Most brutal form of HIIT?

[jpez]

What's the most brutal form of HIIT you've ever done? Which HIIT routine do you think works your cardiovascular system the most?

I've only done HIIT with burpees, skip rope and sprints. The most brutal for me were sprints. I would jog or walk the long lenght of a soccer ground and sprint the short for as long as could sprint with good form. I've never tried Tabata but I'm guessing it would be way more brutal than this.

[Love_Deadlifts]

Tabata is the only HIIT i've done regularly and it definitely gets the job done. Kettlebell swings have been the most effective exercise i've used for Tabata, but Burpees come in a close second place.

[Jinithith]

I've found any HIIT to be really brutal if you adjust the on/off intervals accordingly.
For example, 1 indoor track lap sprint followed by 2 laps jog will be less taxing than 1 followed by half a lap jog.

I did 20 seconds full 10 seconds rest sequence on a bike for 10 reps and I could not get up for 5 minutes. I tried 30 seconds full, but could not do it.
With swimming, I've done half a lap full followed by one complete lap backstroke. Not as painful as the bike, but I got really winded due to the someone restricted breathing during swimming.
I tried 30 seconds full 30 seconds rest on the erg, but gave up after 3 because I had enough of erging during the crew season. (and also because it was hard XD)
I did the bear with 23kg and I was winded, but I did not feel the collapsing pain of the bike. I am looking into the sledge hammer drill, but I need to find an old tire first, and I'm not sure how my school will take to me beating the crap out of an old tire on their grounds.

but, none of those is quite like doing 20 seconds sprint 10 seconds rest up a mountain (I have a little one 5 minutes from my house, about 1km in height) I walk up a part ways to warm up, get my quads going and break a little sweat, and then I do the HIIT segment and kinda stumble along like a high drunkard for the rest of the way up. And then I do some bodyweight exercises and tumble back down.

[HarrisonSL]

The most brutal forms of HIT ive done were HIIT without the intervals...

this is not strictly hiit but try doing 60 or 100 burpees with a pushup at the bottom (theyve been named bastards) is always tough

then the next hardest thing ive done has to be five 5minute muay thai rounds on pads with only 1 minute rest between
kicking and punching is by far the most intense exercise ive done
wanted to vomit by the second round (i was on the AD at the time though )

Circuit training is less painful and frankly more fun in my opinion stuff like 10m sprint, 5pushups, hit a tyre with a bat 10x, 10 sidejumps
then just keep going until you feel awful, then do more
Or if you want to make it brutal just increase the exercises so 20m sprint 10 pushups etc but you will burn out much faster (i assume this is better for fat loss)
but you could add 30second pause between the exercises.

Hill Sprints. :vomit:

The bear is pretty tough, but i think the rufus complex is so hard. many times ive decided to just do one run through it at the end of a workout and i get to the snatches and just have to put the bar down.

its this if you dont know it

http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=6559 wrote:
Rufus complex

All exercises performed for 5 reps with empty bar

Clean from above knee
Clean from knee level
Clean from below knee level
Military Press
Front squat
Front lunge (bar in across front of shoulders)
Push Press
Back squat
Lunge
Good Morning
Push Press behind neck-Snatch Grip
RDL
Bent-over Row
Muscle snatch
Snatch from above knee
Snatch from knee level
Snatch from Below knee level

Personally I find HIIT can exhaust you for days, just the other week i went to the gym with some people who were just doing cardio (the gym was awful i had to gather pretty much all the weights in it for my squat and it was a deload week im never going back there)
anyway i had finished and was waiting around so i decided id do the bear for fun. i only went through it ~10 times, not even more than one set. but i went to kickboxing the next day and wanted to die, ended up pushing myself really hard so people didnt think i was slacking off. the next three days was literally awful.

so make sure you get adequate rest if your gonna do HIIT work. if you do multiple sports i don't think its all that great, and as i said can be replaced by lighter circuit training work.
On the other hand if you predominantly weight lift and you want some fat loss go for it.

[namaste]

try this:

sprint 40m
10 squat jumps
sprint 40m back
10 pushups
sprint 40m
10 burpees
spring 40m back

wait 2 minutes

repeat

[maroon]

Anything involving climbs/hills.

Offroad cycling uphill is extremely tough and you can make yourself throw up if you really want to

[Jinithith]

man it just hit me that I've been doing HIIT for a while now during the conditioning sessions for crew

There is a hill nearby the boathouse, and it is about 3-4 suburban blocks long. (3-4 suburban blocks TOO long in my honest opinion)
The coach had us jog a quarter mile, sprint up, jog down, repeat for 5 cycles and then go for a 30 minute run in the woods, come back and jog back to the boathouse.

as I recall, by the 3rd or 4th rep, even my jaw was hurting...

[sik0fewl]

this is not strictly hiit but try doing 60 or 100 burpees with a pushup at the bottom (theyve been named bastards) is always tough

Those are called burpees . You're supposed to go down all the way and push up with your arms. Not doing this is cheating--which is how I do them when I'm exhausted .

[vhalros]

How about a burpee with a muscle-up at the top, like in this video at about :49 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MGljX4bbps

That's so brutal I don't think I can actually do it. Although if I find some rings I'll try...

[grobo]

I did HIIT on a Versa Climber - boy what a killer! 20 seconds all out, 10 seconds rest (you don't actually get of the machine, just stand on it), repeat for 4 minutes. Good results and your body tires evenly, meaning that your legs dont tire before your arms or vice versa, so you work everything at the same pace.

[jpez]

I tried thrusters yesterday with tabata and nearly had a heart attack and I only completed 6 intervals with my 8 kg bar. Definitley the most brutal HIIT I've ever done.

[Wellhairedbeast]

tabata DB swings can be surpringly tough, i tried them the other day and may do some tommorow, for 4min of work it certainly does the job.

Tabata anything = gold.

[Shoke]

second the tabata thrusters....especially DB thrusters....I did them with only 30 lbs. after my workout and I nearly fainted (going up and down at a quick speed made me lose all the blood from my brain lol)

[dylanamus]

Tabata sprints. Hands down.

I can do 60 burpees or 160 squats in one Tabata session, The Bear complex @ 35kg (60kg bw) 7x5 in 7 minutes etc etc but sprints... nothing compares. If you disagree with me, you are either a seasoned sprinter OR you don't "sprint" after the first couple of rounds.

Don't get me wrong, I love complexes and right now I'm really enjoying supersetting punch-outs and squats in Tabata cycles, but sprints are definitely the most brutal/taxing on your V02 max.

[Shoke]

Tabata sprints. Hands down.

I can do 60 burpees or 160 squats in one Tabata session, The Bear complex @ 35kg (60kg bw) 7x5 in 7 minutes etc etc but sprints... nothing compares. If you disagree with me, you are either a seasoned sprinter OR you don't "sprint" after the first couple of rounds.

Don't get me wrong, I love complexes and right now I'm really enjoying supersetting punch-outs and squats in Tabata cycles, but sprints are definitely the most brutal/taxing on your V02 max.

I've recently dropped one of my squat and deadlift sessions per week to do some sprinting...it is killer....much more intense for me than squatting or deadlift...hill sprints are even worse...to be honest, I don't think true tabata sprints are possible, there is no way someone can run at 100% intensity for 8 rounds.