Started HIIT on a Bike

**CharlesTC** · Posted On: 1/03/2009 11:33pm

I just did interval training on a bike for the first time today.

I HATED it! But I feel great for doing it afterward. That **** is brutal!

**BaronVonDingDong** · Posted On: 1/04/2009 9:13am

I didn't realize how much it hurt until two days afterwards. Sore hamstrings and lower back. I'm going to warm up for ten minutes next time.

**Gibbon** · Posted On: 1/04/2009 10:01am

Over the xmas hols (I'm a money grabbing student), I've been following the tabata protocol on a rowing machine (5 sessions a week, 1 of which is 1/2 hour UT2 then 2 mins of intervals, warming up with a 7 min negative split 2k followed by ~5mins rest before each session) with some weights on top. I've seen definite improvement in the distances I'm putting out, and as far as I know the rest of my rowing crew have mainly been doing long UT2 sessions, so I'll be able to compare our performances in a few weeks. Not sure how tabata's shape up with other forms of HIIT though, but I know that doing it on a rower sucks balls, although the suckitude seems to be instant then I generally don't feel it the next day.

**TheRuss** · Posted On: 1/04/2009 12:13pm

Originally Posted by saku39

A 1:1 work to rest ratio (with a prolonged time period, i.e. - longer than 30 seconds) showed more improvement in all endurance relevant parameters over a 30 s work to 4.5 minutes rest protocol in this 10 week study of runners:

Manipulating high-intensity interval training: Effects on ˙VO2 max, the lactate threshold and
3000m running performance in moderately trained males. Fahimeh Esfarjani a, Paul B. Laursenb

If someone cares to read the study, pm me and ill send you the file.

I'm not sure why they used 130% of VO2max for the 1:9 work:rest group.

**saku39** · Posted On: 1/04/2009 5:29pm

They did 130% of velocity of VO2 max, which ended up about 20 km/h. It is possible that the treadmills used limited them to this.

**BaronVonDingDong** · Posted On: 1/08/2009 12:46pm

Update: The HIIT on a bike continues, though with a few modifications. I've kept the ratio at rest .60, work .30, but with a ten minute warm up instead of five, and taking the resistance down one notch to 6 (out of 8). I'm hoping these two changes will help with the stiffness in my back and knees.

Work-wise, it's still a killer, but I can manage and feel good. I think I can already feel some of the benefits. For example, I'm getting through rounds better, and only this morning I amazed myself after dropping my son off at school, when I guy drove past me, stuck his finger up and said something through the window - exactly what was unclear, but the last word looked like 'you'. Keen to discover why he should wish to address me thus, I set off in pursuit, chasing his car on foot for a good 300+ metres to the next intersection. Luckily for him (and me, I admit), the light changed before I got there, and he drove off.

I ran quicker, through unplowed snow, than I've done since my early twenties, I when I got there, I wasn't breathing hard at all.