Hot Take on HIIT

You know that we love strength training, but in the is episode we are talking about HIIT (high intensity interval training). We are talking about actual HIIT, not your typical Orange Theory or other types of circuit gyms. In this episode we will talk about how to do HIIT correctly and how to strategically work it into your exercise routine.

If you have questions, or topics that you want to hear about, head over to our Instagrams https://www.instagram.com/bayleethedietitian/ or https://www.instagram.com/brianna.dietitian/ and send us a DM! You can also follow the podcast https://www.instagram.com/mocktailminutes/

Featured Mocktails:

Bloom 

Ninja thirsty 

Click play, sip back, and be empowered.

Transcript

Baylee: 0:23

Hello everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes. This is Bailey.

Brianna: 0:28

And this is Brianna.

Baylee: 0:29

This week I did like a DIY Cherry limeade. I did the lime seltzer with the ninja thirsty, like a little sparkling water, the hint of lime. I like those because they don't have like any artificial sweeteners in it. And then I just added like a splash tart cherry juice. There we go.

Brianna: 0:48

I loved tart cherry juice. I had a really hard workout over the weekend and almost died. I had tart cherry juice. Uh, anyways, I haven't worked out that hard in a while. I was like, Hmm, I'm not doing that again. Today I am doing a bloom pop. I, I feel like these are pretty popular. I've never actually had one, but they are a prebiotic soda. They have. You know, bacteria in it, you

Baylee: 1:13

Have a decent amount of fiber in it, don't they? Or do they not? No, I don't like those.

Brianna: 1:18

No, these ones, it doesn't even have fiber on the label, but I don't think it does. It has like carbonated water. It is sweetened with cane sugar, but it's like three grams

Baylee: 1:28

Yeah.

Brianna: 1:29

and then like juice, apple cider vinegar, and then some strains. So it's pretty good. I got the watermelon lime, which I know is controversial, but I like it. So,

Baylee: 1:40

Yes. Yeah. Someone had asked me about those and I remember looking them up and I was like, because she was wondering for just like, gut stuff while traveling. So I was like, well, if you're looking for fiber, you're gonna want do more like op

Brianna: 1:52

Yeah, like our oli pop or poppy. I feel like these would be like a good, like fun like soda alternative if you like, want something kind of carbonated and sweet. But I like it.

Baylee: 2:02

Perfect. I also, so 4th of July weekend, I made like a fun drink and I did tart cherry juice with water. And then the just ingredients, electrolytes, the coconut lime, electrolytes,'cause I wanted coconut water as a whole thing. No one could find coconut water. And so I just used those electrolytes. Because then I had the lime in it too, and then I did some vodka in it, and that was our 4th of July drink, and it was actually pretty delicious. So we had some good electrolytes in there. Yeah.

Brianna: 2:35

a little electrolytes, little coconut. I like

Baylee: 2:39

Like a power drink, power, a party power drink. I don't know.

Brianna: 2:44

Yeah. Plus it probably taste a good,

Baylee: 2:46

Oh yeah. They were delicious. It's like one of those drinks we're like, oh shoot. And I was like, all.

Brianna: 2:52

you are like, oh, I can get in trouble with

Baylee: 2:53

Two and done.

Brianna: 2:54

so good. A hundred

Baylee: 2:55

Yes. We made it in like a giant picture. And there we still have something in the fridge.

Brianna: 3:00

It is just like calling to you mid calls. You're like, hmm.

Baylee: 3:05

Yes. Oh yeah. Well today,'cause we know it's summer and we know that everyone is very busy in the summer. I actually. I was planning on doing some like workshops around here, but I ended up, I'm just waiting because I mean, even I have stuff going on in these workshops, there's fairs, there's birthday parties, there's literally anything and everything. So we've been working to kind of cut these episodes down a little bit shorter for you because we want you to still learn something each week and this week. We're gonna talk about hi training. It's something that we, we've never really talked about before in like a beneficial way, and I don't want people to think like we're against hi training. I think how we've talked about in the past is when we've been. On like strength training because we have so many clients just kind of come to us doing a lot of HI training and it's really working against them. But I think in times of summer and traveling hi training could also be beneficial. It all depends on how you use it. So we thought this would be a good topic. Number one, we can quickly cover it. Number two, this is a way to quickly get in your workouts without overstressing it when you're still trying to cut down on time.

