Just how important is HIIT?

[DreadPirateRobots]

It is definitely my least favourite. And plus I have had low level colds literally constantly since Christmas.

I love weights, I love running. I do some yoga for flexibility as well. How much marginal benefit do I genuinely get from HIIT over running?

Background: 40, good level of fitness and healthy range BMI, focus to build muscle, maximise cardio fitness and right now my specific goal is to do pull-ups.

I also hate most HIIT workouts and think it's overrated - we do need to use our fast twitch fibres and challenge our brains/nerves to move fast but I think what is badged as HIIT is often too long to be truly maximal effort but long enough to cause a lot of stress and suffering.

I do lift heavy (for me) weights. I also fit in the occasional sprint interval into a longer session - for me that's a short series of 20-30s all out efforts (which can actually be quite fun because you stop before it gets painful) in a longer workout.

Thanks. I also irrationally don't like burpeeing in front of people so I do my HIIT sessions at home. And I'm behind on them because I would rather go for a run. But when you Google it you get a lot of "HIIT improves cardio fitness much better than running". Ugh.

High intensity intervals as far as I know are great for building cardio fitness and burning fat. I never really find a hiit class like circuits particularly effective, by the time I’ve picked up the dumbbell and got myself sorted, I’ve wasted 15 seconds of a 1 minute station.,

however, I am also a runner, and high intensity intervals can be built into a run for great effect on your stamina and pace- so run up a short hill, walk down, run up, walk down etc, or build in one minute super fast sprint and walk to recover x 10 - build these into your normal run.

for anything with weights, I firmly believe form is more important than reps or speed or time. I do my reps , slowly, with excellent form and that will be much more effective than throwing yourself around doing burpees for one minute, then something else, then something else- it’s an injury waiting to happen for me!