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- Jan 15, 2011
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While I do agree with this statement (especially now as I'm becoming a lot more concerned about heart health), the issue with doing high intensity cardio during prep is added stress/elevated cortisol levels.
You can't expect to be able to handle a tough diet, tough training, and still be able to sprint every other day. I still think one can easily do cardio that elevates HR up to mid 130s with very minimal stress (7-8% incline walking at a comfortable pace?), and while that's not as good at HIIT for heart health, it certainly is good enough to elevate HDL to pretty good levels.
I'd personally keep HIIT to 3 times a week during prep. Anymore and you're risking greater stress, any less and you're neglecting heart health, especially when loaded with all the wrong compounds.
Definitely not. I made the mistake of doing HIIT every day and it was too much and unnecessary. Studies show just TEN minutes of HIIT per WEEK has been shown to be very effective. It's good stuff if not overdone.