7 Best HIIT Workout on the Treadmill That Will Make You Lose Fat

A HIIT workout on the treadmill can put your weight loss journey in a fast track; you’ll start to lose significant fat when you start doing a HIIT workout for only 10 minutes after your workout routine. Most people only do LIIT (low-intensity interval training) instead of HIIT. However, we are not saying that you should replace LIIT with HIIT, no, you should find the perfect balance with considering your fitness level and how much time you can spare for exercising. In fact, both of these training types help you lose fat and make your heart stronger. Once you have increased your stamina, you’ll be able to do chores easier because you won’t be out of breath like you used to.

How to do a HIIT workout exactly? First, it starts with a warmup, then one-minute work interval at almost full speed and effort, after that two-minute of slower and less effort interval. You should repeat this cycle for a couple of times. What should be the speed and incline of the treadmill? It depends on how much effort you can put in. If you are a beginner, you can walk faster instead of running, also have a less inclined setting. Nevertheless, if you are fit and believe in your physical capabilities you should push yourself as much as you could in that one-minute of work interval; increase the incline in a challenging high and run faster in a controlled manner. No matter what’s your fitness level, you should give your all and push yourself as much as you can.

So, what’s the deal with HIIT workout on the treadmill? Why the treadmill and not another exercise machine? That’s because learning how to run effectively is much easier than mastering let’s say a rowing machine. Also, the majority of people are more familiar with treadmills.

You have to put HIIT workouts in your routine if you want to lose fat faster than normal, that’s because HIIT uses fast-twitch muscle fibers, these type of fibers need more energy than slow-twitch fibers. Adding to that, fast-twitch muscle fibers lead you to burn more calories after you’ve finished your workout! This is called the afterburn effect, also known as EPOC (Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption). You can expect to lose a total of 270-375 calories in a thirty-minute workout, only if you give your all.

Besides losing fat, HIIT also improves cardiovascular health, insulin sensitivity and keep cholesterol and blood pressure levels in check. Would you expect that HIIT can reverse the ageing too? It actually helps you age slower at the cellular level, check this research made by Mayo Clinic to learn more. (1)

We have to put a disclaimer though, if you have weak joints or have heart problems, pushing yourself a lot with a HIIIT workout on the treadmill could be bad for you. See a doctor before you start doing HIIT.

7 Most Effective HIIT Workout on Treadmill Variations

Take a look at the workouts below to choose your HIIT workout.

1) The Regular HIIT

Let’s start off easy; for this HIIT, you should be able to continue intervals around 25 to 30 minutes.

• Warm-up by walking for 5 minutes.
• The pace steadily for a minute.
• Sprint for a minute. (If you can’t speed walk instead of sprinting)
• Repeat these intervals around 6 to 10 times.
• Last 5 minutes of your HIIT workout should be for the cool down. Walk-in a normal speed.

2) The Mountain Climbing HIIT

This HIIT exercise is a bit harder than others; that’s why this only takes 15 minutes.

• Warm-up by walking for 5 minutes.
• Steady pace for one minute at 1 percent incline.
• Faster pace for one minute at 2 percent incline.
• Get back to 1 percent incline and walk steadily for a minute.
• Sprint at 3 percent incline for a minute.
• Again get the incline back to 1 percent and walk for a minute.
• Keep increasing your incline when you are running till you finish your total of 15 intervals.
• Cooldown by walking for 5 minutes, finishing your whole HIIT workout in 20 minutes.

3) The Endurance Building HIIT

If you want to emphasize cardiovascular development, you should choose this HIIT training to do. You’ll increase your time spent at a steady pace and sprint in each interval.

• As usual, start your exercise by warming up for 5 minutes.
• Run or fast walk for a minute, your speed should be above 2mph.
• One minute of steady pace walking.
• Two minutes of running 2mph speed.
• Two minutes of steady pace walking.
• Keep increasing your time spent running and walking until you can’t go on to do another interval.
• Walk for 5 minutes to cool down.

4) The Speedrun HIIT

There are variables we can change in HIIT workouts to make gains and one of the variables is the speed; for each interval, you should increase your speed by %10.

• Warm-up with walking or jogging for 5 minutes.
• Run for a minute with a bit faster than your steady pace walking.
• Walk for a minute at a steady pace.
• Increase your speed by %10 and keep running for a minute.
• Decrease your speed to get back to your walking pace.
• Increase your speed by %20 more than your walking pace, run for a minute.
• Keep increasing your speed as much as you could.
• Do work intervals for 15-20 minutes.
• Cooldown by walking for 5 minutes.

5) The Pressing HIIT

Instead of running between your steady pace walking, use pressing movements to strengthen your upper body.

• Warm-up for 5 minutes jogging.
• Do press movements like the overhead press, front raises and lateral raises with dumbbells for 5 minutes while you walk at a steady pace.
• Do each exercise for 15 times and don’t forget to use weights you can manage.
• Also, focus on the exercise instead of just going through the motions.
• Cooldown by walking for 5 minutes.

6) The Pyramid HIIT

Sprint at 8mph, walk at a pace for 4mph.

• First, start with warming up for 5 minutes by walking.
• Sprint for a minute.
• Walk at a normal pace for a minute.
• Sprint for 2 minutes keeps your speed at 8mph.
• Again walk for a minute.
• Sprint for 3 minutes.
• Walk for a minute.
• Sprint for 4 minutes.
• Walk for a minute.
• Decrease your running time to 3 minutes, and after this, each work interval should be one minute less till you are over.
• Cool down with 5 minutes of walking.

7) The Squat and Lunges HIIT

For this HIIT exercise, we take the elements of a normal HIIT exercise and replace running with squats and lunges. This is going to be a hard leg workout that will put the endurance of your legs to the test. It goes like this;

• Warm-up as usual by walking for 5 minutes.
• Get off the treadmill and do bodyweight squats for 20 repetitions.
• Jump on the treadmill to continue your walk for a minute.
• Get off the treadmill and do bodyweight lunges 15 reps for each side.
• Walk for a minute.
• To finish your HIIT session, you should do both exercises in a total of 6 times.
• Cooldown by 5 minutes of walking.
• Also, stretch your legs at the end for another 5 minutes as a finisher.

If you are aiming to lose belly fat, check our list of “9 Awesome Exercises to Lose Belly Fat FAST & Effectively”.

Wrapping Up

HIIT workouts are as effective as how much energy you’ve put in. If you don’t put any effort into your physical change, don’t expect any miracles to happen. Also, overnight changes can only happen in dreams; real change happens with each step you take towards it. Believe us; it will be much rewarding once you put effort into your transformation and see the results in front of your very eyes.

How often should you do a HIIT workout on the treadmill? Even though it depends on your fitness level and exercising past, our recommendation is beside your exercising routine; 2 HIIT workouts a week is ideal. Also, try to do HIIT workouts right after your upper body exercising days, it would be harder to do HIIT after a grueling leg day.

Besides HIIT workout on the treadmill, you should also keep your diet in check, if you don’t know which foods are better than you, check our list of “27 Super Foods for Weight Loss That Will Make You Lose Belly Fat Quickly!”.

Let us know that if HIIT workouts have to lead you to burn more calories? Also, thank you for reading. See you in the next article!