I need help with interval training

malicent

Okay so I recently got a new gym membership and I wanted to try something new.

I used to do 45-60 mins of moderate effort on the elliptical (I get shin splints on the treadmill) and never got really good results. I would do this on and off at different gyms over the years as I moved around. I also played games like Just Dance for cardio.

I've been researching a lot about interval training, and tried it for the first time yesterday on the elliptical. I wanted to puke and had a coughing fit during my 5/6 rep but got through it all, with the last rep being okay. I warm up for 10 minutes on the elliptical getting my heart rate to about 165, then I do 30 secs sprint upping the resistance to level 7, and then lowering it back down to level 1 for 90 secs. I do this six times and cool down for five minutes. Since I'm a beginner I plan to stick with this for a couple of weeks and then tweak the sprint and recovery session. When I sprint, my heart rate jumps from 165 to 185, and when I rest it goes down to 170.

My height is 5'6" and my last weight-in at the doctor's was 180lbs. A couple of weeks ago.
My resting heart rate is 85bpm.
I have high blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and diabetes. Pressure and glucose are controlled; need to lower the lipids.
My muscle mass is 56%.

So how is my heart rate? Is it normal for this workout?

Also, I read that one should only do interval training 2-3 times per week. It takes me about 20 minutes. What should I do after, weights? And in what manner?

Say I do interval on the elliptical on Monday. Afterwards I do weights? My next interval training would be on Wednesday, but should I do to the gym on Tuesday? If so, what should I do?

Looking forward to your responses! I tried looking for answers but couldn't find them. Thanks so much!

kinmad4it

Are you wanting to exercise to aid in your weight loss or try and improve your cardiovascular fitness?

MeanderingMammal

I used to do 45-60 mins of moderate effort on the elliptical (I get shin splints on the treadmill) and never got really good results. I would do this on and off at different gyms over the years as I moved around. I also played games like Just Dance for cardio.

What are your objectives?

If weight loss then this is largely driven by your food consumption, rather than the amount of exercise you do.

Interval sessions are one of three main types of session one would do to improve cardiovascular fitness, which given your high blood pressure I'd assume is an objective.

Personally I do three steady state, one or two tempo sessions and one interval session per week. It's seen me reduce my resting heart rate significantly and my blood pressure is reduced significantly as a result.

Resistance training of some kind will help to optimise your body composition in weight loss, by retaining lean mass and biasing your loss towards fat. Subject to your goals there are a number of different approaches that you could take. Again I stick with bodyweight as it supports my objectives without becoming a burden in my training.

malicent

This sounds kind of ridiculous but I have a goal to make by Memorial Day Weekend in May for fat loss. I want to optimize it. After May, my focus will shift towards improving my cardiovascular health, like lowering my bpm. I had insurance issues before but I recently got full coverage so I have all my medicine again, which helps a lot to control everything. I also cut my Verizon plan to put the money towards the gym membership and eating better.

I'm trying to piece together information but I'm still not so sure on what to do. If you could give me a plan for starters I would appreciate it!

MeanderingMammal

This sounds kind of ridiculous but I have a goal to make by Memorial Day Weekend in May for fat loss. I want to optimize it.

Fat loss or weight loss? And is it a self imposed target or part of something else?

Weight loss is a straightforward position of eating fewer calories than you expend. MFP will give you the basic numbers that you need to think about there, but the benefit of any form of exercise is that it gives you flexibility around what you eat in pursuing your calorie goal.

While resistance training will help in biasing towards fat loss you'd find that the scale won't reflect that as clearly, essentially you'll see some changes in shape and size but potentially less recordable weight loss.

After May, my focus will shift towards improving my cardiovascular health, like lowering my bpm.

If you could give me a plan for starters I would appreciate it!

All anyone on here can give you is ideas on what works for them, and what they enjoy, you will need to take that and put together your own plan.

I used to get shin splints quite badly but have identified that's a result of overdoing it with the running. I started a progressive programme and now don't have any issues, I'm up to 35-40km per week. Notwithstanding that it doesn't really matter what you do, although for me training on machines is very boring, I run outside.

I would suggest doing your CV work on a rowing machine rather than an elliptic. There is a resistance effect as well as the CV effect and while it's a bit more challenging to learn the correct form it's a very thorough whole body workout.

Subject to the amount of time that you have available for training I'd suggest a mix of resistance and CV work, breaking down that CV into different sessions as they all have different effects.

Your long session, on the rower I'll do 15km, builds your aerobic base and will hit your blood pressure hard. This is one where you'll get a lot of benefit, it builds endurance.
A tempo session, about 5km, at a faster pace will push your heart to perform better and increase capacity. It forces you into increasing performance.
An interval session, 1km warm up then 2-3km of 100 or 200 m fast followed by the same slower, will increase performance as well as improving your ability to generate explosive power in the accelerations.

Accompany that with 2-3 resistance sessions per week. Personally I prefer bodyweight sessions as there is no kit to think about, but as you have gym membership then the kit is laid on so you could use a barbell programme. There are lots of people on here who swear by Stronglifts and similar; small range of whole body exercises. I use You Are Your Own Gym as a basis for mine.

Try to do CV and resistance on different days to get the best effect from each.

Everyone who responds will give you what works for them, the main thing is finding something that you can work with and sustain over time, so treat all the advice with a pinch of salt, including mine.

Hope you find some of that useful.

malicent

Thank you so much! Yeah I was just confused and afraid to do too little or too much. But you've given me a good starting plan that I can work with and adjust to fit my needs and taste.

MeanderingMammal

One more thing, those rowing distances are what I'd do. You need to start much shorter. Aim for 5km for your "long row" and adjust accordingly.

Perhaps even get a C25k podcast and use that as the basis for your session

MagJam2004

Awesome stuff. Thanks for the thread and the replies. This is something that I'm looking into incorporating into my routines.