Tabata, HIIT and max. (safe) heart rate levels

hungryPHATbunny

Im hoping to try HIIT/ Tabata tomorrow and have looked at a couple of iPhone apps to help me..(will try out Seconds Free) tomorrow. However, I am a little anxious about just how hard I should push myself during the high intensity, and what I should allow my heart rate to go up to? ( I have a HRM)- I am a 38 year old female weighing 134 pounds and am reasonably fit (work out 5 days burning about 500 calories in each session). In the past I've been told by doctors and trainers that going beyond 160 would be dangerous...? Any sound advice/ experiences?

zafferFL

to be honest, 90% of people who say they are doing HIIT, aren't. You will find it very difficult to even get to the heart rate required to be considered in this "zone" at first.

Basic formula for MAX heart rate is 220 - age, so yours is around 182...

HIIT is 75%-80% of that.

scottb81

As long as you don't have any pre-existing heart problems then you can push yourself as hard as you want. Your body will give in and you will slow down long before your heart is over stressed.

hungryPHATbunny

Thanks scottb81
Alexpapa- so the absolute highest I should go would be 145.6 right? I've managed to get to 150 today...so for the high intensity I'll aim for that 145. Right? Thanks for your help guys.

zafferFL

Thanks scottb81
Alexpapa- so the absolute highest I should go would be 145.6 right? I've managed to get to 150 today...so for the high intensity I'll aim for that 145. Right? Thanks for your help guys.

here's something else I just found as an example:

Then you can work out your estimated max heart rate by taking 220 - your age. So my maximum heart rate would be 220 - 33 = 187. Then subtract the maximum from the resting heart rate. (187 - 60 = 127) So you would be aiming at hitting 90% by the end of your interval. So to work this out it would be 60 + (90% x 127) = 174 And when you rest you want to try get down to about 60% of your heart rate so thats 60 + (60% X 127) = 136

I don't follow heart rates, I just push until I can't take the lactic pain anymore what kind of ratio are you working on for pushing and "resting"? Are you feeling the burn of lactic acid ?

2012x

I tend to work around 160-170 in my turbofire workout.

The HIITS i do HR has easily gone upto 192bpm before.

scottb81

I don't follow heart rates, I just push until I can't take the lactic pain anymore what kind of ratio are you working on for pushing and "resting"? Are you feeling the burn of lactic acid ?

I agree. Your heart rate does not respond immediately to increased workload; there is a lag. So, you can be pushing at max effort, and if the interval is short, less than around a minute or two, your heart rate may not reflect the intensity of the effort.

So, for HIIT you should just push yourself to your max effort and not worry about the heartrate. Regardless of what the HRM says, if you are pushing it to the max, you are getting the desired training effect.

meshashesha2012

wow when i'm doing HIIT and tabata i dont even have time to look at my HRM :laugh: i'm either too busy running uphill like a rabid dog were chasing me/doing as many reps as i can or resting for 10-15 seconds and psyching myself up to get through the next 15-20 seconds of pure evil. the last thing on my mind is what my heart rate is

cooter2533

Like said above I wouldn't be too concerned about heart rate unless u have some sort of heart condition. My heart rate normally spikes to 175-185 when doing my HIIT. I'm 24

hungryPHATbunny

Alexpapa, those formulas make alot of sense and I will definitely try it that way next time...today I did a 3 min warm up, 60 seconds (what I thought was supposed to be high intensity with my heart rate up to 150-155) followed by 90 seconds of low intensity ( heart rate down to 118)... I did 22 reps which took an hour. Now here's the thing, though I broke into a sweat, it wasn't exhausting so tomorrow I'm going to use the formula you've given which should bring my heart rate up to 170 at max intensity and down to 133 at low. That should give me a better work out right? Also, I'm wondering if I should make the timings of each a little longer ( say 90 sec. High intensity followed by 2 min low) and less reps? really appreciate the support, thank you.

hungryPHATbunny

Thanks Cooter2533 and 2012x - good to know.
@meshashesh20- with such short bursts are you able to bring your heart rate significantly lower before going up again ( even though you don't check it I know)- I thought the point of HIIT was to go very high, en very low? I struggled with that Alternating between 69 and 90 sec intervals.

meshashesha2012

Thanks Cooter2533 and 2012x - good to know.
@meshashesh20- with such short bursts are you able to bring your heart rate significantly lower before going up again ( even though you don't check it I know)- I thought the point of HIIT was to go very high, en very low? I struggled with that Alternating between 69 and 90 sec intervals.

i think it depends on how you're doing your HIIT. for instance , if your doing 2 minutes rest and 1 minute as fast as you can, then during those 2 minutes you're giving your body enough time to lower your heart rate.

ii've been doing it more in 15 second intervals (15 second as fast as i can, 15 second rest) and there's no way my heart rate can come down that much. my guess is that for those 15 minutes my heart rate is continually somewhere in the zone 3 level of my my HRM. either at the lower end in the 140's or at the higher end in the 160/170 region. Also tabata is the same way since it's 20 seconds of go time and 10 seconds of rest time.

i'm not worried about my heart rate being lower because i'm only doing it for 15 minutes. i dont have any cardiovascular or blood pressure issues that would make me worry. plus when it's all said and done, it's not the (an)aerobic component of HIIT/tabata that i find most uncomfortable. it's the lactic acid burn :laugh:

reedkaus

to be honest, 90% of people who say they are doing HIIT, aren't. You will find it very difficult to even get to the heart rate required to be considered in this "zone" at first.

