HIIT Beginner: your complete guide to surpassing your limits

What exactly is HIIT?

THE HIIT it's a training format where you alternate between high intensity effort phases and the rest phases. Periods of effort are often longer than those of rest. If we had to sum it up for you easily, we would tell you that it's a workout high intensity fractional.

The goal of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is both to solicit your cardio and burn a maximum of calories. And for that, you must work at an intensity that is close to the maximum of your abilities! ⚡

You really need to surpass yourself and go for it. To give you an idea, you must be at about 80-90% of your max heart rate.

On the other hand, during the phases of recovery, you go back down to almost 50%. They are short, but they allow you to breathe a little before going back to give it your all. This is why you must try to recover as much as possible during those precious seconds! ⏰

Although it is very intense, the HIIT adapts to all levels. For this, you can play with the duration, frequency, exercises, and intensity according to your abilities.

THE HIIT has many advantages (weight loss, better physical condition, etc.) which we will tell you about later. And they make this training format very effective, but also demanding for your organization. You must therefore be careful in your practice.

The cool thing about HIIT is that you can do it with different types exercises and physical activities:

• Running
• Cycling
• Jumping rope
• Crossfit exercises
• Bodybuilding exercises
• Etc.

There is also different formats of HIIT:

• Tabata
• EMOM
• AMRAP
• Etc.

The benefits of HIIT

HIIT is a very training format effective, because it will help you in particular:

• Burn more than calories than classic cardio (after-burn effect)
• Improve your abilities cardio-respiratory
• Maintain your muscular mass by promoting protein synthesis
• Boost your moral by releasing endorphins (well-being and pleasure)
• Reduce part of the stress, anxiety and improves your mood

One of the main benefits of HIIT is that it promotes weightloss :

• By increasing your basic metabolism (energy expenditure at rest)
• By stimulating the lipolysis (degradation of stored fat)
• By improving your sensitivity to insulin (helps regulate blood glucose levels)

In addition, this type of workout helps you improve your general physical condition :

• By increasing your VO2 max (maximum volume of oxygen consumed per minute during exercise)
• By strengthening your strength and your muscular endurance
• By improving your coordination, your balance, your flexibility and your joint mobility

How to start HIIT when you're just starting out?

To start the HIIT as a beginner you have to be careful and go for it gradually. You must not skip the steps and increase the pace little by little! 🐢

You have the choice between doing your workouts alone at home. House or with a coach room. There are more and more HIIT studios (like DRIP 😉) which offer sessions adapted to all levels.

Ideally try to start HIIT with a coach who can explain each movement to you and guide you. But if this is not possible, you can very well follow online courses on YouTube for example.

Regardless, when you start HIIT (and any sport) you should always warm up. Take 5 to 10 minutes to do a good warm-up. This is what will prepare your body for the effort and reduce the risk of injury.

To warm up, you can do:

• Exercises low intensity cardio to prepare your heart and warm up.
• Of the simple and controlled exercises to warm the muscles and prepare the joints.
• Of the light dynamic exercises and movements of mobility to further prepare your muscles.

When you start HIIT, you should also choose a effort/rest ratio who is you adapted. For example, you can go to:

• 30 seconds of effort for 30 seconds of rest
• 20 seconds of effort for 40 seconds of rest

The choice of exercises must also be adapted to your level. Prioritize exercises simple and effective. The ideal is to select movements that work several muscles at the same time. For example, burpees.

During your training, you should always think about listen to your body and respect your pace. If you feel like it's getting too hard, reduce the intensity. On the other hand, you must always be at your best. Just because it's hard doesn't mean you have to stop. 💨

You must find the good level of intensity that challenges you without it being painful. Still try not to overdo it so as not to hurt yourself or even get discouraged.

Once you have finished your session, finish with what is called the cool-down (return to calm). Take 5 to 10 minutes for your body to return to normal.

The goal of cool-down it's from drop in temperature, to relax and find a normal heart rate. For this you can:

• Do breathing exercises
• Walk a little or jog
• Do light static stretching
• Etc.

How often to do HIIT when you're starting out?

There isn't really any HIIT frequency ideal. It will depend on your level, your goals, your ability to recover, etc.

When you're starting out, it's good to take it little by little. For example, you can start with 1 or 2 workouts per week. Remember to space out your HIIT sessions by at least 24 hours to avoid injuries and give your body time to recover. 💪

According to your progression and your ease on workouts, you can increase the frequency as you go. You can move on to 2 or 3 sessions per week. But in the first months, do not exceed 4 weekly HIIT sessions. Your body still needs to get used to the intense effort.

Building a HIIT Program for Beginners

To build your HIIT program, you must define your(s) goals. Do you want to lose weight, gain endurance, tone up, improve your breathing capacity, etc.?

Once your goal is set, choose it HIIT format. Tabata, EMOM, AMRAP or even another format, the choice is yours. They each have their own specificities, which can allow you to vary your training!

You must then choose the duration of your workouts. Generally, when you're starting out, a session lasts between 10 and 30 minutes (including warm-up and cool-down). 🧭

When the format and duration of your training are validated, select the exercises according to your objectives. For example, if you want to target your lower body, go for squats, lunges, etc. But to start, the ideal is to take movements who work every part of the body.

