HIIT cardio and HR zones
 

Hi All:

I decided to try dust the cobwebs off my HR monitor for this morning's HIIT cardio. My 9s were 90% of my maximum heart rate and my 10 was 95%, putting me in Zone 5 for my 9s and 10s.

Does anyone else use a HR monitor? Is this about right or am I ready to give myself a heart attack? ;)

Thanks,
Wanda

I need to remember how to do the math for target harat rate. Some of the eliptical machiens at the gym have sensores to give heart rate, but I have no clue what percentage I hit just the number of beats per min.

Hi Ladybelle:

Sorry, I should have given that info.

My chart shows for 90-100% HR, the min HR is 169 (90%) and the max HR for that zone is 188 (100%). So I'd have been around 169 for my 9s and about 178 for my 10.

Thanks,
Wanda

Hi Wanda, that's exactly how I do HIIT. According to the calculation I heard (200 minus half your age) my max. heart rate is 183. So I decided that 140 would be my level 5 and 180 would be my 10. So my 6 is 148, 7 is 156 and so forth. It was hard keeping track minute by minute at first, but I've gotten used to it by now.

Hi Sarah:

I wish I had thought of that! What a great idea. My treadmill has a custom feature on it, which is a Godsend for this type of HIIT, so I'm going to adjust it based on my heart rate for each level. Should be interesting to see how it compares.

Hmmmm.... at my maximum heart rate (188), maybe I should aim my intensity 10 to about 185. I'll see how it feels. At 95% (178), I didn't feel like I could go harder, but maybe it was psychological.
Kinda scarey seeing those high numbers when you aren't used to the HIIT concept.

Mucho thanks for the help,
Wanda

Sarah, I tried the HR monitor throughout my entire workout today and was pleasantly surprised. My entire workout was on target according to my heart rate monitor. Funny how the body naturally knows.

The only problem was my 6s b/c my heart rate wouldn't lower to 60% of maximum HR coming off my 9s. But during my warmup, my heart rate was at 60% so I didn't change it. Is that what you found?

It's a good way to gauge when to increase intensities. Cool!

Thanks for your input!

Wanda

Hi Wanda! I'm glad that method worked out for you. In the first few weeks I found the same problem you did -- hard to get the HR to drop down to level 6 in just a minute. Sometimes it wouldn't even drop to 156 (my level 7) before the level 7 minute started! However lately it has been dropping back down to level 6 in time. Which I guess means my heart is getting stronger? My resting heart rate has dropped a lot so I can tell all this running is making a difference.

My other problem is, if I'm not paying attention I run too hard and my HR goes up to level 9 or 10 too soon. But again, now that I've been doing it a few weeks I'm starting to get a sense of what level 10 "feels" like so this is getting easier to control.

After all the advice and tips I've gotten from you on this board, it's quite a thrill to be able to offer something helpful back :)

Hi Sarah:

That's good to know. I'll keep an eye on it.


Thank you, glad I could help! :) That's what makes these forums so wonderful.

Have a great weekend!

Wanda