The FastDay Forum

Yay, just finished my second ever high intensity intervals session and feeling good! The first one, in which I only did 10 mins as they suggested, left me feeling very wobbly & nauseous (wrote about it in the lab posts). But today I managed the full 20 mins (plus 10 mins warm up & cool down) and now I'm feeling fine, even though it's a fast day. So now I'm thinking maybe it's sustainable - the time seems to just fly by, and my poor old squeaky cross-trainer managed to not go into orbit. I even found I had to cut the intensity back a tiny bit, as my heart rate was getting a bit high for my age. Yay, hope it has the good effects for me mentioned in the studies! Particularly hoping for improvements in insulin sensitivity, since I've got type2 diabetes. Fingers crossed!

Yay, just finished my second ever high intensity intervals session and feeling good! The first one, in which I only did 10 mins as they suggested, left me feeling very wobbly & nauseous (wrote about it in the lab posts). But today I managed the full 20 mins (plus 10 mins warm up & cool down) and now I'm feeling fine, even though it's a fast day. So now I'm thinking maybe it's sustainable - the time seems to just fly by, and my poor old squeaky cross-trainer managed to not go into orbit. I even found I had to cut the intensity back a tiny bit, as my heart rate was getting a bit high for my age. Yay, hope it has the good effects for me mentioned in the studies! Particularly hoping for improvements in insulin sensitivity, since I've got type2 diabetes. Fingers crossed!

Whats your thoughts on the best home equipment for HIIT?

[janeg]

Oh well done jools!
I did speak to MadMax (the rowing machine) this morning and mentioned that he could be onto a wee spin today.
Only maybe though...
Looking forward to following your progress

[Debs]

Nice work jools! I am going to try some abs and arms tonight and see how I go. Burpees may not be possible in my tiny room, but I shall see how I go!

hi @Juliana.Rivers, well I'm doing a protocol developed by Steve Boutcher from UNSW - the music for the intervals (8secs sprint, 12 secs recovery) is available online from www.lifesprints.com for around $30. He suggests stationary cycling, stationary rowing, circuit training, walking or running on a track, boxing, swimming or skipping rope. But I'm doing it on my crosstrainer. I think pretty much all of the research is done on a stationary bike. But I'd suggest, because of the intensity, it'd be a really good idea to have a medical check beforehand. I'm used to exercising (real bike), but this protocol IS pretty intense. I don't know what your exercise history is, or whether you have any other intercurrent illnesses, so I wouldn't like to recommend it for you or anyone else without knowing more about you. I did actually have a stress MIBI test (a nuclear medicine scan of the heart post exercise) myself a year or so ago, which was all clear - the reason I did that was because my brother was diagnosed with severe coronary artery disease (at Prince of Wales hospital, actually - he's a Sydneysider too) at the age of 64, and because I also have diabetes, I wanted to make sure! (He is doing fine now btw, after open-heart surgery.)

@janeg - "mad max", love it! The UNSW mob suggest using 12 sec sprints/18 sec rests on a rowing maching, but it sounds like you have your own program anyway. Hope it goes well if you decide to do it today!

thanks so much for your support @debs! hope you can work out something for your small space!

Didn't think I'd say it after the first session the other day, but now I'm really looking forward to my next one in a couple of days!

[janeg]

like the idea of 12 sec sprints and 18 sec rests! I have downloaded a wee book on the kindle - a whole 77p!- about HIIT and will have a swatch later. I'm really hungry jet now and haven't exercised properly for a few months so may leave the reintroduction of madmax until tomorrow

hi @Juliana.Rivers, well I'm doing a protocol developed by Steve Boutcher from UNSW - the music for the intervals (8secs sprint, 12 secs recovery) is available online from http://www.lifesprints.com for around $30. He suggests stationary cycling, stationary rowing, circuit training, walking or running on a track, boxing, swimming or skipping rope. But I'm doing it on my crosstrainer. I think pretty much all of the research is done on a stationary bike. But I'd suggest, because of the intensity, it'd be a really good idea to have a medical check beforehand. I'm used to exercising (real bike), but this protocol IS pretty intense. I don't know what your exercise history is, or whether you have any other intercurrent illnesses, so I wouldn't like to recommend it for you or anyone else without knowing more about you. I did actually have a stress MIBI test (a nuclear medicine scan of the heart post exercise) myself a year or so ago, which was all clear - the reason I did that was because my brother was diagnosed with severe coronary artery disease (at Prince of Wales hospital, actually - he's a Sydneysider too) at the age of 64, and because I also have diabetes, I wanted to make sure! (He is doing fine now btw, after open-heart surgery.)

