High intensity interval training is a whole different ball game than what most people think that it is. And in this post, I want to give you a breakdown of what high intensity interval training really is. But also what kind of cardio you should be doing when you’re intermittent fasting or what you need to know to at least make an informed decision.
So the first thing I want to talk about before I even get into anything that has to do with fasting is truly give you the breakdown of what high intensity interval training should look like and what you’re actually trying to accomplish. Most people look at high intensity interval training as just this way to get a crazy lung burner, just an awesome workout, where you feel like you just torched a bunch of calories.
You don’t always get the desired outcome…
That’s all fine and dandy, but it doesn’t always elicit the best metabolic response. And it doesn’t always elicit the best body composition response. You don’t always get the desired outcome even though you may feel like you accomplished something, but that’s not because high intensity interval training is bad. It’s because most people are doing it wrong. Here’s the thing, when we’re doing high intensity interval training, we are activating the anaerobic system of the body. So I want you to think of high intensity interval training cardio the same way that you would think of weight training. Weight training operates with the same metabolic business in your body that high intensity interval training does. It’s utilizing carbohydrates as a source of fuel. So what that means is you’re in that rep range of maybe six reps all the way up to 15 reps in the weight room. Well, it’s the same kind of thing that you’re burning when you’re doing a high intensity interval training workout.
that’s not how the body works!
So let me give you an example of what most people think HIIT looks like. Most people will do one minute of high intensity exercise, and then one minute off, then they’ll go back and they’ll do one minute on and one minute off, and this is great to gamify a process. I understand that it makes it easy, but that’s not how the body works. The body doesn’t necessarily know what one minute is or what two minutes are the body just knows when it’s fully fatigued or not. The whole idea with high intensity interval training is you need to 100% be pushing it to the max and then recovering for however long it takes, whether it’s 30 seconds, one minute, two minutes to be able to be fully recovered, to give it 100% again. So it varies from person to person on how long the rest periods should be.
You should be going all the way…
It is absolutely not uniform. So, for example, you should be doing your high intensity training all the way, pedal to the metal for like 15, 20 seconds. Because quite honestly, that’s about how much energy you have stored up in your body to really perform at 90 to 100%. If you’re going longer than 20 or 25 seconds, then you’re not pushing it at 90 or a hundred percent plain and simple, period. You should be going all the way then recovering as much as you possibly need to, to be able to afford to push it 100%. Again, if you’re going at one minute on, one minute off, you’re probably going something like 50, 60% of your maximum, and then just recovering for however long it takes. That doesn’t really add up. We need to elicit the metabolic response that we get when we weight train where we’re going all the way to failure.
It should be simply because it feels good
So now let’s talk about how this applies with fasting. When you are in a fasted state, your body is not utilizing carbohydrates as a source of fuel. When you are fasting, your body is using ketones. It’s using fat. It turns fats into ketones. When you are doing high intensity interval training, you’re utilizing carbs. Now I hear a lot of people talking about how high intensity interval training is going to help them get into a fasted state easier. That’s not really the case. You see, once you’re already fasting, your body just stores the glycogen and puts it away. It’s not like you have to burn through all your glycogen first, before you start burning fat. It’s really just how long you are going without eating before your body starts using fat. So it’s not like you have to drain your tank and then start using fats.
It doesn’t quite work all the way like that, although it does in some cases, but high intensity interval training isn’t going to get you to the benefits of fasting any faster. If you like to do high intensity interval training, it should simply be because it feels good, and because you want to get the maximum heart rate benefits, that’s all there is to it. I like it because it feels good. I get a good mental response from it. But if you’re fasting and you’re just looking to burn some fat, you’re probably better off doing a little bit more of a steady state type of cardio. I’m talking literally just 15, 20 minutes at like 60, the 70% of your maximum heart rate. That’s going to oxidize fat a lot easier and maximize the utilization of the ketone bodies. But if you are going to do HIIT, then you’re gonna want to make sure you do it right.
And the thing is HIIT is really good, right? After you have some kind of high carbohydrate meal, that way your body can actually use those carbs and put them to good use so they don’t get stored at all. But it’s very important that you’re doing the high intensity interval training properly.
What are you trying to achieve?
Now, when it comes down to timing your cardio later in the day, if you are someone that cannot do cardio in a fasted state, you have to do it after you’ve eaten, then you’re someone that might respond well to doing high intensity interval training as a form of cardio, but after you eat. So that would make sense only if you are doing your cardio at the end of the day after you’ve already broken your fast. If you’re doing your cardio in the morning, while you are still fasting, you have to make an honest, informed decision for yourself. What are you trying to achieve? Are you trying to burn more fat or are you trying to get more of a mental benefit? So maybe mix it up a little bit. I hope that was good food for thought and a little bit of insight into how high intensity interval training really works.
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