What are the consequences of this?

Beginning and religiously following SS (Mon, Wed, Fri)
Beginning and religiously following this HIIT schedule on non-SS days (http://musclemedia.com/training/hiit_table.asp)

You're going to need at least a day of rest. And you'll have to eat a **** ton, stretch a **** ton, ummm I'm pretty sure someone has a list of how not to fail.

If you're starting both of these, does that mean you're out of shape? That plays a huge role. More info plox.

It's fine. I'm assuming you're doing HIIT because you want to lose fat, if you're trying to bulk up obviously don't bother.

This may sound like Mr Nit, but I can't sprint 30s once, let alone 4 times with 30s rests between them. That is workout one. And this carefully developed progression is towards fifteen 30s sprints with 30s rests. Can anyone in the world do that?

It can't mean what it says. I guess I'm supposed to use common sense. Common sense tells me I'm going to look for HIIT elsewhere.

As for the larger question of whether SS plust 3 HIIT sessions sounds like a good idea-- no, it doesn't to me.

They just mean go hard.

Well the fine print says sprint = 90%, and then adds that you should pace yourself at the beginning...

Anyway the larger point right now is to determine if doing HIIT on non-SS days is detrimental, or at least not beneficial.

Rippetoe seems to advocate just doing SS initially, and then adding one HIIT session, say the day after your 3rd session.

He doesn't seem that concerned about anything other than developing strength with SS. If you have broader fitness goals, then I think you should add 1 HIIT session or consider a different program than SS.

Thanks for the response.

26. 6'3'', 220 lbs. At current muscle mass I should probably be more like 185-190 lbs.

So, I would like to both lose weight and gain muscle........

Im also focusing on eating better.. high protein, lower carbs, and trying to limit calories. But I want to make sure I take in enough calories so that the SS regiment is beneficial.

Keep in mind that trying to achieve everything at once is probably the least successful way to achieve any of your goals.

Have you ever ran 4x200m or 8x200m? I find it dreary stuff, myself, and 3x a week is unimaginable for me. I'm a geezer, though...

I'm not trying to be a big downer here. But if you try it, and it doesn't work, there are other ways to go about it. I hope you are still healthy and motivated to try them.

Would doing them after your workouts on your SS days be ok guys????

I'm in a quandary about this myself i'm starting a SS programme and trying to fit some heavy cardio also through martial arts.,spec BJJ.

I guess we'll need to prioritize then. I don't think Rippetoe is worried about getting someone at 6'3" 220 down to 185 so he can see his abs.

I hear you. In the past I have tried doing cardio and I find it incredibly boring, and I have a tough time staying motivated. HIIT seems like a better alternative, as you dont need to spend as much total time per exercise running/biking.

Here is a (maybe) better HIIT routine: http://www.intervaltraining.net/HiitTraining-30.html
.. each day is only 12 minutes of running. Doesn't seem so bad.

Again - thanks for everyone's input.

This is 100% what I had in mind. Perhaps long jogs or general GPP type work would be a better addition to this program. Where you can build work capacity and burn some calories...

I have faith that someone who just starts working out and makes big dietary changes should see decent recomposition without cardio.

OK. I like the sound of that.

GPP = ?

I agree. While you were typing this, I was typing, "Maybe just take a little time and learn the barbell lifts and watch what you eat, and then we'll work in the rest."

There will be a loss of VO2 max, however, and it will be significant if such a program is adhered to for a long period without augmentation.

General Physical Preparedness.

Crossfit does this, but we can start with really rudimentary stuff. Like jogging a mile until its ~8 minutes. Or perhaps carrying a heavy bag 400m. Or loading the leg press with 1000 lbs and then unloading it. Choose some random stuff you enjoy that is low intensity and do whatever.

I would recommend some reading about active recovery and feeder workouts, but that may be a bit too advanced. If you really just want to sit around in between your 3 workouts, that is perfectly fine.

Your suggestions sound like a blast.

Ok. Well I suppose I have my answer. I guess I will try some random, light cardio stuff once/twice a week for a few weeks and take it from there..

Maybe I should start a SS/Diet/Etc log on the forum.. seems to be the cool thing to do these days.

Thanks for the input.

DMM

Sorry, I'm not more helpful. Your initial plan sounds unfun and unsustainable even if it weren't unfun. The important thing is that you are starting to figure out a place for exercise (and more attention to diet) in your life-- it may take a bit of searching to find the right thing-- but that, hopefully, is part of the fun.

Please don't take thr/shemp's replies and cull out "light cardio."

Somewhat related question:

If one were something like 6'0 and 300, and had been lifting for a long time... in otherwords strong/muscular, but also quite overweight, how would one go about losing excess weight without giving up current muscle mass?

I certainly encourage being active, playing a sport, hiking, riding a bike, swimming, jogging, etc....

Right.. maybe "light cardio" isnt the right term. But I am already relatively active. I play basketball, and baseball, and do a bunch of outdoorsy stuff.

I'm thinking of adding a 1-day per week HIIT-type program, maybe on Saturday? (MWF being SS days).

Aside from that I'll just try to mix it up with some more cardio-specific stuff... I'll post it in the log thread i created.. and make adjustments along the way.

again, thanks.

I'm in complete agreement Shemp. I'm convinced that HIIT running doesn't actually exist and that there's no one in the world who can do the programs as prescribed. 15 all out 30s sprints? Give me a break. There's just no way anyone can recover anywhere close to fast enough to continue putting out that type of effort on short rest intervals without tearing themselves to pieces. Just as an example, Olympic 400m hurdle gold medalist Angelo Taylor tried to qualify for both the 400m and 400m hurdles this year. At the trials, after qualifying in the 400m hurdles finals, his first heat for the 400m was something like 25 minutes later. Despite being consistently the 3rd fastest American behind Wariner and Meritt, he walked off the track in dead last place after 200m.

Even if the fine print says a sprint actually equals 90% and not all out, I call BS. Say you're a young fit guy who works out regularly and does HIIT, a 60s all out 400m is probably a reasonable speed (maybe even faster). That's 6.66m/s, so at 90% you're running 6m/s. Thus over your 30s interval, you'd expect to cover 180m. Say during your recovery interval you move at 2.5m/s, about an 11 min/mile shuffle pace (including the 3 or 4 seconds of deceleration at the end of your speed interval that you'll be running fast than that). So over your 30s recovery you'd cover 75m. Each interval including recovery then you'd be covering 255m, so 3825m over your 15 interval workout, just under 2.5 miles. Thus, despite spending fully half of your workout shuffling along at just above walking pace, you'll net a 6:18/mile pace for the workout.

I know there are some people young fit HIIT practitioners on here who can probably run a 60s 400m. Does anyone think they can net a 6:18 pace for 15 min while shuffling along at ~11min/mile pace for half the time? If I was rich I'd put out an open free roll challenge against it.