Brianna: 4:26

Yeah. I think too, like when we've talked about being against it, it is. Still like typical what you think of as hiit, like a nine round boxing or like like orange theory, things like that. Things that I would say aren't actually true. High intensity interval training that is just more of like 30 to 60 minutes of having your heart rate at a high rate, which is not the same as like. Like you're missing the interval parts. So I think that's kind of where we've probably spoken against it, but like true actual hit training when done correctly and making sure circumstances are correct is actually super beneficial.

Baylee: 5:05

So a lot of what I've learned about HIIT training and a lot of what we're gonna talk about today is from research that Dr. So Dr. Stacy Sims is an exercise physiologist and a nutrition scientist actually for her work in. Sex differences and training and nutrition. So she really likes to study women and read research on women, which is pretty cool'cause a lot of people don't like to do that because women have, we have our fun hormones and we're changing every day, but. Her approach to high intensity interval training. The HI training emphasizes how women, particularly more like premenopausal, perimenopausal, respond differently to this type of training than men, men do.

Brianna: 5:53

Mm-hmm.

Baylee: 5:53

So she really works to advocate for HIIT training that supports hormone fluctuations, muscle development, and metabolic health in women.

Brianna: 6:04

Yeah, so like what is hip? Like I said, high intensity interval training, so it involves short bursts of maximal or near maximal effort. So we're talking like. 85 to a hundred percent max heart rate. I don't know if you can get to a hundred, but technically that's in the definition, right? And you're doing like 30, maybe like 30 seconds of work with like 90 seconds of rest, and then you repeat it for like 10 to upwards of 30 minutes. Now I will say. She likes to keep it more on the lower end because she really wants women hitting that like max effort. And honestly, if you are like hitting 85 to a hundred percent of your effort, you're not do, you're not doing it 30 minutes. I would say if you do 30 minutes, you are not doing it hard enough. So like if you listen to a lot of her stuff, she'll say like three to five times. And like if you're able to go more than five, then you need to crank up your intensity of your efforts. So yeah.

Baylee: 7:02

And so like thinking about her key concepts I mentioned, so women do respond differently to stress and exercise. Most research on hi. On males. There's a lot of research that always has males. Like I said, women are harder to research. But this type of research can kind of misguide women and due to these hormonal differences, women's bodies are more sensitive to our stress hormone cortisol. And so that's why we can kind of experience more of the. Negative side effects from hit, like the muscle loss or the fatigue if you're not utilizing it properly. So when thinking about like our hormones as women, I, I mean, I think a lot of our population listening is women here. So guys, this is still a good episode for information on a HIT training, but this is, we're focused on how, how women can utilize this better. So when it comes to your cycles, I, I mean, I probably, well, I guess since I've had Gannon is when I really started tracking my cycles before that like. I like put when I had my period, but that was it. Like I didn't really pay attention. But when you start tracking your cycles and really understanding what phase you're in and being able to correlate patterns with your cycles, I think that is so helpful in so many different areas of life. Like it helps with your work, helps with your social life even, but. You just understand your body more. So when it comes to the HIIT training, like your days one through 14, that's just your follicular phase. Your hormones are, basically, what's happening is low. You have low and rising estrogen and progesterone. So this is actually the best time for intense HIIT workouts because you are more resilient to stress and you have a higher pain tolerance and better recovery. So this is like golden. Do your hi training here in that particular phase.

