How much cardio should you be doing and what type?

As with most things in the fitness industry HIIT Cardio has gone through it’s ups and downs of Being the Devil and also the savior of humanity at times.

I’ve heard many positive and negative perspectives about HIIT Cardio and also have had my own experiences and trained a number of people who have done it.

So what’s the scoop?

Is it something we should all be doing or is it another overrated FAD that’s destined to disappear at the sign of the “next thing”?

In this post, I’ll boil it down for you to the basics of what it is, what it does and ultimately should you be doing it?

What is HIIT?

HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training.

According to the Google Machine, HIIT Cardio is Defined as the following:

HIIT, or High-Intensity Interval Training, is a workout method alternating short bursts of all-out effort (like sprints, burpees, or heavy lifting) with brief recovery periods (walking, light cardio) to maximize calorie burn, improve heart health, and build fitness quickly, often fitting into short 10-30 minute sessions by pushing your heart rate to near-maximum levels, say 80-90%. It’s versatile, adaptable to running, cycling, bodyweight, or weights, and effective for fat loss and endurance.

To simplify, HIIT is shortish periods of going very hard followed by short intervals of rest.

So why would someone want to do HIIT Cardio?

Well, proponents of HIIT Cardio will often tout it’s ability to improve cardiovascular function with less time and without having to do long duration cardio which some people hate or think is boring.

Furthermore, it’s proposed to provide a stimulus that will limit Muscle catabolism because of the avoidance of that long duration cardio.

The theory is that since you’re doing short, intense bursts, you’re actually tapping into your anaerobic energy system which can actually help develop power and strength (Two things that are beneficial for muscular development).

Contrast that to LISS Cardio (Low Intensity Steady State) which is something that is more continuous and typically in my definition is at least 30 minutes and preferably closer to at least 45. But some would say that LISS Cardio is a catabolic activity which basically just means you could “lose” muscle by doing that (More on that in a different article).

Back to HIIT.

Some people will also choose to do HIIT because it can be a time saver.

If you need something that will spike the heart rate a few times and you’re crunched on time, it can certainly be a great option.

Another difference between HIIT and LISS is that HIIT will typically yield higher heart rate peaks. This can be useful especially depending on what the individual is wanting to develop in their overall training.

Should Everyone Be Doing HIIT?

The short answer is that not everyone has to…

…But

I do think it’s beneficial in the right doses to most people and here’s reasons why:

The Mental Fortitude Development.

I think there is something to be said of the value of “Being able to take yourself there”.

And I know you may be asking yourself “Where is there?”.

What I mean is being able to push yourself to your limit mentally. I do think that in today’s world of comfort we’re rarely confronted with discomfort.

But I believe that discomfort is what drives growth.

And think of it this way: We all encounter things in life that are hard. Do we often have the option to shy away from the challenges we face? Well if we want to get somewhere the answer is No.

So periodically and strategically placing that into your training program can reinforce your ability to endure challenge and make you more resilient.

2) The Physiological Development

As with most exercise there is Physiological change that occurs. And we often benefit from those changes.

HIIT is no different.

When you participate in HIIT, it will do things like improve your resting heart rate, improve insulin sensitivity, improve your recoverability, improve your lactic threshold (When the burn starts to happen), improve vascular function (Blood flow) and more.

On top of that I do think there is a lot of benefit in variability of your training program. HIIT provides a lot of room to do that pretty easily.

For example maybe one week you do a session of 30 second sprints on a row or a ski, the next week it’s a bodyweight movement circuit, the following week it’s slightly longer intervals of 2 minutes with 2 minutes of rest.

You can cover a pretty broad spectrum of stimulus by tweaking a few things and that allows you to broaden the range of development.

The Recommendations:

So, after all of this, what do you recommend Thomas?

My general recommendation is that everyone does some amount of HIIT training in their program for the reasons mentioned above.

But, I do have some guidelines that I think everyone should follow.

For most, 1-2 HIIT sessions should be plenty to get the benefits and contribution to positive results while still leaving room in your program for other important things.

What I definitely think is important to note is that I don’t think there’s any benefit to doing more than 2 (In some cases 3 can be ok depending on the goal).

I also strongly discourage doing HIIT type training everyday which I see many people do (Think your average franchise group fitness studio). They will often call classes strength but they’re really HIIT Sessions in disguise.

Why not do HIIT Everyday?

What I often see when people come from training sessions with too much HIIT or daily HIIT is a few things:

Lack of muscle development

And yes this applies to everyone, even and especially the ladies!

It’s important to note the EVERYONE loses muscle as we age, so we want to put as much “in the bank” as we can at a young age and too much HIIT is not the way to do that.

The reason many gyms do that is because they are trying to sell a product. And as with all products, marketing, imagery and emotions are a part of it.

HIIT creates a certain feeling in people that they “worked hard”.

But I’ve seen many HIIT sessions executed in way to create that feeling but really do nothing. If I want to smoke somebody, I can do that, but if there’s no focus and intention on the greater goal of strength and fitness development then it’s pointless.

So don’t be fooled. The quality of a workout should not be measured on how you feel afterwards, instead it should be determined on long term progress and results.

Their Nervous system is Fucked

When you do HIIT everyday, it’s a lot for your nervous system. And the health of ones nervous system is crucial if someone is trying to see results.

I feel like we all know those people that have crazy amounts of stress that leads them to be inconsistent but also because they can never relax, their body can never focus on recovery and these people usually stall with their gym progress.

So, we have to be mindful about the amount of stress we introduce to people. If someone has a really high stress job I would likely tell them only one HIIT session per week and the rest should be strength training sessions where they lift heavy with lots of rest.

So think about someone that does HIIT everyday. Everyday their body and their mind is having to gear up for a session in which they have to make themselves redline.

And after a while, you’re mind just won’t want to go there. That’s why 1-2 times per week is the sweet spot. You take your body there, but then the next day you can recover and focus on a well structured strength training program the rest of the week.

So, regardless of what you’re training for or what kind of training you do, keep those basic principles in mind.

1-2 times per week, make it intense but not too long and you’ll be able to keep that in your routine long term which at the end of the day is the most important piece for progress.

Want additional perspective on cardio and how you can best utilize it as a tool?

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