I’ve been trying to find out would it be wise to do a HIIT session and weight training session on the same day or would that be detrimental to my gains. I plan on doing Insanity the full number of days it calls for and adding in a full body weight training session with only the compound lifts. I would only be lifting on M,W,F.
I’m new to the site so I really don’t know if I’m doing the posting right so bear with me and pls reply back soon
Don’t do Insanity. It’s total crap. It only works because the people who do it have never done anything active in their lives.
Just use those days to lift weights. Find a proven program and follow it to a tee, without changing anything. Here’s a few good ones to check out: 5/3/1, texas method, juggernaut method, starting strength
You can absolutely do “HIIT” the same day you lift. This is called conditioning and is/should be a vital part of your training.
^ What Chris said.
If you want to do Insanity, don’t expect much progress in the weight room. You can certainly give it a try for a few weeks and see how it goes. But to maximize looking awesome, weights should be the priority with HIIT, such as sprints,afterwards.
[quote]Warrior4Life wrote:
I’ve been trying to find out would it be wise to do a HIIT session and weight training session on the same day or would that be detrimental to my gains.[/quote]
What is your specific goal? What’s your current height, weight, and general fat level (not percentage. But do you look pudgy, lean, ripped already, what?)
If you’re doing HIIT the same day you lift, try to have a few hours between the workouts to avoid burning muscle. But generally, yep, it’s fine to train both the same day depending on what you’re doing in each workout.
How many days is that? As was said, there are better training plans out there. Insanity is better than nothing, but odds are we can find you something that fits your schedule/goals better.
Lifting three days a week and doing some kind of cardio 3-5 days a week is a pretty common plan for fat loss. Not sure why you’re saying “only the compound lifts” though. But first things first.
CC, can you please explain why sprints post workout will burn muscle?
Isn’t weight lifting just as catabolic as HIIT? I read HIIT will help build muscle also, therefore would adding HIIT at the end of a session not be the same as adding another exercise?
[quote]TrapsLatsnHat wrote:
CC, can you please explain why sprints post workout will burn muscle?[/quote]
Sprints, or any high intensity cardio, done right after weights will be more prone to burning muscle/protein for fuel since you’ll be somewhat more glycogen depleted from lifting. If cardio is going to be done right after weights, lower intensity is more appropriate in order to preserve muscle. The right peri-workout nutrition might help this to some degree, but I still wouldn’t push it.
Simple energy management is another factor. The “high intensity” of a HIIT session will be higher as a session by itself compared to how “high intensity” you can be after you’ve already been lifting for an hour and a half.
I think I know what you mean, but I wouldn’t say they’re “catabolic” in the sense that they’re only going to destroy muscle. HIIT and weight training can both be anabolic/stimulate hypertrophy to some extent. It’s just a matter of nutrition (daily and peri-workout) and managing the intensity, volume, and frequency of training.
Depending on what the HIIT session looks like, it wouldn’t be like doing just one more weight training exercise. It would be like doing a big compound lift for 5 or 6 very heavy sets of 2. By itself… good workout. Done right after you’ve already trashed the target muscle group… no real benefit.
Thanks for clearing that up. Not saying I do that but the question did just pop into my head after reading your earlier post.
Hope it helps the OP too.
I’d add to Colucci’s post that doing HIIT in a separate session the same day you lift weights is not necessarily a bad idea–after all, basically speaking many college athletes end up doing that exact thing for 4 years–but you do need to be careful in how you approach it and how much work you do.
RE: INsanity–I have a client that does P90x 3-4 times a week, it hasn’t hindered his strength gains at all. Of course, he’s basically to the point where it’s a sort of hard “active rest” workout for him. It helps keep him lean and it helps keep the wife happy because she has somebody to workout with.
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
Sprints, or any high intensity cardio, done right after weights will be more prone to burning muscle/protein for fuel since you’ll be somewhat more glycogen depleted from lifting.
[/quote]
Don’t most of these articles on complexes suggest throwing them in at the end of a workout?
[quote]1 Man Island wrote:
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
Sprints, or any high intensity cardio, done right after weights will be more prone to burning muscle/protein for fuel since you’ll be somewhat more glycogen depleted from lifting.
[/quote]
Don’t most of these articles on complexes suggest throwing them in at the end of a workout?[/quote]
Not when using complexes for fat loss, as far as I recall, but different coaches advise different methods.
If I’m using complexes for fat loss, and if they have to be done right after weights, the weight training will be lower volume or lower intensity for that day. Or, I might use complexes for general conditioning (not specifically fat loss) right after weights, but in that case the complex will be slightly lower volume or intensity.