Surf Training

HIIT and its common mistakes to avoid

We have been talking about HIIT workouts for surfing and how good it is to practice HIIT workouts to increase your heart rate, boosting your metabolism and stimulate a surf session or surf heat in competitions.

High intensity interval training (HIIT) is excellent for fat loss and boosting your stamina. If your objective is to increase the oxidative capacity of your muscles and get shredded, you can’t go wrong with HIIT.

Or can you?

In this article we’ll look at 9 of the most common mistakes people make when engaging in high intensity workouts. Be mindful of them and steer clear of these pitfalls. This will allow you to get the best rewards from all that sweaty effort and exhaustion. We just want to make sure that you are not doing anything wrong that you might get hurt doing

1- Not enough effort

HIIT workouts are tough. There’s no denying that. The good news is that they’re not long workouts. Ideally, you should not train for more than 30 minutes. But the best time is 20 mins. Beyond that and diminishing returns will set in.

During the 20-30 minutes you’re training, you must work with maximum intensity. You absolutely must not hold back. Give it your best. It’s normal to gasp and pant and groan. That’s just how it is. Not expending maximum effort will diminish the effectiveness of your workout.

HIIT is all about performing at the best intensity with maximum effort at each rep. This is how your heart rate goes up so much and fast. This is how you get the best results and will be boosting your cardio and muscle endurance.

2- Training too long

As mentioned earlier, try to stick to 30 minutes or less. The Tabata Protocol, which is considered as one of the most effective HIIT workouts lasts for only 4 minutes. And we recommend doing 4 sets of a series of exercises to workout for 15 minutes total.

You can’t train at a high intensity for an hour. Hardly anybody can and you don’t need to. Short, intense sessions are the key to getting lean and fit.

Even though, there is this myth that the more and longer you train, the more you will get results. It is actually NOT true at all! It is all about high intensity workouts that are faster that will keep you lean and ready to go!

3- Training too often

When you’re starting out, you can do HIIT twice a week. We actually just recommend starting with once a week but if you want more of a challenge go for twice a week!  As you get fitter, you may go up to 3 or 4 times a week. Always try to have a one-day break between each HIIT sessions. Spreading them out is better than doing them consecutively.

Many beginners try to do them daily and end up exhausted and drained. The workouts become dreary and there will be a tendency to skip workouts and finally quit. So, take a break.

4- Insufficient recovery time/too much recovery time

You need sufficient rest intervals between each exercise. Ideally, a 15 to 30 second break will do before you move on to the next exercise in your set. If you go from exercise to exercise with no rest, you’ll be too tired to give your best. When first starting out 45-60 seconds is a good way to start as well.

The rest is meant for your heart to slow down a little so that you can give your maximum effort in the next round. On the flip side of the coin, don’t have a 2-minute interval between each exercise. That’s too much time for the workout to be effective.

5- Not prioritizing the workouts

The biggest mistake of all is not working out. Prioritize your HIIT workouts over your TV time, social media, etc. All you need is 15-30 minutes. That’s just 1 percent of your day. Everybody has time for a quick HIIT session.

There is no excuse for you not to get your workout in as it requires minimal time! It is something that we tell everybody! No excuses at all!

6- Using weights that are too heavy

HIIT is about speed. If your weights are too heavy, you’ll be struggling to move the weights around and at a faster pace. So, pick a weight that will allow you to do about 15 reps in quick succession during your training phase. HIIT is not the same as training for hypertrophy.

But make sure that the weight is not super light either. It should give you some challenge but shouldn’t be too heavy like when you are strength training.

7- Not warming up

Spend 2 minutes walking on the treadmill or cycling on the stationary bike. Get your heart pumping a little. Doing a HIIT workout with cold muscles is not a good idea.

Another good warm up are some jumping jacks, mountain climbers, jump rope. Anything that gets your heart rate going and ready to go for the rest of the workout.

8- Training on an empty stomach

HIIT is NOT fasted cardio. Eat a light meal about an hour prior to your workout. This will raise your blood sugar levels a little and you’ll have more energy for your workout.