Brianna: 9:07

you're usually also like just more energized during this phase. So you feel a little bit more maybe motivated or like, oh, you know what? I do wanna do that. So again, if you're kind of keeping track of your cycle, you'll know there's just certain parts of it. You're like, oh, I'm feeling more energized. This is it. Ovulation happens around like day 14. This would be like your peak estrogen. You could still do hit. It's not that you can't, but just be a little bit mindful of like joint laxity and injury risk. And again, everybody's a little bit different, so maybe you feel fantastic around ovulation. Cool. Do it. Some people feel really lethargic. Maybe not for you, but knowing like it's still an okay time to do it,

Baylee: 9:47

And then your luteal phase. This is day 15. 20 this. So when you have high progesterone, so your body is actually less tolerant to high stress and you're more prone to fatigue. So honestly, this would be a good time to avoid excessive hit and like do lower volume. So this would not be a time that you want to go like all out in your lu teal phase or even like think about strength trainer. Like you don't wanna max out in your L teal phase.

Brianna: 10:14

you have a slower recovery. This time too. That's like another reason. And you actually need more calories during this time'cause your metabolism speeds up. But most of most people feel blah, so they're actually eating like less. And so if you are truly fueling yourself correctly, you might be someone that's like, you know what, maybe I can get away with hit. Or if you're someone who has like all the other boxes are checked, like you're not having a ton of stress, you're getting great sleep, like you actually just feel good, great. But I feel like the majority of women, I. Are not feeling great during your ludia phase and like he'll know so. You know, play around with it. But just know I'm gonna have a slow recovery. So if I am gonna do hit or I am gonna try to lift heavier, I need to like really be supporting myself. And I feel like that's where you gotta get honest with yourself.'cause a lot of people aren't. And then menstruation. So this is day like one through five, like the day you start your bleeding up until the end, your hormones drop. Um, it's like the lowest part of your hormones. So it's okay to reintroduce intensity. If your energy levels are good, like some people will be like, oh, like day two, I feel awesome. Cool. Like that's the time to do it. But it's not saying you have to put yourself in a box, but when you start to really understand yourself more and like what's going on, hormonally behind the scenes, you can better tailor your training. Which I know there's like some people on the internet right now that are really against that, and I'm just like, why? I don't know why. And like for me, I know like during my luteal phase, I'm not checking enough boxes to know that I'm managing stress. Well, I'm not gonna do hit, you know, maybe in a couple years from now, but I'm not right now. So I'm just like, okay, cool. I'm gonna keep it for a different part of my cycle. I.

Baylee: 11:54

So then why HIT works your two main benefits? I mean, overall it's metabolic benefits or hormonal benefits, muscle benefits. Metabolically, you're going to improve insulin sensitivity. You're going to enhance your mitochondrial function. So your mitochondria is what creates energy in yourself and you're gonna boost your VO two max. This is your like aerobic fitness that we want. And then hormonally and muscle wise, doing hi workouts will stimulate your growth hormone and testosterone production naturally, which is important for women, especially in perimenopause, menopause. It's gonna help stimulate that growth hormone. It's gonna help preserve lean muscle mass while, while also reducing visceral fat. Visceral fat is the fat we want to definitely reduce, and it's going to counter kind of that age related, age related decline in muscle am metabolic function. Cool words are hard.

