Losing Fat on HIIT Program

High Intensity Interval Training is an advanced cardio workout method where intervals or short high intensity exercise are alternated with longer intervals of moderate intensity exercise. For example:

• High Intensity Period = 8 to 30 seconds
• Low - Moderate Period = 12 seconds to 60 seconds

Repeated 60 to 12 times for the longer sesrssions

The combination chosen is an individual perference and determined by the goals of the individual. My personal perference is 12 splites of 30 sec / 60 secs. I find the results I get from this give me an intense 30 minute workout [accounting for a few minutes warm up and warm down at each end] and much better progress than going all out for 30 minutes. The fat loss was greater, the cardiac fitness more improved and the muscle build up better.

An 8-second fat loss study, the FEM trial, and the Optimal Fat Loss program at UNSW have given scientific insight into the results experienced by groups.

8 Second Fat Loss Study

This study, carried out as part of a PhD program recently completed at UNSW was on a test group of 45 women aged 20 years with a BMI of 23.5 kg/m2.

The group were randomly assigned to either a HIIT program or a steady state exercise [SSE] condition, as the control condition.

The program continued for a period of 15 weeks.

• Blood tests were taken before and after to examine any changes in cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, insulin, c-reactive protein, glucose, adiponectin, leptin, and cortisol.
• Body fat was assessed by DEXA

HIIT Program Details

The program was carried out on exercycle equipment with an 8-second sprint followed by 12 seconds as slow as possible pedaling. This continued for 60 sprints, giving a total exercise duration of 20 minutes. This program was completed 3 times a week.

The program instensity was built up by starting week 1 at a 5 minute session then builting up both the intensity of the sprint and the total exercise duration. Intensity was assessed through a maximal oxygen uptake test performed previously so that the workload at an respiratory exchange ratio (RER) of .93 was used for each individual woman. This equated to about 90% of flat out sprinting for most women.

• All women were completing the 20 minutes of HIIE within 6 sessions (2 weeks).
• Most women performed at a pedaling rate of 100-120 at a resistance of .5 to 1 kg.
• The SSE consisted of three 40-minute continuous stationary bike exercise at 60% of peak oxygen uptake.
• Both groups had a 5-minute warm-up and a 5-minute cool-down.

Study Results

The SSE women increased body fat slightly by .5 kg

The HIIE lost 2.5 kg. When those with a starting average BMI of less than 20 kg/m2, and having lost the least fat during the group were removed from the results, the average fat lost for the rest of the women was 3.9 kg, with two women in the group losing 8-9 kg of fat.

Interestly, counter to many doctors suggesting that fat loss is equal all over the body, the women in the HIIE group lost more fat from their legs and abdominal region, than their arms.

Other results from the HIIE Group included:

The key finding was that the HIIE women lost about 3 times more fat doing half the exercise.

The FEM Trial

The FEM trial focuses on the impact of Fish oils, Exercise, and a Mediterranean diet. This combination is believed to a significantly greater effect on fat loss and metabolic stability than HIIE alone.

The program duration = 12 weeks

• Phase 1: a kickstart diet program to normalize the womens body weight and metabolism
• Phase 2: the optimal fat loss program will continue the diet and fish oil and add the HIIE exercises.

The Optimal fat loss program at UNSW aims to prove that the optimal fat loss should be based around lifestyle change and the FEM components described above plus other components such as stress management and resistance exercise. They conclude that there is no ONE perfect exercise or diet program for everyone.

Barriers to Fat Loss

Not all individuals undertaking either program or the combination of the two programs will lose fat. Fat loss is individual and does not automatically occur by simply eating less and exercising more. In fact, this commonly adopted combination is not particularly successful.

Fat loss programs must be custom designed for each individual based on an in-depth examination of many individual factors that may hinder or prevent the body from burning fat. Factors include:

• Birth weight
• Muscle fibre type
• Mitochondrial inefficiency
• Inflammation status
• Free radical status
• Adipocyte and muscle cell insulin resistance
• Resting metabolic rate
• Virus history
• Quality of sleep
• Amount of daily stress
• Ethnicity
• Weight cycling history

...and many more factors.

Many of the “facts” we hear about weight loss are myths. Starvation diets make people fat and obese and contribute to lifestyle diseases such as heart disease.

Neither does eating fat makes you fat or eating a low fat diet make you thin - the Mediterranean diet includes more fat and more calories than program participants would normally eat. The difference is in the type of fat included, being monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats found in fish and nuts.

Instead of worrying about reading food labels, concentrate on eating mostly foods that have no food labels - unprocessed foods such as fruits and vegetables. Typically, these foods contain a variety of “phytonutrients” which directly or indirectly turn on fat burning in fat cells.

Study data supporting the ability of the Mediterranean diet to lose weight and reduce heart and other disease is extremely strong. Processed foods typically produce the opposite effect by turning on fat storage. They also lead to operating inefficiency in many cells leading to overweight and problems such as high cholesterol levels.

NOTE: Fat loss programs should only be done under the supervision of a team of mediacal professionals that fully understand the various fat loss regimes and how to align your program to your current status. Only in this way will you avoid adopting a so called fat-loss program that is wrong for you, and instead lead you to gaining fat.

The key to fat loss is to adopt a way of life that allows your cells to burn fat. Your body is naturally design to avoid excessive fat loss - only the actions you take prevent it from performing its job correctly.

Source: Tremblay, A. et al. (1994). Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism. Metabolism, 43, 814-818.

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