Don’t worry about insulin spikes, etc. The workouts are so hard that you’ll burn through the fat stores in no time at all.

Eating a quick sandwich or eggs. Anything that is light will be fine. Don’t go and eat pancakes and then a HIIT workout, you will not feel good!

9- Poor form

Never sacrifice form for speed. Maintain good form at a high pace. Doing the exercises with poor form will make them less effective and you may get injured. Even if the pace is higher during a HIIT workout, you cannot sacrifice form for speed. If you mess up your form, you might get hurt and we don’t want that.

These 9 mistakes are to be avoided at all cost. It’s inevitable for some of them to creep up when you’re not expecting and especially poor form and too much recovery time. These occur when you’re exhausted. So, be alert and watch out for them. Use HIIT to get shredded and fit. You’ll look and feel better than you’ve ever felt in 3 to 4 weeks. Start incorporating a HIIT workout in your surf training routine and you will love it as it resembles a surf session and surf heat!

How to Structure a HIIT Workout

Structuring a high intensity interval training (HIIT) workout is not rocket science. You don’t need to sign up for classes and spend tons of money. It is a workout very easy to structure and follow.

You can easily create your own HIIT workouts and choose whether to do them at home or outside or even in the office. You can either use bodyweight training or weights. There is a lot of flexibility and your workouts will only be limited by your imagination.

HIIT workouts build up your cardio, muscle endurance and strength. It can be done in less than 10 minutes and obviously can also be longer than that. After this type of workout, you will feel strong and powerful. We are going to go over on how to create a HIIT workout; duration, full body exercises, rests time, and weights to be used.

Now let’s look at how to create a HIIT workout.

Length and duration of a HIIT workout:

For starters, you need to know just how many minutes you’re going to train for. 15-minute workouts are perfect for giving your maximum effort and having sufficient rest intervals in between.

You can either train for 45 seconds and rest for 15 seconds or you could train for 30 seconds and rest for 30 seconds. Ideally, you shouldn’t rest for more than 30 seconds per interval. We recommend training for 45 seconds and resting 15 second so that your heart rate does not go down too much. You want to keep your heart rate going the ENTIRE time during your workouts.

You want to maintain the intensity of your workouts. It’s common to see people doing 30-minute HIIT sessions, and you may wonder if you’re missing out. The truth of the matter is that when you’re giving your maximum effort, you’ll be exhausted within 15 minutes.

At most, 20 minutes will leave you drained. There’s no point in dragging out the last 10-minutes with less than maximum effort. Short, excruciatingly hard workouts are the way to go.

If you are doing 30 minutes HIIT workouts, it means that you have been doing those types of workouts for a while now and need that extra push to achieve more.

Full Body HIIT Workouts

Now that you know how long to train for, you need to know what exercises to do. Your goal should be to make your workout a full-body workout. Unlike bodybuilding where you train one or two body parts per day, with HIIT, the goal is to work the entire body.

The more muscle groups you recruit, the more calories you’ll burn and the more effective the workout will be. So, your exercises should mostly be compound movements.

Squats, burpees, pushups, kettlebell swings, box jumps, bear crawl, jump rope, jumping lunges, etc. will work several muscle groups at once. All you need to do is choose a few effective compound exercises to include in your set.

Do note that you should be able to immediately go into the exercise the moment your rest period is over, and the beeper starts beeping. So, avoid picking exercises like the bench press which will require you to lie down and get the bar up and be careful.

All that takes time and it’s time that you can’t afford to spare. Burpees are a perfect exercise for HIIT workouts. The moment you hear the beep – BOOM! You’re off and moving. No time to think or set up.

Most of the time you want to stick with body weight or even free weight exercises that won’t require you to be very careful but also will give you a little bit of resistance. When doing HIIT workouts, choosing 4-6 exercises is your best bet.

For example your HIIT workout could look like this:

 

45 seconds burpees

15 seconds rest

45 seconds pushups

15 seconds rest

45 seconds squats

15 seconds rest

45 seconds crunches

15 seconds rest

45 seconds jump rope

15 seconds rest

For a total of 2-3 sets depending on your level.

