Workout question

blueridgeloner

I am walking, with some very light jogging as my primary exercise. Hard to do much else with joint problems at this time. Usually 1 day a week or so something comes up and I am unable to get my walk in, to late, rain, etc. This night I break down and ride the ancient exercise bike I have. I hate long rides on this thing. Would it be beneficial for me to try and do a HIIT style ride on that day. I am thinking that maybe it would help getting me through this tedious chore, since it would make a big difference in the time. I need to do something, as I already take a rest day during my week. Also what is the best way to log if I go this route. I don't have a heart rate monitor to go by. Thoughts or opinions welcome.

djr187

Hi There,
I am not a fitness guru, but if I were to advise you based on your question, I would certainly suggest HIIT would be a good thing to add into your routine. HIIT, along with a balanced lifestyle can affect your hormonal/endocrine system in a positive way for fat loss. I do sprints twice a week and have had great results with it. It will work your anaerobic system, and it is very taxing if done correctly. But the workouts are shorter in duration. On the bike you can do sprints....up the resistance( you will have to play with it to find the right resistance for you), then go as hard/fast as you can for 30 seconds. Then stop totally and breathe/recover for 1 minute. Repeat this method for 10 min if you can to begin with. What I would do from here is then bike more slowly and easily for 20 min to burn out some glycogen stores, and then try the sprints again for another 10 min. I know this becomes a long session, so if it annoys you too much being on the bike this long then just do the first set of sprints and call it a day. Work up to 15-20 min. Good luck and enjoy!

meshashesha2012

if you have joint problems, HIIT would not be a good idea as it's supposed to be going at your all out sprint speed and effort. HIIT shouldnt be done unless you already have a good baseline of fitness and health

why not add in more moderate intervals instead?

blueridgeloner

The joint problems is an arthritic knee. I am hoping that by losing weight plus trying to strengthen the knee it might help. To be honest at my fitness level and weight moderate is about as intense as I can get. LOL My usual session is 45 minutes on the bike so that is the time I am trying to cut. I can make the 45 minutes pretty good with moderate resistance, it just bores me to death.

margannmks

Not knowing which joints your having issues with but if you can do jumping jack, burpees ,mountain climbers, shuffle punches, jump rope. Theres lots of cardio intense exercises you can do in sequence that will be like hiit. I cant stand 30-45 minutes on a machine id rather do a variety of moves and they work total body.

JasonKnight85

Does the bike bother your knees at all out of the ordinary now with your current routine (I know first hand with arthritis there's always some pain)? If yes, then no, don't try HIIT.

Honestly if you exercise now without excessive pain for that long on a stationary, I don't see joint impact being much of a problem with a HIIT routine on the bike, especially if you do light jogging already.

My suggestion, get a good warm up and stretch in, and try it. Use knee braces if you like. Go all out for 3 minutes, peddle like someone you loved was in danger and you had to get there yesterday!

Take a 30 second breather, peddling casually, get some water...ding goes the timer, go all out again.

Try to aim for 5 sets of all out peddling. That'll reduce your workout time to 17.5 minutes.

If you got one or your bike does, use a HRM, you don't want to over do it with your heart during HIIT, keep it in a safe range.See how many calories it estimates you burn... if you experience any unusual pain at all... stop immediately and do a cool down stretch routine, then try to lose some more weight/gain more leg strength before attempting a high intensity workout again.

I had to lose 60 lbs before I could jog or do any real aerobic/calisthenic exercises with my knees. It was worth the wait to do them without being laid up for a few days wishing I hadn't tried them at all.

DavPul

The bike probably won't hold up for a decent amount of HIIT work

blueridgeloner

Thanks for the responses and I will take them all into consideration. Leaning toward trying a short session of 1min on 30 sec. rest and see how it feels in ten minutes or so just to test the water.