Basic formula for MAX heart rate is 220 - age, so yours is around 182...

HIIT is 75%-80% of that.

what he said!

IronSmasher

Thanks scottb81
Alexpapa- so the absolute highest I should go would be 145.6 right? I've managed to get to 150 today...so for the high intensity I'll aim for that 145. Right? Thanks for your help guys.

here's something else I just found as an example:

Then you can work out your estimated max heart rate by taking 220 - your age. So my maximum heart rate would be 220 - 33 = 187. Then subtract the maximum from the resting heart rate. (187 - 60 = 127) So you would be aiming at hitting 90% by the end of your interval. So to work this out it would be 60 + (90% x 127) = 174 And when you rest you want to try get down to about 60% of your heart rate so thats 60 + (60% X 127) = 136

I don't follow heart rates, I just push until I can't take the lactic pain anymore what kind of ratio are you working on for pushing and "resting"? Are you feeling the burn of lactic acid ?

This is called Heart Rate Reserve and is safe.

IronSmasher

As others have said, I don't bother with heart rate monitoring. The status quo for safe heart rate monitoring is not compatable with HIIT and tabata.

In fact, if anyone actually bothered to research tabata thoroughly, they would find it was a study on elite athletes working at well over 100% of their "max" heart rates.

Pretty much nobody is actually doing tabatas.

hungryPHATbunny

ScrewyChars-6881673

Erica_theRedhead

For Tabata, you are trying to get as high as possible. I don't have time to look at the HRM because it would take more than 10 seconds to sort all the numbers out lol. All I know, is that I've done a few of these with my trainer, and as I push myself harder, and keep the HR up as long as we do, it almost feels like my heart will pump out of my chest. Then given 30 seconds of rest, goes right back down to normal. As long as you don't have any medical conditions, just push yourself until you can't go any faster.

hungryPHATbunny

So, just had to give an update. This is what I tried today:
3 min warm up
30 sec high intensity (187 was my highest and never below 170)
90 sec low intensity (135 was lowest it would go, mainly stayed between 140-155)
3 min cool down
10 reps in total- took 25 mins.

Wow! Did feel my chest popping out! HRM told me after that I'd burned less fat than my normal workout ( but that's because this was high aerobic rather than fat burn)...did it two hours ago and my chest still feels like I have a cough...deep breaths are making me cough! Thanks guys for all your responses...I think I'll do this HIIT maybe twice a week along with my usual stuff etc.

schmitage

I'm 43.. resting HR of 58. My max HR is supposedly 177.. but I've hit 185. .confirmed on the machine's reading, my HRM, and by taking my pulse..

Typically, my eliptical workout goes something like this:
5min warm up. Increasing tension (10-12)/speed (8-10) during the last minute or so.. I end up in my anaerobic zone. Around 158. Then off I go -

Tension to 1, a 30-45sec break, hr to 148
Tension up to 12, ~45-60 sec spurt to 170ish
Tension down to 1, ~60secs to 158bpm
Tension 13: ~1min. 175ish
Tension to 1.. ~60-90 secs. 158bpm
Tension 14: ~45secs.. 178ish
Tension 1: 90secs 158bpm
Tension 15: ~30 secs: 180bpm
Tension 1: 90 secs 158pbm
Tension 16: ~25secs 182bpm
Tension 1: 1min45 158bpm
Tension 17: ~20secs 182-184bpm
Tension 1: 1min45-2min 158bpm
Tension 18: ~15secs 182-184 (by this time, I'm drained, bad... lol)
Tension 1: 2min 158bpm
... From here, I work downward.. pretty much only able to do 20-30sec spurts most of the way down. Probably able to get around 30sec spurts once I hit around 14/15 on the tension. On my way down, I stick to around 180-182 at the peak.. I pretty much just pay attention to the burn. First comes the subtle burn.. then a few secs later, wham.. it's all on fire.. then I squeeze out all I got left for a cpl more seconds till I reach muscle failure. Tension goes immediately down.. I want to stop, but I know better cuz of the blood flow.. so I keep the legs moving, slowly.. for a good 30secs or so. Then once my HR is down to about 170ish, I'll bump my speed up just a little.. and cruise along till I hit 158bpm.. then wham, kick er in gear.

My last cpl of intervals.. 13 and 12 tension.. I'm getting closer to 45s-1min.. and I'm starting to bring my HR down.. prepping for my cool off.. 175-178bpm. Well, I'm not really prepping for my cool off.... I'm just spent. lol. Then, during my cool off.. I'll do interval training.. dropping the low down to 155, up to 172.. Down to 150, up to 168.. down to 145.. up to 160ish.. then a cpl mins going slow.. till my HR falls to 138 or less.

People say that you should have difficulties speaking at the high end.. I say that is probably interval training in the anaerobic zone. For me, I absolutely cannot speak at my high end until my HR comes down into my anaerobic level.. 170ish.. 90% of MHR range.

Also, when I stop my high-end interval at failure.. my HR is always around 178. But it keeps climbing for ~10secs after I stop. Peaking at 182-184.. sometimes hitting 185. I like to keep it at least 2-3 down from my MHR.. but that's not always possible because of the delayed reaction.. I've found 178 is a consistent area of failure, but it depends on my diet, the last workout, etc.