Brianna: 12:56

Yeah, and that is, I mean. I'm not gonna even try to do the deep dive, but it has a lot to do with your mitochondrial help, your muscle fibers, all the things that it's doing. So it is beneficial, but less is more. So I. A lot of Dr. Stacy Sims kind of like her recommendations are like not to overdo it, because as soon as you overdo it, then you're just giving your body this like chronic stress that it's not able to respond to. So the thought is you give yourself a stress, your body adapts to that stress, and then it's better at managing stress later, which is great, which is why if you're doing Orangetheory, you're just kind of staying accelerated, but you're not actually getting. To create a new stress response. So more is not good. Less. Less is more. Okay. So she kind of recommends to do two to three HIIT sessions per week. More than that, it's gonna create to, you know, like chronically elevated cortisol, poor recovery, and, and even fat gain. So combining your string training with low intensity recovery like. Walking or yoga. Great. We still like that. We don't wanna replace any of that, but maybe adding two or three sessions to it. I would say maybe starting with one or two, unless you feel like you're already doing something like this or you're workout game is already pretty strong or you're just in a good season of life, but one to two, and again, you can do it with like. Sprinting. You can do it on a bike. You can do like body movements like burpees, like kettlebell swings, like there's all kinds of different ways to do it. But again, max effort three times. Maybe five. If you could do more, you're not doing it right, like once to three times a week. And then avoid fasted hit. So especially in the morning, because our bodies are more reacted to stress in a fasted state, cortisol is already high. So I would say do it when you're fed. And honestly, doing fed workouts is always gonna be best regardless because you're able to get the max amount out of your workouts if you're fed.

Baylee: 15:02

And if you're someone who's like, I work out early in the morning, like, I don't have time to eat. We're not talking, eat a full meal. And honestly like just try it out. Like see, okay, get a little curious. Do you feel better? Nine times outta 10. I would say most people feel better eating something before getting that workout in. Literally, what all I've done lately is a spoonful of honey. That's my pre-workout. Like you're not sitting and eating a full meal. So make it easier on yourself and just see how you feel with it. But I would say like common mistake with the hit training. And so like common mistakes and how to avoid them. So number one. Doing too much like Brianna just said, like two to three times and you wanna space'em out like I wouldn't do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, hit workouts and then sit on your rear the rest of the week, like space them out and give yourself some recovery. Otherwise, you're going to lead to burnout. More cortisol, it's gonna affect your sleep, and it can actually cause you to lose muscle. We also mentioned the recovery. So if you don't give your body time to recovery, this is what causes hormone imbalances. You don't progress well and it can actually suppress our immune system. So include active recovery days. Active meaning you don't have to sit on your couch for it to be recovery day. A recovery day is like, you can go on a walk, you can do yoga, you can do stretching. So you wanna do that and you also wanna priorit, prioritize getting your sleep. Other one Brianna mentioned was the fasted workouts. Doing so, like the high intensity, the hit fasted in the morning. This increases your cortisol. It's breaking down muscle, it's reducing your performance. Have a light pre-workout snack, like keep it easy, a half a banana, the honey freeze, dried fruit the applesauce packs, whatever you need to do. Those would be easy things to include to avoid that.

Brianna: 16:56

Yeah.

Baylee: 16:58

like thinking about the timing of your cycle, so we went through the different phases of your cycle. Do like, maybe don't do as much or avoid the high intensity workouts, the hit training during your late luteal field phase. So thinking like your p time and time, your hit workouts for more during your follicular phase, like a day one through 14 when your estrogen is higher and your stress resilience is better.

Brianna: 17:23

Mm-hmm.

Baylee: 17:23

The other thing with hi too is just kind of like strength training. We also do want some progressive overload in there because repeating the same basic circuit with no changes, that's what can lead to those plateaus. So vary intensity, add weights, reduce rest over time, or change the modality. Like if you're biking, do sprinting, like just change it up.

Brianna: 17:47

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I would say like, you know, short term if you like, if you're traveling, you don't have a lot of time. This is so great. And, but like normally, like on a normal basis, I wouldn't, I. Just do hit and skip the progressive overload. Look, they're, they're working two different things. And so obviously like you're gonna have those weeks where it's like, okay, let me just do more without I got, but in theory, you're typically doing progressive overload and you're doing your hit and, and then you're also doing your recovery, like walking, things like that. Um, so again, how to get the most go all out, like. You want max effort if you don't need rests after you didn't go hard enough. And I think her recommendation is like do it three to six times for 30 seconds, but in between like it's like a four minute rest or it's at least like two minutes because you are okay max effort or like coming back down and then you're doing it again. If you find, oh, I could probably go in another 32nd or I can do something different. Like I can go again. Again, that's not max effort. So whatever you need to do, I guess I left out rowing machine. You can use that too, but whatever you need to do to be like, oh, I'm max effort, do it. Play around with it and then don't skip the recovery, you know? Pair it with strength training. Listen to your body. Be smart about it.

