HIIT stands for “high intensity interval training”, which is a specialized exercise program used by people who are trying to bulk up, lose weight fast, or see impressive gains over a short period time.
This is an exercise program that is going to wear you out quickly, and if you overdo it, you can end up with muscle soreness and a long recovery time.
In other words, it’s not something you should do every day. How often should I do HIIT? It’s not even a good idea to do it every time you exercise, even if you only exercise five times a week.
With any kind of exercise, you want to be careful about overdoing it. High intensity interval training is not something that’s meant to be done very often. It’s great for helping you push past those plateaus, where you get stuck in your training and development.
It’s also great for pushing yourself further and challenging yourself. What happens if you do it too often, though? If you’re wondering, “how often should I do HIIT training?” I have some answers here for you that may help.
How often Should I Do HIIT Exercises
Because this kind of exercise is so popular, there have been a lot of studies done into how effective it is and what it does to your body.
This kind of exercise can push your heart rate above 90 percent, and that can be pretty rough on your heart if you do it too often.
It’s healthy, though, if you only do every once in a while. It’s good to stretch your heart, so to speak, and you’ll improve your heart’s longevity and strength by using HIIT in moderation.
What kind of moderation am I talking about? About 30 to 40 minutes every week is ideal according to some research.
The proper HIIT workout session should have about 15 minutes of HIIT exercises and then provide 15 minutes to recover from that.
The recovery period accounts for your warm up and cool down times.
This means that if you’re doing HIIT properly, you can fit in two sessions a week. This would be 30- to 40-minute sessions, with half of your session time devoted to recovery. That ensures your heart rate is above 90% only for about 15 to 20 minutes at a time.
That’s a perfectly healthy saturation of HIIT in your workout routine. How often should I do HIIT workouts per week? Doing it twice a week should be plenty for most people to maximize their benefits and at the same time keep themselves safe.
How Often Should I Do HIIT with Weight Training
HIIT does not stand on its own very well. Because you can’t do HIIT very safely for long, it definitely needs to be combined with other exercises. HIIT is essentially cardio, and these exercises get your heart rate up, challenging you and pushing you further than you would normally go.
It’s meant to help elevate your heart rate very quickly so that you can experience incredible gains in a short amount of time.
You can add weight training to your workout session as well, following the recovery time from your HIIT session. If you do your weight training easy and slowly, it can even be part of the recovery period.
Another way to incorporate weight training into a program that includes HIIT is to alternate days. You can do weight training one day and then HIIT another.
This way, you’re developing on a couple different fronts, building muscle, improving your endurance, and using multiple exercise types.
Combining weight training and HIIT into a single workout program over the course of the week is excellent for your overall health.
It ensures a well-rounded program that hits all the high notes.
How often Should I Do HIIT for Weight Loss
HIIT is excellent for burning fat. Incorporating HIIT into a weight loss workout program is a great way to boost your gains and lose more fat in a short amount of time.
If you’ve been struggling to lose weight or you’re not happy with how quickly you’re losing weight, then it could be a great addition to your workout program.
You do need to be careful about how often you use HIIT. The maximum recommended number of HIIT sessions for a single week is three, but it’s safer to keep it to two.
If you’re going to maximize the benefits of HIIT and lose as much weight as possible, you should definitely combine it with strength training.
You should determine a proper pace for you and try not to overextend yourself with your workouts. You’re going to struggle to lose weight if you’re constantly sore and tired and need to rest from your workouts for a couple days.
So, take it slow to begin with, and you may just want to try doing one HIIT session per week to start with. See how you do with one per week, and then if you’re okay, you can increase it from there.
You may also want to keep your HIIT shorter than 30 minutes, perhaps shortening the part of the workout session where your heart rate is above 90%.
All of this is just cautionary, particularly for people who struggle with exercise and maintaining an exercise program. If you are obese or having difficulty losing weight, HIIT might not be right for you just yet.
If you have concerns about your health or you are being treated for any medical issue, you definitely want to talk to your doctor before you try something as intense as HIIT. I mean, “intense” is right there in the name.
How often should I do HIIT training? That all depends on what you can handle and wat your fitness level is. It also depends on what your goals are. If you’re looking to lose a certain amount of weight or achieve specific muscle gains, HIIT can be great for you.
It’s definitely not for everyone, though. How often you do it will depend on what you’re aiming for and what you’re capable of, so keep those factors in mind as you plan out how often to do HIIT.
How Often Should I Do Johnson and Johnson HIIT
Johnson and Johnson has developed their own high intensity workout, and it’s known as the seven-minute workout. This is a great exercise program for people who only have a few minutes each day to exercise but still want to see some results.
As you can see, the duration is not as long as your typical HIIT workout. Still, you do want to be careful about how often you do any kind of high intensity workout and limit it to just a few times per week.
That’s especially true for people who haven’t exercised in a while who don’t live very active lifestyles.
If you could describe your activity level as sedentary, you definitely want to keep the workout sessions to just a couple times per week to start out with. See how your body handles that, doing two or three of the seven-minute workouts a week.
If you find that after the first one your body is really struggling and you have a lot of soreness, may want to drop the pace and extend the time or alternate days. You can do the seven-minute workout one day and then switch over to 30 minutes of walking the next day.
Alternating like this gives your body time to heal and take a break. It also helps you to assess how intense the workout is for you and the kind of effect it’s having on your body.
