HIIT on consecutive days

NicheG

So back on the weight loss trail again and I'm trying to develop a good cardio routine. I generally like to mix things up on consecutive days so as not to get bored on one particular machine. (I am throwing some weight sessions in for good measure).
Was looking at a fitness vid on youtube recently and began to realise how many people were recommending HIIT for fat loss.
However I did hear one trainer also mention that it would be counter productive to do HIIT on consecutive days as doing a session on the second day would negate the work of increasing metabolic rate from the session on the previous day?
I may have picked up the subtext incorrectly; but I hope you know what I'm getting at?
So in a nutshell any thoughts of doing HIIT 3-4 days in a row (which I know I would enjoy) should be shelved??
Anyone any advice on this?
cheers

Sonderval

I havent seen any info on consecutive days of HIIT - I would have thought that the RMR benefit would endure from day to day once the impetus remained. If this is the case then I don't see a downside apart from the fact that your body would be adapting to the new stimulus and it may lose some of its effectiveness.

On a personal note, when I usually mix it up between normal running and HIIT days. I prefer to think of HIIT as 'shock and awe' for the body and wouldn't usually do multiple days of it back to back.

NicheG

Thanks for the reply.
I think realistically with the shape I'm in at the moment; it would be difficult for me to sustain multiple days of HIIT anyway.
I think your approach of including it say once every three to four sessions might work for me?

cmyk

Sonderval wrote: »

I would have thought that the RMR benefit would endure from day to day once the impetus remained. If this is the case then I don't see a downside apart from the fact that your body would be adapting to the new stimulus and it may lose some of its effectiveness.

I'd be interested in the answer to this too to be honest. My understanding was that the body can't adapt to it, as it's changing all the time. As you stated though, mixing it with some sustained cardio every other day can't do any harm. What about changing the type of exercises for HIIT? ie running/sprinting one day, burpees/squats the next? Mixing up the timings, 30secs on 30secs off to a tabata type 20secs on 10off?

j@utis

I came-up with this idea to alternate weights and HIIT in order to shorten my time spent in the gym. Starting this week I'm doing full body weights workout one day and 30mins HIIT the other and then all over again, 1 day off a week.
According to my Polar HR monitor:
on wieghts training day: 548kcal burned, 30% of them came from fat, training session 01:13minutes;
on HIIT day: 470kcal burned, 17% from fat, 00:48mins workout.

I remember about a year ago I was doing HIIT nearly everytime I was in the gym for over two months, after my weight training or on cardio days and I remember it being really tough but I put enormous efforts into it. I lost a relatively good amount of weight and I was really happy about untill those women's problems started. (as we all know women have to maintain healthy % of body fat for their hormonal system to function properly). So, basically I had to choose between six-pack or sex. And I chose the later...
Ok, this story is getting to long already What I'm trying to say is just don't over do it.