 

 

 

See how the workout above has 2 cardio workouts; one at the beginning and one at the end. In the middle it has an upper body, a lower body, and a core workout. This is a whole body workout that will make you exhausted fast and will work all of your muscles.

 Rest intervals

 Your rest intervals will depend on your level of fitness. The fitter you are, the less rest you need, but no matter what, do ensure you have a rest interval for your heart to get a break.

In the Tabata protocol, the rest period is only 10 seconds. Your rest interval could be anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds. So, plan a workout that leaves you exhausted but you should have enough energy to keep going after the rest period is up.

Don’t overwork yourself to a point where you’re wiped out by the second set.

The best is to start with a 30 seconds rest and work your way down to 5 or even no rest. Slowly going down by 5 seconds every time.

Bodyweight or free weights

You can choose to either use bodyweight training exercises or dumbbells. Of course, there are other pieces of equipment like kettlebells, resistance bands, stability balls, etc. that you can use to make your workout more challenging.

Whether you choose to go with bodyweight training or weights is up to you. Initially, you may wish to stick to bodyweight exercises and when you’re fitter, you can progress to weights.

As you get a little bit more comfortable with HIIT workouts, we recommended adding some weights for more resistance and muscle confusion.

As you can see, it really isn’t that difficult to put together your own workout. You can Google or search on YouTube for bodyweight HIIT routines and so on. You may choose to either follow those or create your own. As long as you make HIIT a part of your training program, you’ll be on the right track. HIIT workouts are a great way to get a quick and whole-body workout.

Especially for surfers, HIIT workouts should be done at least once a week. Because when surfing we are using as much energy and power than a HIIT workout. That is why in our personalized training programs and our Surf Ranks program, we have HIIT workouts at least once a week. To build up that endurance but also to strengthen your muscles along the way.

7 Commonly Asked Questions Regarding HIIT

Surfing HIIT workouts are so important to increase the heart rate, high intensity workout specific to surfing. Which will help in paddling longer, surfing longer, catching more waves, and being able to do more and bigger maneuvers than before. It’s common for most beginners to high intensity interval training (HIIT) to have questions about it. They want to know if it’s effective or if they’ll see results and so on.

All these questions are perfectly normal. After all, HIIT is very tiring. So, the juice must be worth the squeeze. In this case, it definitely is. When it comes to burning fat and getting you ripped for surfing, HIIT delivers on all fronts.

Questions like the length of the workout, eating or not before the workout, equipment needed, a gym membership, how often to do the workout, when will the results show, and how many times a week. Are some of the questions that we get asked all the time from people that are just starting out with surfing HIIT workouts. There are so many benefits to HIIT workouts, and it is very important to train at that intensity especially as a surfer.

Now let’s look at the 7 most commonly asked questions

1- How long do I need to work out?

Generally, a maximum of 15 minutes of high intensity should do. There are some HIIT methods like the Tabata Protocol where the exercise session is only 4 minutes long. Basically, you’ll work out hard for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds. This is repeated 8 times over 4 minutes.

You would be surprised to discover that even with only 4 minutes, the workout is so powerful that people who engage in it are in fat burning mode for hours after it’s done.

While Tabata is extremely demanding, you can opt for easier HIIT styles where you exercise for 1 minute and rest for 30 seconds and so on. What really matters is that you give your maximum effort during the training.

If you do it right, you’ll be exhausted within 15 minutes. There’s really no need to go longer than that. HIIT is very effective and doesn’t require long, boring sessions.

When you get a little bit more advanced, and your body is used to it. You can increase the length of the workout to 30 minutes. But it shouldn’t be longer than that.

Unless you are superman lol

A 30 minutes workout will get you moving, your blood flowing, and your heart rate going. It is great for surfing, as it mimics some intense times that you may come across in the water. What our team usually does is a whole body HIIT workout structured like this:

6 exercises (all different to target certain muscles)

1 minute of each exercise

30 seconds in between exercises.

OR

30 seconds of each exercises

1-minute rest after all 6 exercises.