Baylee: 19:11

Yeah, I, to be quite honest, I don't do a lot of HIIT workouts. I hate HIIT workouts. Do not enjoy'em. I do not feel refreshed. I like, they make me angry. I like literally just hurt. I very rarely I. Do

Brianna: 19:29

Yeah.

Baylee: 19:29

So this is when it comes to like everyone's a little bit different. Like some people love them. This is where your biofeedback comes into place. Like if you're waking up refreshed, that's great. If you have better energy and better moods, great.

Brianna: 19:43

Mm-hmm.

Baylee: 19:44

regular great. Or like. Are you constantly fatigued? Are you bloated? Is your sleep getting worse? Are you feeling moody? Okay, maybe we pull back. It ain't for you. But it doesn't, I can never do hit like I will do them when I'm feeling for it, when I'm feeling good. And you know what? If I actually, if I paid attention to those times and I am feeling good enough for it, I, it probably is during my follicular phase.

Brianna: 20:11

I, I hate it too. I was doing really good there, doing it like one time a week, I would do sprints. The only thing I like about it is it's a short workout, so it's like, okay, cool. I'm done in 10 minutes. Excellent. But I hate it too, because I just hate, like intense cardio, probably because I just spent too long of my life doing like intense cardio in the wrong way. So I'm just like, but. It can be really helpful. I would say like I'm recommending this to my clients who have maybe been strength training a while, and they're really good at their walks and they're kind of hitting a plateau. I'm like, okay, maybe it's time to get like strategic with some hit. So again, not for everybody. Not at every season of life. If you don't love it, maybe don't do it, but it's an option. And I will say, because we've like kind of talked about the cycle a lot, if you are postmenopausal or you don't have a cycle anymore, I would say you're probably okay to do this. Whenever, just again, you're making sure you are fueling correctly, you're getting enough sleep, you're managing your stress, like, you know, but that's why most hi research is done on men and postmenopausal women.'cause it's just easier. It's easier to do it. So. You know, kind of allow yourself to manipulate your training cycle based on your cycle. I think a lot of women need permission to do that. I think a lot of women need like the permission to not show up the same exact way every day,

Baylee: 21:31

routines are great, but it's also good to have flexibility in your routine. And I think a great reminder to kind of close out this episode is hit is a tool. It's not a lifestyle. I think we get so caught up in like the black and white thinking that's like, oh, Bailey, Brianna, they recommended hi now. So now I'm just only gonna do hit oh this week they recommended to drink bone broth, so that's what I'm gonna do every night. These are just pieces to the puzzle. None of these things are honestly like, like a lifestyle. Like that's why even protein, like we're not saying do carnivore. We're saying do protein, fat virus, starchy garbs with your meals. So hit is just another tool. It should be strategic, it should be short, it should be intense. It's not the foundation of your daily life, so it's beneficial. Just like a lot of things that we talked about.

Brianna: 22:29

yeah, exactly. When done correctly. I think that's the caveat, right? Because like

Baylee: 22:34

Yes.

Brianna: 22:36

we just like to take it to the extreme. We really do. I don't know why we do that as humans, but knock it off. I'm talking to myself too. Well, hopefully that cleared up some questions on hit. I guess if you guys still have questions, you can obviously follow Dr. Stacy Sims. I feel like she's like a wealth of knowledge, but also you can message us on our Instagrams.

Baylee: 22:58

Yes. Alright, everyone, have a good rest of your week back next week with a new episode. Bye.

Brianna: 23:05

Bye.