So I think I'm ready to try to HIIT it - any advice?

I'm down 90 lbs now since surgery to 207 lbs. and a BMI of 30...I've been doing something kind of like HIIT on the treadmill where I jog half a lap and then walk the second half, got my 5k time below 50 minutes...The problem is these long workouts get boring even with the TV in front of me...So I'm thinking I would like to give hiit a try...Where do I start? How did you guys who are doing it now start? An article I read said to start with a 3-5 minute warmup then do 30 seconds of sprinting followed by  a minute of fast walking or light jogging for a total of no more than 14 or 15 minutes to start and no more then 2 or 3 times a week, eventually after a few weeks working up to 4 times a week. Sounds reasonable, what do you guys think?

Well, I'm kind of new to this, so I'm no expert, but I'll pretend anyway.  If you google HIIT (you probably already have), you'll find tons of info.  Dave has several good links on his profile. My advice would be to start by replacing one of your weekly treadmill routines with HIIT, do that for at least two weeks before trying two, etc.  I can say from personal experience that it can catch up with you if you transition too fast.  I haven't tried HIIT on a treadmill, but I don't think it'd work well.  Hard to make the transitions to super fast and then moderate in the right timings.  A bike would work, a cross-trainer might, and obviously a pair of shoes and a track would work.  It's only <20 minutes, just leave the TV behind, go outside for a bit and come back (depending on where you live, right now it's way too hot outside to do that here). I recommend a heart monitor to make sure you are getting into the anaerobic zone and then back down to aerobic.  I was bad at guessing what this would take.  For example, after the first couple cycles, going from 30+ mph on my stationary bike down to 20 mph worked fine.  But after cycle 6-7, 30 mph was still the right top speed, but 20 mph would leave my heart way too fast and so I wasn't recovering.  It took more like 12-15 mph by the end to drop at a decent rate. If you lift weights, I'd try to avoid doing a HIIT workout the day before or after your leg day.  Assuming you do cycling or running, a HIIT workout is very taxing on the quads/hams, and you don't want to interfere with your lifting recovery.  The stuff I've read suggests it's better to do HIIT on the same day as legs rather than right before or after, but ideally you'd do it at opposite ends of the week, especially at first when you're only doing it once a week.

It's probably hard to injure yourself on a stationary bike, if you've got the seat height set so that it's not too high or too low. Getting really sore?...Now that's a different story. Maybe starting with modest intensity and a modest number of reps the first week or two. Then, you can crank it up (Your doc says okay, I guess? You look a lot younger than me anyway.) No avoiding it at some point you'll probably get a little nauseated. Sometimes the breathing shakes up the pouch and I get a little sick to the stomach. And afterwards, sore. The drive just seems to take over some days.

Wow, I've never seen this many guys volunteering to do HIIT in one place!

Dave

What would you consider a good heart rate for the "recovery" period?  In other words what do you want to get down to and for how long do you need to be there for the recover period to be effective.  Also what would be the max heart rate during the sprint?  At what point would you want to end the sprint early if you went past a certain number or is that not possible as long as your heart rate is low enough before you start the sprint.  Does anyone know of a stop watch or a timer that will do intervals?  Something that you could program for your workout and it will beep so you know when to change between sprinting and recovery?  I found the Garmin Edge 305 which looks like it would do that function and would be great for outdoor cycling but I already have a heart monitor and it is quite expensive for just using it as a timer for the workouts.  What has worked for some of the other guys that are already on this routine to help keep time?  Thanks for the great information guys. Dan

First, you need to calculate your maximum heart rate.  Exercise labs can do this accurately but most of us can't get into one of those, so there are lots of calculators out there, none are perfect.  If I use the traditional 220-age (30), that's 190 for me.  I warm up over a few minutes to get into the aerobic zone, somewhere in the 60-80% range (115-152 for me).  (Actually, the aerobic zone is bigger than this, let's not quibble right now about these details.)  For your high-intensity periods, you are shooting for 80-90% (152-170).  I get to the top of that range pretty quickly. For the active recover, I try to spend at least 20 seconds (or longer) in the 60-70% range (115-133). I have my monitor set to alarm at above 170 and below 120.  If I hear an alarm during the intense phase, I ease up a bit.  If I hear it during the recovery phase, I speed up a bit.  I don't end the "sprint," I just back off a bit.  Of course, I'm doing these on a bike with the watch hanging from the handlebar, so I can watch it more closely than a runner could. If you are older than 30, all of these numbers will be lower.

Thanks for the info.  I am 35 so I will adjust the numbers accordingly.  I just finished my first HITT routine on a stepper that I have at home.  Holy ****!  I havent felt like that since wind sprints during double practices in high school football.  I only made it through 4 sprints and my lungs hurt to bad to do a fifth.  I will shoot for 5 at my next attempt over the weekend.  I really liked that a hell of a lot better then the normal routine.  It was more interesting and felt more rewarding.  Not to mention I got to my "feel good" point after exercising alot faster.  I have been on a plateau for over a month and want to try to brake it.  Thanks again for all the help, this board rocks! Dan

It does get a lot better. I'm 45 and did 12 100's + 6 100's 20 minutes later. My fitness would have let me do an additional 12 instead of the 6 reps, but my hamstrings were getting that "guitar string getting ready to pop" feeling.

That and no real soreness to speak of next day or day after. But when I first started out, I could barely make it 6 on the bike and that's after 1.5 years of haarrd deadlifts and squats and swimming and jogging once a week for 10+ years. It's really different from other types of exercise.

Dave

My heart rate range determination, like most things that I do has been "off the cuff." I put on the chest strap and wris****ch, then sprint. I generally get to 174-5 and can't get any higher, unless I'm with someone who runs faster. Then I can get to 180-184 on occasion, but the legs soon burn out at that rate. My rate doesn't really match the age formula. I once saw my max get to 204 at age 32 during an uphil mountain bike climb at a weight 245 lbs.

Dave