New HIIT Workout!

As I always preach, the faster the workout, the better...as long as the intensity is kicked into high gear! I stumbled across a new treadmill interval workout that I am loving. It is super difficult and challenging however only takes 30 minutes, including warm-up! It alternates between sprinting and walking both with and without an incline and consists of two rounds. Be sure to begin with a 1-2 minute warm up and end with at least a 2 minute cool down. It is kind of confusing so I made charts to try and make it more clear.

ROUND 1
Activity	Speed	Incline	Duration
Sprint	Ex. 7.0 or 8.0	0%	90 seconds
Walk	3.5 - 4.0	0%	60 seconds
Sprint	Same sprint speed	5%	90 seconds
Walk	3.5 - 4.0	5%	60 seconds
Sprint	+.5 (7.5 or 8.5)	0%	60 seconds
Walk	3.5 - 4.0	0%	60 seconds
Sprint	Same sprint speed	5%	60 seconds
Walk	3.5 - 4.0	5%	60 seconds
Sprint	+.5 (8.0 or 9.0)	0%	30 seconds
Walk	3.5 – 4.0	0%	60 seconds
Sprint	Same sprint speed	5%	30 seconds
Walk	3.5-4.0	5%	60 seconds
Full recovery	3.5	0%	2 minutes

 

 

ROUND 2
Activity	Speed	Incline	Duration
Sprint	End speed of round 1 (ex. 8.0 or 9.0)	0%	90 seconds
Walk	3.5 - 4.0	0%	60 seconds
Sprint	Same sprint speed	3%	90 seconds
Walk	3.5 - 4.0	3%	60 seconds
Sprint	+.5 (8.5 or 9.5)	0%	60 seconds
Walk	3.5 - 4.0	0%	60 seconds
Sprint	Same sprint speed	3%	60 seconds
Walk	3.5 – 4.0	3%	60 seconds
Sprint	+.5 (9.0 or 10.0)	0%	30 seconds
Walk	3.5 – 4.0	0%	60 seconds
Sprint	Same sprint speed	3%	30 seconds
Walk	3.5 – 4.0	3%	60 seconds

 

Basically, you figure out the fastest you can sprint on a treadmill and subtract 2 from that number, and that is your starting speed. If you do not know how fast you can sprint for 30 seconds, start low, you can always increase, I would start anywhere from 6-7. After that, you will begin to add .5 to your speed and eventually end at your goal speed.So for example, I have sprinted at 11.0 so I began at 9.0. I sprinted at 9.0 for 90 seconds, walked a minute then increased the incline to 5% and sprinted at 9.0 for 90 seconds and then walked. For the next set, I sprinted at 9.5 for 60 seconds, walked a minute, turned the incline up to 5% then sprinted at 9.5 for another 60 seconds and walked/recovered. For the last set of round 1, I sprinted at 10.0 for 30 seconds, walked a minute then raised to 5% incline and sprinted another 30 seconds at 20.0 then walked for 3 minutes total (1 as the recovery from the set and 2 for the complete recovery before moving on to round 2). For round 2, I began at a pace of 10.0 and ended at 11.0.

As I mentioned before, this is a pretty difficult routine but it is a great workout! The first time I did it, I was not able to do the full 90 second sprint at the 5% incline and only did 60 seconds at the incline and 30 without it so modify how you need to to get through it, but make sure to really push yourself. The point is to really elevate your heart rate!