THANKS... i have a treadmill in my garage for last 2 years. Im planning renovations in 2014 so no room for it so thinking i might join up a gym. Looking for one with nil annual membership ones so you just pay when you go. More exxy but not if you dont go for 2 months at a time! Id love a house big enough for an exercise room.

Just been reading the new "fast exercise" book by Michael and looking at doing this too.

Looking at getting a treadmill for home to do it on Will let you all know how I get on.

I wonder about using a treadmill for HIIT... I think it's pretty hard on the knees and ankles, but past that I wouldn't suggest using your own treadmill for it, because it will put some duty on the treadmill itself (not to mention the electrical load on your household circuit, you need to make sure you have enough copper in that path or you'll kill your motor). If you have access to a gym with high-end treadmills that should work better.

I may try to use a treadmill at the gym at work for HIIT, but I'll probably end up on a stationary bike. I read somewhere that the key is to exercise the very large muscles in your legs, which is why the stationary bikes are usually recommended first. I don't know if you'll get the same concentration on those particular muscles if you use a treadmill, however.

Is anyone using a treadmill? I saw someone had trouble (pulled hamstring, if I recall) and I should probably avoid that sort of thing.

I honestly don't think I could do the splits you are all doing. But I have started to incorporate the sprints into my 10 minutes stationary cycle routine. I sprint for 10 seconds every 2 minutes. My heart rate goes up to 140bpm. Which for my age and weight is as far as I want to see it go.

Hi @Julieathome, so glad you are monitoring & taking care of yourself & listening to your body! Yes I was a bit shocked to get up to a HR of 160 yesterday, my absolute maximum for my age is only supposed to be 167! So I did cool it down a bit at that point!

Did my first HIIT workout today. Wasn't too bad, actually, but I think I'll feel it tomorrow.

I'm using the "Tabata" interval, which is 20 seconds all-out followed by 10 seconds at low intensity, for 8 cycles (4 minutes total, not including warmup and cooldown which was another couple minutes each), wound up doing it on an exercise bike with gripping HR monitor and I hit in the 90-100% of max HR.

That seems to be quite a bit less than some others are doing, at least in terms of time at max heart rate, but it was one of the early "standards" of HIIT. Anyone know whether going to 10 minutes or more is worth it, or is 4 minutes enough? I plan on doing this 3 times per week.

Mosely did like 1 minute total...

yay, @BruceE, well done! the first one is worst I'm hoping - just about to do my third one, so I'll let you know how I go! Yes, there seem to be quite a few different protocols, and not much work has so far been done on comparisons to work out which is optimal - just a matter of what works for you I suppose. Here's a moderately technical review article from the lab posts that has some comparisons - I'm doing the 8sec/12sec for 20 mins one currently (so total of 8 mins sprinting, 12 mins recovery), although I've ordered MM's book, so I might be changing, or I might not!

Having spoken to my pilates teacher, who is a fair bit more experienced with these things than I am, I've decided not to worry particularly that my HR is getting up towards 100% "maximum" - she said the standard maximums are just a rule-of-thumb, not necessarily something you shouldn't exceed, depending on your pre-existing fitness.

oh sorry, here's the reference

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jobe/2011/868305/

Aaand... Just completed my third one, it felt mentally about more difficult today, and I did relax about the HR, which was 164 by the end - but feeling fine now! It seems I don't get any tightness or soreness in my quads or my glutes, but my calves end up a little bit stiff, as do my post. deltoids - but it still seems quite manageable.

Anyone else do any HIIT today, and like to check in?