Determining how many days per week you should do HIIT will depend on your goal. 

If you are trying to lose fat, you will want to do HIIT three times per week. If you are trying to build muscle, you may not want to do as much cardio, so you would want to do HIIT once per week. If you are trying to build endurance, you will want to do HIIT two to three times a week. 

HIIT Workout for Fat Loss (3 times per week)

If your goal is to lose fat, then HIIT is a great option. Your goal when trying to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in. HIIT will increase the amount of calories you burn.

Monday- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – Treadmill sprint intervals for 30 minutes 

Tuesday- Upper Body Strength Training 

Wednesday- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – Indoor Bike Sprints for 20 Minutes 

Thursday- Lower Body Strength Training 

Friday- Rest 

Saturday- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – Treadmill Sprints or Outdoor Sprints 30 Minutes 

Sunday- Rest

HIIT Workout for Muscle Gain (1 time per week)

HIIT is our preferred method of cardio for athletes trying to gain muscle. Think of the difference between a sprinters body type and a marathon runner’s body type. A sprinter will have a much more muscular physique. 

Monday- Upper-Body Strength Training 

Tuesday- Lower- Body Strength Training 

Wednesday- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – Treadmill sprint intervals for 30 minutes

Thursday- Upper-Body Strength Training 

Friday- Lower-Body Strength Training 

Saturday- Active Rest 

Sunday- Rest 

HIIT Workout for Endurance and Cardiovascular Strength (3-times per week)

HIIT is a fantastic way to build up endurance. It really forces your body to increase it’s VO2 Max. Endurance athletes can really benefit from adding HIIT to their routine.

Monday- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – Treadmill sprint intervals for 45 minutes

Tuesday- Upper-Body Strength Training 

Wednesday- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – Treadmill sprint intervals for 60 minutes

Thursday- Lower-Body Strength Training 

Friday- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – Treadmill sprint intervals for 45 minutes 

Saturday- Low-Intensity Cardio for 60 Minutes

Sunday- Rest 

What is HIIT?

If you are new to HIIT, it stands for high-intensity interval training. It’s short bursts of hard, sometimes really hard – exercise followed by periods of lower intensity exercise. If you are doing it right, you can not wait for each interval to be over with. But, the fat-burning benefits are well with the pain. 

Reasons to Do HIIT Cardio 

It Improves Your Cardiovascular Endurance 

If you have never heard of the VO2 max, it’s a fancy way of saying the maximum consumption of oxygen your body can handle. HIIT improves your VO2 Max, thus improving your performance and endurance. Even athletes who are long-distance runners will incorporate HIIT for this very reason. 

In fact, lower-intensity cardio actually burns a greater number of calories from fat. But, the total amount of calories burned is greater at higher intensities (HIIT). Some studies have claimed that 10 minutes of HIIT will burn as many calories as 40 minutes of steady-state cardio. 

How does this happen? 

After HIIT, your body will try to restore your oxygen levels back to where they were before you started exercising. Your body must burn calories to get there. This means HIIT actually burns calories long after you are done exercising. Leading to greater fat loss in the long run. 

HIIT is More Fun 

HIIT takes the boredom out of doing steady-state cardio. You don’t have to maintain a slow pace for 45-minutes. Instead, you can have high-intensity workouts done in half the time. 

Finding new and creative ways to do High-intensity interval training is half the fun. Tired of the elliptical? Get outside and do a sprint HIIT workout. Don’t feel like heading to the gym? Stay home and do some burpees and air squats. The possibilities are truly endless. 

You Can Do HIIT Anywhere 

HIIT is amazing because you can do it anywhere. There have been so many times where I am stuck in a hotel while traveling and can’t get a decent workout in. Instead, I’ll do a bodyweight HIIT workout in my hotel room. Here is one of my favorites. 

40 Air Squats 

30 Push-ups 

20 Burpees 

10 Sit-ups 

Repeat 7 Times 

HIIT Saves you Time 

Gone are the days when I would spend hours and hours per week working on my cardio. With HIIT, you can get a calorie-burning workout in a quarter of the time. One of my favorite time-saving HIIT workouts is the 12-minute treadmill workout. 

Full Sprint for 1 minute 

Jog for 1 minute 

Repeat 6 times 

Trust me, after 6 minutes of full sprints you will be toast. 

What are the best machines for HIIT? 

To do HIIT right, you really want to push yourself towards your VO2 max. This is because studies show the closer you get to your VO2 max, the higher the burn rate on your fat levels. 

 Because of this, you want to use a machine that gets you to the feeling of a full out sprint. We recommend the treadmill as your first option. You can adjust the speed and height to your intervals.

Spin Bikes are another great machine to perform your HIIT cardio. If you have never tried an all-out pedal sprint on a spin bike, it is a great way to try and reach your VO2 Max. 

You can also use a stair master to perform HIIT. Using the Stairmaster at a running pace for your high-intensity interval will allow you to reach the intensity needed.