like to do "fitness-wise". If I loved to run miles on end, perhaps I'd be more content to have a different looking physique. But I've been hooked on muscle and looked this way for so long, I can't imagine looking any differently. It just wouldn't be "me".
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I hear ya....
Great reply honestly, you didn't jump down my throat and gave me a good perspective on like you said "what we want to look like". Again, I am definitely not an expert (a hardcore golfer in fact - think Tiger, not Mickelson) but from what I have always understood, the body needs a good muscle to fat ratio to help fight off disease, sickness, etc etc, and it always seems that the extreme distance people I know have the MOST health problems, where as the rock climbers, sprinters, and the like are still kicking some ass at 50 years+. I do however respect the conditioning aspect of a distance athlete, I suppose I just don't understand the function of it, especially later in life. I am a huge advocate of functional exercises, and typically use a chin up bar, a set of powerblocks and sprint on my x-iser unit or outside my home and since I gave up the SS and went to these exercises, I saw my body literally transform and am down to 9% bf and am in the best shape of my life (and workout about 30% of the time I used to).
As it has been said in these threads so many times "do what works for you" and I could not agree more, I just would love to be able to give solid advice to my friends and family about the damage they are doing to themselves with extreme SS, because thats exactly what it seems like is going on. Burning up muscle and keeping fat....?
Great reply honestly, you didn't jump down my throat and gave me a good perspective on like you said "what we want to look like". Again, I am definitely not an expert (a hardcore golfer in fact - think Tiger, not Mickelson) but from what I have always understood, the body needs a good muscle to fat ratio to help fight off disease, sickness, etc etc, and it always seems that the extreme distance people I know have the MOST health problems, where as the rock climbers, sprinters, and the like are still kicking some ass at 50 years+. I do however respect the conditioning aspect of a distance athlete, I suppose I just don't understand the function of it, especially later in life. I am a huge advocate of functional exercises, and typically use a chin up bar, a set of powerblocks and sprint on my x-iser unit or outside my home and since I gave up the SS and went to these exercises, I saw my body literally transform and am down to 9% bf and am in the best shape of my life (and workout about 30% of the time I used to).
As it has been said in these threads so many times "do what works for you" and I could not agree more, I just would love to be able to give solid advice to my friends and family about the damage they are doing to themselves with extreme SS, because thats exactly what it seems like is going on. Burning up muscle and keeping fat....?
when people talk about the physiqs of marathon runners versus sprinters,its a bit unfair firstly most sprinters lift weights,distance runners dont want muscle as it would slow them down carrying it over a long distance,also you can do ss-cardio without going crazy ie 10 15 mile runs,doing 1hr of ss isnt going to make you a skinny guy,and also remember most sprinters only do about 25% of there training at a high intensity the other 75% is med to low intensity,you really cant do HIIT everyday so use a bit of both.
Hey Cameron940, thanks for the kudos.
This HIIT workout method is very interesting, it's caught my interest. I may have to try it out to see how well it works for me. Thanks for the introduction.
Hey there,
So I guess I was using classic interval session then? I use one of the treadmill's labeled "interval"...wasn't sure if it was HIIT or not. Walk-run-sprint thing..it starts off slow then builds up the speed. My left shin starts hurting if I pound on it too hard (running) so I won't sprinttoo much, lol.
I just started to do HIIT.
I do it on an elliptical trainer, so when i go to sprint I should crank up the resistance so that I will only last around 1 minute right? Then jog for 2 minutes and sprint again.
I do this for about 20 minutes right? That was the time that I read on this thread.
Just checking
I do it on an elliptical trainer, so when i go to sprint I should crank up the resistance so that I will only last around 1 minute right? Then jog for 2 minutes and sprint again.
I do this for about 20 minutes right? That was the time that I read on this thread.
Just checking