Target Heart Rate (HR) for HIIT (am I doing this right?)

tomcornhole

Just started HIIT today on the treadmill. It's beautiful out but I wanted to use the treadmill so I could track progress. I decided to target 175 BPM on my finger HRM (it tracks O2 levels as well). I chose 175 bpm because that is what the charts say is my max HR for my age (222-47=175).

Started with a 15 min warmup because I didn't know how this would turn out.

First HIIT was 12% incline at 5 mph. Was 90 seconds into that and not huffing yet.

Second HIIT was 9 mph at 1% incline for 1 min. 175 bpm but I am not a runner and that was dangerous fast.

Third HIIT was 8 mph at 6% incline for 1 min. 175 bpm.

Fourth HIIT was 8 mph at 8% incline, 1 min. 180 bpm. I liked this one the best.

FIfth HIIT same as fourth.

So, I liked 8mph at 8% for 1 minute. I rested beween HIIT until my HR got below 140 bpm.

Then I did a 12 minute cooldown.

Am I targeting the right BPM for the high and low parts? Am I doing this right?

Thanks for your help.

Tom

phjorg

you don't target heartrate. you target intensity. go full out, or close to as possible for 10-50 seconds. the heartrate numberis pointless to this.

phjorg

also.. try this. dont turn the tredmill on at all. just use your body to push it. sprint for 20 seconds and very slow walk for 40.

tomcornhole

Got it. How do you know what the right intensity is? I had some left left after each high part of HIIT. It was intense, but I could go more intense.