HIIT - Is is all about heart rate?

NCchar130
NCchar130 Posts: 955 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I had to scale back my exercise about 6 weeks ago due to injury and sickness. I fell in love with HIIT a few months back but thanks to the injury (IT band primarily), have been going a bit easier at the gym.

I was jogging at about 5 mph for 1 min then 'sprinting' at about 7-8 mph for 30 sec. Repeat for 15-20 min. Since I started back doing intervals a couple weeks ago, I've adjusted this to walking at 3.5 mph for 2 min and then my fast interval is at about 6.5 mph for 1 min. I do this on a slight incline. I'm trying not to reinjure anything. Anyway, my heart rate still gets pretty high (about 180) during the fast interval and recovers down to the low 130s by the end of the slow portion. I do this about 30 minutes. But I feel like I'm not really doing anything at all! I'm not totally wiped out when I leave and I'm not particularly sore either (maybe that doesn't matter, I don't know).

I'm curious if, as long as I am hitting that target heart rate during the sprints, if I will still get the 'after-burn' effect. Anyone have any ideas on this?

Replies

  • NCchar130
    NCchar130 Posts: 955 Member
    bump
  • SlinkyAndHerAmazingBunsOfSteel
    SlinkyAndHerAmazingBunsOfSteel Posts: 434 Member
    bump for later :)
  • ModoVincere
    ModoVincere Posts: 530 Member
    HR is not the best measure of effort for really short intervals (less than a minute).
    HR lags effort, so you can't really get a good measure of effort using it.
    For intervals like you mentioned, I would use Preceived Effort if you don't have access to a wattage meter(which is actually more cycling related than running).
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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  • NCchar130
    NCchar130 Posts: 955 Member
    one more bump :smile:
  • CoraGregoryCPA
    CoraGregoryCPA Posts: 1,087 Member
    I'm curious to know if the injury was becaust of your HIIT experience. I have been urged by people not to do it because of the high risk of injury. true?
  • NCchar130
    NCchar130 Posts: 955 Member
    I'm curious to know if the injury was becaust of your HIIT experience. I have been urged by people not to do it because of the high risk of injury. true?

    I can't say for sure - it came on gradually and then I left the gym limping after running 3 miles (not HIIT) on the treadmill one day right before Christmas. It didn't get better with rest so I went to the doctor and it was an IT band injury plus bursitis and some inflammation in my hamstring too. I've done some PT. I've wondered if HIIT wasn't the major contributor since those workouts were by far my hardest, but from what I've read, IT band problems are common with runners in general.

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