The must is to have access to equipment. It's even better because you have more choices (dumbbells, bars, kettlebells, etc.). But we reassure you, you have plenty to do without equipment!

Once you have found the exercises, you must choose how to structure for your workout:

• The effort/rest ratio
• The number of exercises
• The order of the exercises
• The number of repetitions
• The number of turns
• Etc.

As soon as your structure is OK, all you have to do is get started. Of course your program will not be perfect the first time. This is why you must try several different sessions. This will help you adapt your sessions according to your preferences and your feelings.

Three examples of HIIT format

To avoid getting bored with sessions that are all the same, vary training formats. For example, you can test the 3 formats that we have already told you about:

1. Tabta
2. EMOM 
3. AMRAP

THE tabata is a format composed of 8 rounds. Each round includes 20 seconds of effort followed by 10 seconds of rest. A round lasts a total of 4 minutes and you can do between 3 and 7 rounds, or even more. 😈

EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute) is done over a given duration. For example, 15 minutes, where every minute corresponds to a round of an exercise selected. On each turn you must make a set number of reps. When all the reps are completed, you rest until the next minute. And you repeat this 15 times to validate the 15 minutes. An EMOM generally lasts between 10 and 30 minutes.

AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) is a format where you make a exercise circuit as many times as possible in a given time. For example, you have a circuit of 4 exercises and you set a duration of 15 minutes. You must therefore complete as many laps of the circuit as possible in these 15 minutes. The number of turns is therefore up to you.

To help you a little more, we have prepared some exercises and workouts that can be adapted to beginner athletes.

Some HIIT exercises to get started

We have prepared a list of some exercises simple, but effective that you can integrate into your workouts. They can be done with or without equipment, both at home and outside or even indoors.

Here are some examples :

• Jumping jacks
• Squats 
• The pumps
• Mountain climbers
• Burpees
• The slots
• Sit-ups
• Etc.

Obviously, if you want to spice up these movements, use dumbbells, bars, elastics, or even kettlebells! You just need to make sure you do it right. movement and you have chosen a suitable load. 

Some examples of workouts to get started

Let's start with a tabata very simple to 3 or 5 turns according to your abilities. 8 rounds of 20 seconds of full effort and 10 seconds of rest. You will alternate the following exercises:

• Jumping jacks
• Squats
• Pumps
• Mountain climbers

Once you have finished the mountain climbers, start again from the jumping jacks to complete 8 rounds in total and complete the round.

You can also try EMOM following composed of 4 rounds of 4 minutes for an EMOM of 16 minutes in total. Each minute therefore corresponds to your effort and rest time. Perform the following exercises every minute:

• 10 burpees the first minute
• 15 squats the second minute
• 20 push-ups in the third minute
• 25 mountain climbers in the fourth minute

You just have to repeat these 4 exercises 4 times to complete your 16-minute EMOM. Of course, go at your own pace while trying to take at least a 20-second break before moving on to the next minute.

We have also prepared a AMRAP. The circuit consists of 4 exercises. The goal is to do this circuit as many times as possible in 15 minutes. The exercises are:

• 10 jumping jacks
• 10 squats
• 10 push-ups
• 10 burpees

You can to change exercises, or even add according to your preferences. But don't forget, the goal is to hold on for 15 minutes. With each completed lap, take a rest according to your feelings, before going back to work!

Our tips for starting HIIT

With everything we have just seen together you already have almost everything you need to get started with HIIT. But at DRIP we have a few little ones additional tips that make the difference:

• Above all, do not neglect the warm-up and the cool-down
• Adapt intensity according to the signals your body sends you
• Supplement HIIT with other practices (bodybuilding, running, yoga, etc.)
• Consider working on your flexibility and your mobility outside of HIIT
• Hydration and the nutrition are important to achieve your goals 
• There recovery is essential to be at your best (sleep, avoid stress, etc.) 

Little bonus: if you want track your sessions and see how your body reacts, you can take a heart rate monitor or a connected watch. They will give you interesting information like your heart rate, estimated calories burned, etc.

Conclusion

THE HIIT is a great training method for let off steam in no time. You can burn maximum calories in less than 30 minutes. All this while working your cardio and your muscles !

For start HIIT, Go for it gently and increase the pace little by little. On the other hand, you must give yourself fully in every workout, otherwise it doesn't count!

And above all, you must to have fun during your sessions. Whether at home, in the gym or in a HIIT studio, make sure to enjoy your workouts ! The goal is still to do an activity that you enjoy.

Come try HIIT at DRIP

You want to test the HIIT for the first time ? In this case, our HIIT studio is made for you ! You will discover workouts accessible to all levels to surpass yourself without worrying about how others look at you.

THE concept DRIP is simple: 45 minutes of HIIT on 7 different bases :

1. Skierg
2. Cardio
3. Bodyweight
4. Assault bike
5. Medicine ball
6. Kettlebells
7. Dumbbell

The rhythm is simple, 1 minute per base, once you have finished each base, the round is over. In total you must chain 3 full turns !

And to help you give it your all, we've thought of everything: coaches with the banana and a crazy atmosphere with playlists that kick you up a notch. All this, in one Team spirit and mutual aid without judgment.

So, for a immersive HIIT workout in the heart of Paris, come and sweat at DRIP ! Monceau or Grands Boulevards, choose your studio and come and take pleasure in suffering. You will love to hate us. 🔥