How many times per week should I do HIIT workout?
Is It Safe to Do HIIT Every Day?
1. If you do HIIT regularly you need to mix up your routines
Like with any exercise Dr. Astorino says that you may get bored if you do the same routine regularly and your progress may also plateau. If you do the same regime, including the same number of bouts and the same length of bouts and intensities your gains might level off Dr. Astorino explains.
Plus there’s a chance of injury if you do the same repetitive movements over time without recovery time. If you’re doing HIIT on a treadmill which would imply sprinting you might have some shin splints ankle problems or joint pain,” Dr. Astorino adds.
Zapata echoes this stance. She says too much HIIT can have negative effects on your body and leave you susceptible to injuries.
While you may not notice the negative effects of not giving your body the rest and recovery it needs immediately, over time you will see a decrease in performance plateaus possible weight gain and overuse injuries she says. Remember more is not better!
Since HIIT can be done many different ways including outdoors or without equipment altogether there are ways to reduce the likelihood of hurting yourself. Dr. Astorino suggests doing HIIT on a bike. Research shows that biking is gentler on your knees and joints than running.
2. You don’t need to do HIIT daily
According to Jessica Zapata creator of Fitilates and co-owner of the Alberta-based gym Infinite Fitness the answer is clear. No, you do not need to do HIIT every day.
We live in a society that thinks if something is good more must be better but that is simply not the case she says. If you are truly doing HIIT properly you need recovery in between workouts to maximize the training effect.
So, then how often should you be doing HIIT? Due to the highly effective nature of HIIT there’s really no need to do it more than three to four times a week Dr. Astorino says. He points to the U.S. government’s health guidelines that say adults need two and one-half hours of aerobic physical activity per week and at least two days of muscle-strengthening exercise per week.
While Dr. Astorino says that there’s no reason to call regular HIIT sessions unsafe he says that he doesn’t see why someone would want to do it every day since research shows that it is not necessary. There was a study that came out 15 years ago and they had typical men not athletes doing HIIT for around 10 to 14 days in a row Astorino says. They showed the exact same benefits that you would typically associate if you were doing HIIT three days a week.
And the benefits are undeniable for people of varying fitness levels. HIIT is an effective form of exercise for many including those who work out regularly those who are obese and those living with diabetes. Science clearly says that if you’re a healthy adult HIIT works as well as cardiovascular exercise yet if you have diabetes or have heart disease most of the evidence shows it works better Dr. Astorino says.
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