How Many HIIT Workouts Should I Do Per Week?

HIIT workouts generally combine short bursts of intense exercise with periods of rest or lower-intensity exercise. At fitness studios and online, these workouts often mix aerobic and resistance training.
To be clear, most of the interval workouts researchers have studied focus solely on aerobic exercise which means the scientific understanding of interval training is based on a more specific routine than whatβs appearing in most gyms, videos, and magazines. And the researchersβ definition matters because when weβre talking about the evidence of benefits, we need to be specific about the kinds of workouts that science was based on.
When researchers talk about HIIT, theyβre referring to workouts that alternate hard-charging intervals, during which a personβs heart rate reaches at least 80 percent of its maximum capacity usually for one to five minutes, with periods of rest or less intense exercise. Itβs not easy to know that youβre working at 80 percent, but a Fitbit, smartwatch, or heart rate monitor can help you figure out your heart rate max level.
With HIIT-specific fitness studios popping up left and right (and experts constantly raving about the benefits of the afterburn), itβs easy to feel like you should be doing HIIT all the time.
How often can your body handle this all-out type of workout, though? Probably less often than you think.
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βHIIT is a type of cardiovascular exercise that involves short periods of high-intensity work followed by intervals of low-intensity recovery,β explains Tom Holland, a certified strength and conditioning specialist, author of βBeat the Gymβ and host of the βFitness Disruptedβ podcast.
Letβs break that down: On a scale of 1β10, your average run or cardio session might involve a steady effort of about a 5 or a 6. In a HIIT workout, though, youβll alternate between intervals of pushing at an effort level of 7 or higher and intervals of recovering at a minimal effort level.
Just how long your work and rest intervals last, and whether youβre running intervals on a treadmill or stepping them out on the stairclimber is totally up to you. In the world of HIIT cardio, just about any exercise can be incorporated into a HIIT workout making it an incredibly versatile, effective, and time efficient workout.
According to the American Council on Exercise, work intervals typically last between 30 seconds and 3 minutes, with rest intervals lasting equally as long β if not longer. (Because of these high-intensity efforts, most HIIT workouts last just about 20 minutes or so.)
The benefit of pushing through a HIIT session instead of doing your usual cardio? You burn more calories and fat β and in less time.
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Given the serious bang-for-your-buck HIIT workouts offer, youβre not the only exerciser tempted to swap them in for every cardio session you do.
The thing is, βif you are truly doing HIIT correctly, you are putting significant stress on your cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems,β says Holland. For that reason, you canβt do it every day.
Though just how many HIIT workouts a week you can handle varies based on your current fitness level and goals, itβs generally a good rule of thumb to have at least one day of low-intensity exercise between two HIIT days, says Holland.
Sticking to that guideline means you can consistently churn out three or four HIIT workouts per week, tops. βEven professional athletes generally perform at least one, if not two, easy workouts for every hard session like HIIT,β Holland adds.
If youβre a complete HIIT newbie, though, the American Council on Exercise recommends you start with just one or two sessions per week for about six weeks.
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Remember that thing about HIIT stressing your heart and muscles big time? Itβs nothing to mess around with.
βDoing these workouts every day can lead to overtraining syndrome and injury,β Holland says. (Overtraining syndrome is basically a state in which you feel constantly fatigued and perform poorly in the gym as a result of too much exercise.)
βNo matter how effective a form of training is, if you do too much, you will experience problems,β Holland adds. βThis is especially true of higher-intensity workouts.β
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First of all, if youβre attempting to do HIIT every day (or almost every day), keep Hollandβs philosophy in mind: βIf you can do HIIT every day, youβre not doing it right.β
However, even if youβre sticking to three or so sessions per week, look out for overtraining symptoms like trouble sleeping, a higher-than-usual resting heart rate, irritability, excessive soreness and poor performance, all of which indicate a need to dial it back.
If you need to slow your roll with the HIIT, donβt sweat it. LISS (lower-intensity steady-state cardio) still has a valid place in your routine, too. Lower-intensity workouts not only offer weight loss and heart-health benefits, but they can be a much-needed reprieve from the all-out mentality of modern life. In fact, during low-intensity exercise, you recover while you move, which makes it a must-do for anyone who wants to stay active and reap HIITβs benefits.
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