Swimming/HIIT

SpleenThief
SpleenThief Posts: 293 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Twice per week I take a coached swim session. Typically they're an hour, sometimes they run longer. All of the classes have at least some sprints ranging from 50 yards (28ish seconds) to 300 yards (3:00ish minutes). Rest time is typically between 10 seconds and 1 minute. On an average the sprints comprise about 30-50% of the class. Are sprints of that nature considered HIIT?

Replies

  • mperrott2205
    mperrott2205 Posts: 737 Member
    Yes.
  • thepiratemd
    thepiratemd Posts: 65
    pretty sure HIIT is a measure of exertion, not defiend by what type of exercise. you could HIIT while biking, sprinting, climbing stairs, etc. its just about going all out truly giving maximal effort for a short period of time
  • kmorganlfc
    kmorganlfc Posts: 115 Member
    Nothing can be more high impact than going flat out. If you're doing that at regular intervals you're doing HIIT.
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
    Sort of. If they have enough left in the tank to do it for an hour then it's not really HIIT, because true HIIT means operating at a capacity that limits you to 15-20 minute workouts.
  • SpleenThief
    SpleenThief Posts: 293 Member
    Sort of. If they have enough left in the tank to do it for an hour then it's not really HIIT, because true HIIT means operating at a capacity that limits you to 15-20 minute workouts.

    To clarify - the hour is not full throttle, but has intervals that really max me out. For example last night

    500 warmup
    6 x 200 pull
    5 x 75 kick

    6 x 100 best time
    2 x 200 best time
    1 x 300 best time

    500 warm down

    The pull and kick drills are done at a good effort but the best times are full on sprint. I finish them gasping and sometimes my vision gets a little grey around the edges towards the end. Typically each one is a bit slower than the previous because I have less and less to give as a full effort as the workout continues.

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