5 minutes HIIT + 15 minutes walking

Shawn Philips once stated that 5 minutes of interval sprints boosted amount of caloric burn (via heartrate?) in low-intensity cardio afterward. Does anyone who came across this program remember any details? For example, the study he quoted? I assume it would take more than 5 sprints to boost metabolism for HOURS afterward.

This has been talked about REPEATEDLY on this forum. Just type in HIIT in the search engine.

My question is not about the efficacy of HIIT. It is about the efficacy of low-intensity cardio after a VERY small amount of HIIT.

I don’t think it’s necessary, just do your HIIT, cool down for a few mins and go home.

Brian: Good question. A member at another board recently passed along to me an article/post by Lyle McDonald at another board regarding something very similar. Lyle titled the post/article Losing Stubborn Bodyfat.

In essence, he was recommending 5-10 of high-intensity cardio (he debated whether this or HIIT should be used)followed by 45-60 of low- to moderate-intensity steady-state aerobics. He threw in a few curves as far as no ephedrine beforehand (only caffeine and tyrosine), done in a fasted state, the first cardio done on an appartus not regularly used, and following the session up with only protein (i.e. 25-50g) and then a whole-food meal (i.e. regular eating schedule) 2-3 hours later.

I’m going to retrieve this right now, and I’ll post it here. I am by no means saying that this is some great, revolutionary approach. On the other hand, I’m simply trying to aid a brother in question. I can try to run down the references that Lyle makes reference to as well.

Okay, so here are the goods:

Jerry Telle has written much about this lately and he has a program outlining a variety of ways of implementing it. The idea is to do a high intensity exercise (any exercise that’ll jack your heart rate up) to a certain level and then maintain the heart rate in a certain range while exercising at a low intensity. Preceding a low intensity exercise with a high intensity one will allow you to get more benefit from the low intensity one.

I just wanted to toss this one up to the top to see if anyone has any comments or experiences with the protocol that I posted from Lyle.

I do something similiar. 20 mins on the stepper, 1 minute intervals of very easy vs. very hard. Then afterwards 20 minutes brisk (4.0 - 4.4 mph) walking on the treadmill. Ask me in about 3 weeks how it works, or just look for my ripped up pics! i hope…

Johnny Boy, thanks for the input. We all look forward to seeing and hearing about the progress.

Let me just say–as pointed out by my dog, E-C–that I don’t necessarily advocate the nutritional regimen involved in the above posted protocol.

Obviously, a hypocaloric diet stacked with cardio can be a lethally potent catabolic stimulus. Not only is this performed in the fasted-state but also no other nutrients other than protein are ingested until three hours after the training session. You’re looking at anywhere from a 12 to 14 hour fast!

That’s the major, gaping hole that I caught and that E-C reminded me to call attention. The actual cardio regimen, and the reasoning behind such, was what I wanted to call attention.

Just wanted to thank Timbo, “a brother in question,” for picking up the thread.

Timbo, others, few questions looking for your opinion. Of the three training approaches, Strength, Lean hypertrophy, and fat loss, which two do you think could be combined most effectively for the average schmoe? I haven’t seen much to predict 100%, but for the untrained, I am experiencing that HIIT, with strength training to be very complimentary, even with the moderately trained individuals. Seems to set up for a successful hypertrophy phase. look forward to y’alls input, off to HIIT it.

JP: I’m not sure I completely understand the question at hand, but I think I can speculate a little bit.

I think that the common consensus and personal experience dictate that simultaneous fat loss and lean body mass gain is probably the most difficult and least common. However, several factors may influence this, including training age, relative percentage of body fat, and use of anabolics. Someone who is new to the game may very well experience both. Someone who is above their bodyfat setpoint may also be able to achieve a little of both. And with anabolics, anything is possible.

I think that one can increase strength and lose fat concurrently. Strength gains will be attenuated, for sure, due to the addition of aerobics and the caloric deficit, but testimony seems to favor this goal.

Now, I think adding HIIT into the mix, for both fat loss and hypertrophy training has awesome merits. Of course, you realize the benefits that it would have with an approach for fat loss. Now, with hypertrophy training, if the individual is in a caloric surplus, I think that the HIIT protocol can assist an individual keeping gains as lean as possible, assisting with nutrient partitioning and establishing a more efficient metabolism.

I am not sure what Lyle means when he says that ephedrine “lowers the catecholamine response”. Obviously, ephedrine increases the levels of the catecholamines epinephrine and nor-epinephrine. Perhaps what he means is with chronic use it takes a higher catecholamine level to get a fat mobilizing response in the muscle? This makes sense due to the body’s feedback mechanisms but also you have to take into consideration that natural catecholamine levels fall the longer one diets so ephedrine may be able to make up for this natural drop in catecholamine levels on a diet.

Kel, I found that quite interesting as well. However, if he was talking about prolonged usage, I think we would’ve specified.

To me, it sounds like the study he cites compares the catecholamine response to intense exercise in subjects who have ingested ephedrine vs. those who did not (controls). Apparently the latter group (i.e. controls) had a greater catecholamine response. We’d obviously have to see the research to say for certain.

Here’s a thought. Something I’ve been experimenting with is performing up to 30 min. low-moderate intensity cardio after a Meltdown session. Since the workouts are a little less than 1/2 an hour if organized, this is essentially a form of interval training. Provided you can handle it without overtraining, adding some low-intensity cardio afterwards would seem like a good way to do it if there really is merit to doing low-intensity cardio after a short duration of HIIT or similar.

Another thing I do is if I fall significantly short of the required reps on a Meltdown session is to add in 2-3 cardio intervals (rope, air-dyne, sprints etc) and this seems to work well for me.

That’s a good protocol, Monty.

JB’s (as have many others) always been a big advocate of low to moderate-intensity cardio after a lifting session. Anywhere from 10-30 minutes, depending on the duration of your lifting session and your current goals, should suffice.