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How to distribute macros throughout they day when doing HIIT?

7 min read

Asked by: Stephanie Marie

Should you eat more when doing HIIT?

HIIT is great for torching calories, so this shouldn’t be too difficult. If you’re looking to achieve muscle gain, you’ll need to be sure to maintain a calorie surplus. This typically means eating a large meal before or after doing HIIT since HIIT is notorious for burning through energy.

How do you eat during a HIIT workout?

This means you also need protein after a workout to help repair and rebuild damaged muscles. For the best results, eat mostly carbs with protein after your HIIT session.



Eating Before a HIIT Session

  1. Banana or apple with almond butter.
  2. Peanut butter on whole wheat toast.
  3. Low-fat Greek yogurt topped with berries.


Why am I so hungry the day after HIIT?

A: If you’re hungry after your interval workouts, you’re either dehydrated—or you’re not working hard enough. As you’ve heard, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a great way to lose weight in as little as 30 minutes a day.

What should I eat after HIIT to lose fat?

THE BEST FOODS TO REFUEL WITH AFTER A HIIT WORKOUT

  • Eggs. Packed with all 9 essential amino acids, and high in protein and B vitamins, eggs are the bee’s knees as a post-workout fuel. …
  • Sweet Potatoes. …
  • Blueberries.


How do you carb cycle with HIIT?


So our approach to carb cycling is where you have certain days of eating. Lower amounts of carbs in certain days where you're eating higher amounts of carbs.

Is HIIT better on empty stomach?

Training on an empty stomach will help you lose weight via burning fat quicker and more easily. You can reach your fitness goals faster by using energy already stored in your body. If you have not put any calories in, your body will automatically resort to burning body fat.

Should I take protein after HIIT?

In a HIIT session, the intensity you’re training at is also going breaks down muscle tissue, create micro-tears in muscle fibres which are mainly made of protein. This means you will need protein after a workout to help repair and rebuild damaged muscles.

How many calories should I eat when doing HIIT?

A diet with 1,500 to 1,800 daily calories is appropriate for most men who are trying to shed excess pounds. If you’re very active or you don’t want to lose weight while getting fit, you may need to eat more calories.

Should I eat right after HIIT?

Eating swiftly after your HIIT session is advisable because “the muscles are thought to be primed to accept nutrients immediately after exercise,” explains the expert. “This [recipe] will make sure you have a good balance of carbs and protein to start the recovery process.”

Should I eat carbs after a HIIT workout?

Because HIIT can deplete this stored glycogen, it’s crucial to replenish carbohydrates post workout as well. The closer to a workout one eats, the more ideal it is to choose quicker digesting, simple carbs like white rice, quick oats, banana, and dried fruit like dates and figs.

What happens if I don’t eat after HIIT?

6. You’ll Be Tired. According to Bede, you might be really tired if you’re not eating within an hour. For instance, you might leave your HIIT class feeling high off the endorphins and full of energy, but if you wait too long to eat, you might start to get tired and “crash.”

How long until you see results from HIIT?

If you are looking to increase cardiovascular fitness and VO2 max, HIIT can offer results in 6-8 weeks. If you are looking to lose fat using HIIT, the results are 100% dependent on your ability to place yourself in a calorie deficit, which HIIT can help with, but is not the only factor involved in weight loss.

Does HIIT reduce belly fat?

Can HIIT reduce stomach fat? The answer is yes, according to a 2018 meta-analysis, which looked at 39 studies involving 617 subjects. “HIIT significantly reduced total (p = 0.003), abdominal (p = 0.007), and visceral (p = 0.018) fat mass,” the study’s authors said.

What happens if you do HIIT everyday?

HIIT is the perfect way to condense the benefits of activity into 30 minutes or less. But when it comes to an intense exercise like HIIT, doing it every day, or for periods longer than 30 minutes can put you at risk for injury, overtraining, mental burnout, and prevent muscle recovery.

How do I know if HIIT is working?

5 Ways To Know You’re Going Hard Enough With HIIT

  1. Are You Out Of Breath? When you’re doing HIIT, you shouldn’t be able to hold a conversation. …
  2. Is Your Heart Rate Increasing? …
  3. Are You Feeling The Burn? …
  4. Are You Keeping It Short And Simple? …
  5. Are You Adding Restorative Work To Your Routine?


What happens if I do HIIT for a month?

In just one month, you should be able to see the beginnings of some stellar results. After one month or 30 days of regular HIIT workouts your endurance will improve dramatically. You’ll be able to complete the workouts with much greater ease, and the extra energy will likely carry over into your regular life.

Is it better to do HIIT in the morning or evening?

Morning exercise has been found to increase cognitive abilities as effectively as a cup of coffee, and has also been shown to improve decision-making later in the day. Therefore, doing HIIT in the morning may lead to a more productive day, with higher levels of focus and thinking abilities.

Is it OK to take breaks during HIIT?

It’s only HIIT if you take a break



During these short bursts of movement, your body is using the anaerobic energy pathway and the effort should be 100%. During the rest periods, your aerobic system helps you to recover by regenerating your phosphocreatine, or the way in which your muscles produce energy.

Is 1 hour of HIIT too much?

Determining the perfect duration of a HIIT workout requires a bit of experimenting. I’ve found that the sweet spot is somewhere in the 20-30 minute range. If your workout lasts any more than 30-minutes, you’re probably not working hard enough to optimize the benefits of HIIT.

Can I do HIIT 5 days a week?

Gottschall recommends that you only introduce HIIT after at least six months of consistent exercise, doing a mix of cardio and resistance training across five days a week. “At this point you can replace one cardio session with one or two shorter HIIT sessions, separated by two sleep cycles.”

What is the best ratio for HIIT?

When starting a HIIT program, we recommend using HIIT ratios with longer recovery phases than work phases. For example, a 1-to-3 work-to-recovery ratio is a good starting point. The goal in HIIT is to push hard during the work phase and recover as much as possible during the recovery phase.

How do you structure HIIT?

It calls for 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of recovery, repeated eight times in a row for a total of 4 minutes; that might not seem like a lot, but when each 20-second bout is performed at the highest level of effort, 4 minutes is that is needed for a great workout!

What is the HIIT formula?

Do two to three 5-minute intervals using the 10-20-30 formula—that is, run each minute at slow (30 seconds), normal (20 seconds) and sprint (10 seconds) speeds. Repeat this five times for a total of five minutes, then rest for two minutes.

How do you format a HIIT workout?

Following a 20/30/40 format, each exercise is performed for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest. Next, the same exercise is performed for 30 seconds with another 10 seconds of rest. Finally, the exercise is performed or 40 seconds, followed by one minute of rest before performing the next exercise.

How do you mix HIIT with weight training?

How to Combine HIIT and Strength Training Routines

  1. Take shorter rests. The goal of HIIT is to elevate your heart rate quickly. …
  2. Add cardio between sets. If shortening your rests isn’t doing it for you, go a step further and turn those rests into cardio sets. …
  3. Use movement patterns. …
  4. Do weighted movements.


What are 3 examples of HIIT training?

Here are a few simple examples of HIIT workouts:

  • Using a stationary bike, pedal as hard and fast as possible for 30 seconds. Then, pedal at a slow, easy pace for 2–4 minutes. …
  • After jogging to warm up, sprint as fast as you can for 15 seconds. …
  • Perform squat jumps as quickly as possible for 30–90 seconds.