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=HIIT Recommendations=
Below are my recommendations based on my interpretation of the available evidence. These recommendations for incorporating HIIT in your training depend on your current fitness goals.
* Ease into HIIT gently, following [[Safe Speedwork]] recommendations.
* For sedentary people, HIIT is probably more effective in building initial fitness than Continuous Moderate Exercise. Three sessions per week of [[#Wingate| Wingate]] HIIT on a stationary bike should provide an improvement in fitness for a modest time commitment. Using [[#WinTab| WinTab]] style HIIT may produce similar benefits for a lower time commitment.
* For people looking to lose weight, HIIT will probably produce a greater reduction in body fat than Continuous Moderate Exercise. Three sessions per week of Wingate HIIT on a stationary bike should help with [[Weight Loss]] and appetite control. The HIIT could be combined with other forms of exercise on the other days, which may further improve weight loss. (HIIT probably more effective than Continuous Moderate Exercise at improving insulin sensitivity.)
* Recreationally active people looking for rounded fitness may benefit from including HIIT in their overall training program. Adding 1-3 sessions per week of Wingate or WinTab HIIT on a stationary bike should provide an improvement in fitness.
* Athletes focused on improving their performance in endurance races lasting less than an hour will probably benefit from replacing some of their training load with a combination of both traditional HIIT and shorter Wingate or WinTab style HIIT. Up to one traditional HIIT or 1-3 shorter HIIT sessions could be included in a weekly training routine. Care should be taken to increase [[TRIMP| Training Load]] slowly with the additional HIIT and try to avoid increasing [[Training Monotony]]. The traditional HIIT should be performed by running on a track or other outdoor location. For the shorter HIIT, a stationary bike probably has a lower injury risk, but the additional benefits of outdoor running may outweigh the additional injury risk. However, the fast paces of the shorter HIIT should be introduced gradually, building up the pace over a number of workouts.
* There is no direct evidence to indicate if HIIT will help athletes focused on improving their performance in events lasting longer than an hour. However, it seems reasonable that HIIT would provide some benefits. Including 1 or 2 Wingate or WinTab HIIT sessions per week may be appropriate. As noted in the prior bullet point for shorter duration athletes, care should be taken to monitor [[TRIMP| Training Load]] and [[Training Monotony]]. As with athletes focusing on events lasting less than an hour, the stationary bike has the lowest injury risk, but there may be benefits to other training modes. However, athletes competing in longer duration events typically don't have the same need for the very high paces that are sometimes seen at the end of shorter events.
* There is no evidence to suggest that HIIT can be used to replace Continuous Moderate Exercise such as the [[Long Run ]] that is a core part of endurance training. * HIIT sessions should be considered hard workouts. If your existing training is not already structured around hard days interspersed with rest days, then HIIT should be distributed through the week and you should take it easier on other days. If you are already structuring your workouts around hard days, replace a hard workout with HIIT rather than adding to your workload. (Monitoring your [[Training Monotony]] may help prevent [[Overtraining]].) It may be possible to incorporate a HIIT workout with a moderate length long run, but there's not much evidence to know the optimum approach. It seems likely that the HIIT would create additional fatigue and [[Glycogen Depletion]], which would make the run seem much longer than the distance would suggest.
=Types of HIIT=
There are various different protocols for performing HIIT. While the Tabata is probably the most widely recognized name in HIIT, it is one of the least studied and the least used.
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==HIIT Studies on Untrained or Moderately Active Subjectswithout Controls==
While studies that compare HIIT with other forms of training are the most useful, there are a few other studies on untrained or moderately active people that are noteworthy. For instance, six sessions of HIIT over two weeks doubled the endurance of untrained subjects at 80% [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]] from 25 to 51 minutes, despite no change in [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]]<ref name="Burgomaster-2005"/>, a remarkable improvement. In another study, the combination of Continuous Moderate Exercise and moderate intensity intervals (60-70% [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]]) reduced body fat by 15%, which was nine times more than Continuous Moderate Exercise alone, even though the Continuous Moderate Exercise burned over twice the calories<ref name="Tremblay-1994"/>. Another study also used a combination of HIIT on 3 day/week plus running as far as possible in 40 min on another 3 days/week , resulting in an increase in [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]] by 44%, as well as improved running endurance, with some subjects ending up with a [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]] exceeding 60 ml/kg per min, which is remarkably high for 10 weeks of training<ref name="Hickson-1977"/>.
==HIIT and Highly Trained Athletes==