Interval training- what speeds and durations??

daithi1970

Hi all

I'm a 13 st, 5' 10" 42 yr old male of ok-ave fitness ( I can run 5k in 23mins,if that's of any use, info wise), and have just started HIIT on the treadmill in my local gym in the fond hope of losing 7-10lbs..! I have 3 questions....

1. Is it better to have a bigger difference between the fast interval and the recovery period, or is it better for them both to be closer..e.g., which is better-- alternating 18kph and 6.5 kph on a 1:2 basis, or 15 and 10 kph on a 1:1 basis.
2. What form of steady state post hiit exercise is good,or does it really matter that much,so long as it is at a constant pace? I am currently doing the ellipitcal stepper for 22-24 mins at a reasonably constant pace after the treadmill (125-135 rpm)
3. How many times a week should I be doing this? My diet has improved and I am hoping to average a calorie burn off of 2000-2500/week..

thanks in advance,

daithi

Dfit

Hi Daithi

How many days a week are you currently training? 2 HIIT sessions a week should be enough to help towards your weight loss goals, they can be quite tough so anything more than that and you could risk over-training. Many people see the benefits just by incorporating 1 HIIT session into their training.

Keep your intervals above 30 seconds (for both the fast part and recovery), should give you a greater number of calories burned and help you burn off more in the hours after the workout.

What's your current interval/rest ratio? You want to make sure that the recovery period is long enough to allow you to be ready to push hard for the whole of the fast part again.

Gradually, as you get fitter over a few weeks, you could play around with shortening the rest period, then increasing the tough bit.
e.g. you could start with a 30 second fast interval and 1 minute rest, gradually reduce the rest down to 45, then 30 seconds, then look to increase the high intensity work to 45 secs, then 1 minute.
End up with 1 minute fast, 30 second recovery.

6 intervals initially and you'd be feeling it, you could gradually increase the number up towards 10 as you get fitter.

You should keep the recovery speed/intensity at about 50% of the high intensity work.

The amount of time you're doing after HIIT work seems good (22-24 mins). Does the elliptical stepper get the arms moving? it'd be good to get the upper body working too.

daithi1970

Hi dfit, thanks for the reply..I am currently doing the intervals 3 times/week with no injury problems so far..I am alternating between these 3 HIIT plans:

1. 15kph and 10kph intervals of 1 minute for a period of 20 mins which includes 2 min warm up at 11.5 and 2 min cooldown at 6.5kph
2. An incline interval lasting 22 mins with speeds ranging from 11.5-15kph and inclines ranging from 1.0 to 9%
3. as no.1 but with intervals of 16 and 9.5 kph.

Am I overdoing it a bit?As I said, I have felt no ill affects..so far..

Thnks again,

daithi

Dfit

The session structures look pretty good. Good that you haven't experienced any injury problems, with 3 high intensity sessions a week just be careful that fatigue doesn't start to set in. But if you find you have the energy levels for it, keep it up.

A slightly longer warm up (5mins +) might give extra benefits by ensuring the joints, muscles etc. are loosened up and ready to train, should help prevent injury too.

And with the cool down make sure you're back to, or close to, your resting heart rate/breathing rate before finishing.

As I mentioned before, as your fitness improves, do make it more challenging on yourself by increasing the pace of the fast part, or gradually decreasing rest periods, etc. If you're not breaking a sweat, it's a good sign that it's time to up the intensity.

It might be best to just increase the intensity for the 1st and 3rd sessions of the week and keep the middle one as it is to allow a little more recovery between the higher intensity stuff.