It is all up to you how you want to structure your surfing HIIT workout. But we definitely recommend doing a whole-body workout so that your entire body gets something out of it. Or else you will have to do a bunch of different workouts to target different muscles and remember what you did on which day.

2. Should I train on an empty stomach?

No, it’s not recommended. Unlike fasted cardio, which is done at a much slower pace, HIIT will require you to have energy. The best way to do that is to have a small meal about an hour or so before you work out. A slightly elevated blood sugar level will give you more energy to train harder.

Do NOT eat an entire meal before a surfing HIIT workout! You will not feel too good after that. A little portion of a meal, or a fruit will do it! And lots of water before, during, and after the workout is very important.

3. Will I need any special equipment?

Besides comfortable workout wear, you don’t need any other equipment if your HIIT workout is only made up of bodyweight exercises. As you progress, you may wish to get dumbbells, medicine balls, kettlebells, a jump rope, stability ball, exercise band, etc. This will allow you to add more resistance to your training and make it more challenging.

But to start out do basic bodyweight surfing HIIT workouts and you will love it. You do not need to go anywhere at any time. You just need your shoes, workout clothes, a water bottle and you are ready to go! As you progress you might want to add some equipment but that is entirely up to you.

We like to add some bosu ball or stability ball workouts as they work for balance and stabilization for surfing. But that’s only when you get used to HIIT workouts and are ready for the next level.

4. Do I need to join a gym?

You could, but you don’t need to. One of the biggest benefits of HIIT is that you really don’t need much equipment or space. In fact, you could do an entire 15-minute workout in your office cubicle at work. You just need the right exercises.

So, if your budget is tight and you don’t want to fork out money for a swanky gym, don’t sweat it. Keep the sweating for the HIIT session that you can do in the privacy of your own home.

You can literally do this anywhere, at any time! That is the beauty of a surfing HIIT workout. It does not require you to be anywhere. Now if you prefer to have a gym membership to make you go somewhere, you are more than welcome to. But don’t get overwhelmed with all the equipment since you do not need any at first.

5. How often should I do HIIT?

Ideally, you should do it 3 times a week. You don’t have to do more than that. Each session will have you burning calories at an accelerated rate for hours.

If you are already advanced you could do 4-5 times a week. That is another one that is up to you. But do not do it less than 3 times a week, that is a minimum especially for surfing.

6. Will I see fast results?

You can expect to see results in 3 to 4 weeks. HIIT is very effective for burning fat. If your workout has lots of leg training, you’ll see yourself gaining more muscle too. That is why we incorporate upper, lower, and core muscles into each surfing HIIT workouts as you will see results in every area really fast

7- Consecutive days or spread out?

Always spread out your HIIT sessions. If you do one on Monday, you can do a weight training session on Tuesday, followed by another HIIT workout on Wednesday.

Many people worry that they’ll not be exercising enough. After all, it’s just 15-30 minutes on 3-5 days a week. The good news is that HIIT is so powerful that you’ll see better results with just 3 days than with 7 days of training in other styles.

The reason we take a day’s break in between is to give the body’s central nervous system a break. If you overdo HIIT, you’ll release the stress hormone, cortisol into your system. We want to avoid that and get sufficient rest between sessions.

To conclude, surfing HIIT workout is one of the best ways to exercise. Adopt it as part of your training regimen. You’ll be amazed at how powerful it is. Below is one great surfing HIIT workout for beginners that you should start with. Follow the video and you will be good to go.

Surfers! Are HIIT Workouts for you? Read This First!

Do you surf all the time? Competition or not? Are you considering starting HIIT workouts? Read This Before You Get Started! We will go over why you should or should not start with HIIT workouts and what are the best ways to start that method of workouts. It will not be easy, but it also won’t be too hard. As long as you prepare your body and increase the intensity as increments, not surges.

Why HIIT Workouts?

HIIT, also known as high intensity interval training is of those terms that’s heavily tossed around in the fitness industry.

Want to lose weight fast? HIIT!

Want to get shredded? HIIT!

Want to boost your metabolism? HIIT!

Want to surf longer? HIIT!

Want to be stronger? HIIT!

