6 Personal Trainer-Backed Tips to Optimize Your HIIT Workouts

“1-2 days per week of HIIT workouts will help you build a base of fitness without overtraining”

-Coach Chris

Research continues to mount suggesting that high intensity interval training can blast fat, strengthen your heart, and provide many anti-aging benefits. 

But is there a downside to this form of training and should everyone be doing it?

Because of the high demands HIIT workouts place on your body, determining the minimum effective dose is key for allowing you to enjoy the benefits while enabling your body to adequately recover. 

Here are our top personal trainer-backed tips:

✅ Limit HIIT to 1-2 days per week. Getting started with just 1-2 days per week will help build a base of fitness without overtraining. Our Boston personal trainers suggest keeping the workouts brief, no longer than 15-20 minutes.

✅ Keep the intervals short. 20 to 30 seconds is a good starting place. Anything longer and you’ll likely find it difficult to keep the intensity high.

✅ Use a heart rate monitor. If you’d like to maximize the benefits of HIIT, our personal training team suggests that you not exceed 85 percent of your maximum zone until you’ve trained for at least 6 months. You can establish your max heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. For example, if you’re 30 years old, your approximate max heart rate will be 190, and you will reach the 85 percent maximum zone when your heart rate hits 161.5. Allow your heart rate to return down to 65 percent of maximum between intervals.

Using a heart rate monitor is the best way to track your intensity

✅ Use the talk test. If you don’t own a heart rate monitor, use the talk test to assess if you're pushing yourself enough. During the intervals, you shouldn’t be able to speak in complete sentences.

✅ Allow recovery between intervals. If you aren’t resting between intervals, you’re not doing HIIT! If your interval is 20 seconds in length, allow yourself 2-3 times the length of time for recovery (in this case, 40-60 seconds between intervals).

✅ Don't do HIIT on back-to-back days. As a beginner, at most, do high intensity interval training one to two days times per week on non-consecutive days. 

Please note: if you have a heart condition, hormonal issues, or you suffer from chronic fatigue, you should not be doing HIIT training. 

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