HIT Training 101

HIT training or high-intensity interval training is a common cardio practice that can be used to elicit fat loss while preserving as much muscle as possible. While nutrition will do the majority of the heavy lifting when it comes to fat loss, HIT is a tool to help facilitate that process even a little further.

This was my 4th week of doing an assault bike as my HIT machine choice. HIT can be also effective done with sprints but can be more taxing on the joints. Previously I have had roughly 6 sessions at 5 minutes on the bike; 10 seconds on 50 seconds off for intervals. Today, we took it to 8 minutes with the same time intervals. While it was rough, it did show me I was ready to make the jump.

A few key elements that I like to use when it comes to HIT training are keeping the quality high, add more sets versus time, and don't go overboard. Quality 10-second efforts do a lot more for you rather than half-hearted 15-second efforts. Just like my jump, I think adding more sets of 10 seconds versus 15-20 starts to make the effort aerobic and we start to lose the quality we want in our HIT training. Lastly, you do not need more than 2 sessions a week of this. If your nutrition, training, and all other recovery aspects are good HIT should just be a little something extra.

HIT training is fun, give it a try.

Overall, 8/10 session.

- While I was ready for 8 minutes, I am nowhere near my cardio shape from last summer.

Assault Bike

8 x :10 on / :50 off

Happy Lifting,

Coach B.