Want to have that surfer’s beach body? HIIT!

The effectiveness of high intensity training cannot be overstated… but… and there’s a big but here… BUT it’s not for everyone.

Why HIIT is not for everyone

 

If you’re overweight or morbidly obese, you really don’t want to start off with HIIT. There are several reasons for this.

For starters, you’ll be carrying a lot of weight which will place immense stress on your joints. If you’re overweight and doing jumping lunges and skater hops, you might injure your knees. You do not want that to happen because then you won’t be able to do anything for real this time.

Over and above that, people who are overweight usually are that way because of a sedentary lifestyle. They’re not used to exercise and it’s not a habit for them. That is why we need to break that.

If you adopt HIIT as your training protocol from the get-go, you’re going to suffer. The workouts will be insanely hard and for someone not used to exercise, it will feel torturous. You’ll start dreading your workouts.

Guess what happens after that?

Your mind will start cooking up excuses to prevent you from training. This is your mind’s self-preservation mechanism. It knows that the workouts are Herculean and you’re just going to hate it. So, it does its best to convince you not to train. Which then means your motivation will be down and you will never want to work out again.

The end result is that you start skipping your workouts… and soon you stop exercising totally. Now you’re back to square one and no better off.

How To Succeed with HIIT workouts?

The key to succeeding with HIIT is to first develop the habit of exercise. Go to the gym 5 times a week. If you can’t even do this on a regular basis, you will not have the discipline to stay true to a HIIT regimen.

Walk for an hour daily. This will be enough to get your body to burn calories and cause fat loss. Remember to eat at a caloric deficit. You’ll need discipline to tailor your diet accordingly. As you can see, these initial steps are necessary to build your self-discipline. That is all it is.

During this process, you’ll start losing weight and the pressure and impact on your joints will diminish. Keep at it until you notice that your results are starting to taper off. That means your body is adapting and becoming more efficient.

When we start incorporating HIIT?

By now, you’d have some strength, more stamina and less fat. You can slowly ease into HIIT by doing it once or twice a week. It’s all baby steps here, don’t rush since you might injure yourself or worse, loose complete motivation to stay in shape. Increase the intensity till you are mildly uncomfortable, but not until you cannot take it anymore. Just enough to push yourself.

You’ll still be sweating, panting and your heart rate will be higher than normal. It will be more than what you’re accustomed to. This is how you ‘season’ your body and get it ready for the actual high intensity training.

Always remember that you can’t out train a bad diet. So, make sure your diet is on point and you’re eating clean. Yes, that does mean eating vegetables and fruits all the time. When you’re expending more calories than you consume, you’ll shed the fat and your HIIT workouts will improve. You will also feel more confident in your body but also in your head and motivation will be obvious to keep going.

It’ll be less of a struggle to move fast. Slowly increase the number of sessions till you’re doing 3 HIIT sessions a week. On the other 3 days, you can do resistance training or some cardio training, or better SURF. Take a day to rest once a week so that your body can recover and your muscles to relax. It can also be an active rest like surfing, swimming, running and so on. Rest day does not mean stay in the couch and eat chocolates all day. It just means you are not doing HIIT workouts.

The goal is to make continued progress and keep getting faster and raising the intensity bar every day. In 2 to 3 months, you’d have improved so much that you won’t be able to believe it.

Now you’re ready to go all out and exercise at maximum intensity. You’ll be leaner, have the self-discipline to stick to your training schedule and you’ll be a lot fitter. You will feel so great about yourself, you will tell the world about it and you will not want to stop. That’s how you do it.

Now remember. When you loose motivation, remember where you were a couple months back and get back up. It is okay to lose motivation once in a while but not forever. Another way to fit motivation is to force yourself to do that workout, surf, or anything in life that you are not too motivated about at the moment.

If you have not yet checked out our surf training fitness program, you need to start doing so at Surf Ranks. Where we give you HIIT workouts specific to surf training for surfers all around the world. Rank 1 is beginner focused so you don’t have to worry about being lost because you will be just fine and will be having a blast!

Can’t wait to see you on the inside!