I don't know what that means. Cardio for me is the same thing everyday with one minor variance. I either do 33 minutes on the elliptical, and 15 on the treadmill or vice versa.

I did the same cardio today that I do everyday. Elliptical resistance at 9, and pound it out. Then I walked on the treadmill for 15 at 4.3 mph.

Steady-state cardio is what you described. It's not as effective as HIIT given the same amount of time.

http://www.hiitsource.com/

http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybui...tness_tip.html

For beginners, I'd recommend an interval structure like this:

30 seconds as hard and fast as you can go, 1.5 minutes of active recovery (faster than a warmup, but not nearly as fast as the previous 30 seconds)

20 minutes of that, and you should be exhausted.

Flopnuts:

Do the HIIT as Silock outlines. Going 45 minutes on a treadmill is just torture, especially when you can accomplish the same thing in half the amount of time.

That is GREAT information. I'm sure you've talked about this before and I just missed it. That's perfect. I can do my steady state training while I'm training for my 5k, and use the HIIT on weight lifting days.

So it's as simple as jump roping or jumping jacks? Can I put that to use on the basketball court at all? Do you have some suggestions on what a guy my size would be best suited to start off with?

Thanks again dude. I've really been trying to figure out how to mix my cardio up some so I'll continue to get the results that I'm looking for.

**** man. The elliptical today was absolutely brutal from start to finish. 31 minutes of pure hell. Not only that, but with every pound I drop I burn less calories during my workout.

So it really makes things more difficult when I'm trying to hit calories burned numbers rather than time elapsed. It already takes me an additional couple of minutes to burn the same calories I was burning 2 weeks ago, according to the machines anyways.

I'm looking forward to it for a number of reasons. Thanks for weighing in on it.

HIIT is just way more effective for the time investment, so it's a great choice.

You could do it on the elliptical, on the treadmill, with jumping jacks, jump rope, on a bike. It doesn't really matter HOW you do it. The key is that you go all-out for a short period of time, and then do an active recovery. So, for me, I go all-out, jack my heart rate up to somewhere around 200, then back off to about 165-170 for the next minute and a half. You should never go back down to a warmup or really low pace for your active recovery, but it's definitely less than all-out.

Doing this type of training will not only help on the weight front, but on your fitness levels, too. Think about basketball -- sprint, active recovery, sprint, active recovery... That's how it goes. Additionally, training like this will make you faster on your 5k time. I guarantee it.

Okay. That opens up a whole new question to me. Before I would only allow my heart rate to get into the mid 150's. Now, I'll allow it into the mid to upper 160's. I've always thought you weren't supposed to let it get past your maximum heart rate, which for me is like 190. So basically, I should just go go go and not worry about heart rate?

I don't know where or why you got the idea that getting your HR up was bad, but forget everything about that. Forever.

Yes, go go go. Your body is like a car. You don't want to floor it all the time, but when you're racing, you don't want to be stuck at half-throttle. Mash that mother****er down! Higher HR = higher amount of calories burned.

Fat people are afraid of their heart bursting. LOL I'm dead ****ing serious.

So, that being said, is there such a thing as too high?

Yes, there is such a thing as too high, but your body won't let you do that. If you somehow get your HR up that high, there is really something wrong with you physically. It can happen, but you've been exercising for a while, so you really shouldn't concern yourself with it. Obviously, if you feel light-headed or dizzy, then stop. But doing HIIT will make you feel like death. That's why it's so short.

Great. I feel like I'm in pretty good shape. So all I'm looking for is dizzy or light headed from here on out.

I actually do some high intensity on the elliptical every day. I get my heart rate up in the 170 range and then let it come down. I'll shoot for 190 the next time.

I really like the HIIT because something as simple as jumping jacks can be done right here in my house. I have a reebok heart rate monitor. I'm thinking about doing some right now.

I've been pondering this and I'm wondering if HIIT can be done daily? I think I've done no less than 1000 miles on the elliptical machine in the last couple of years and could use a break from it.

I could do HIIT right after my 5k training too. The girl at the gym today told me to do no more than an hour at a time. I figure 35 minutes of jogging and then 20 minutes of HIIT would be perfect. Would that work? Or is too much?

Dude, with your diet and your lifting, 20 mins of HIIT is plenty.

I would honestly go a little easy. You're beginning to worry me that you're going to overdo it.

I don't mean adding the HIIT to my running and elliptical. I just mean doing HIIT instead of the elliptical on my running days.

I definitely don't want to go so hard that I hurt myself. That's why I'm asking.

Yes, you can do HIIT every day. 15-20 minutes after lifting, 30-35 minutes on non-lifting days.