interval training

[Alessandro]

Howdy

I wanted to know if anyone has done cardio interval training before. (Alistair???) When I used to swim we would do this all the time. Basically it's when you alternate periods of high intensity exercise with lower intensity, the object being to raise your heart rate to a high level then allow it to drop during the low intensity, so as not to kill yourself.

I'm doing 60/90 intervals right now, meaning I raise my heart to 90 percent of my target heart rate and then let it drop to 60 percent.

The thing is, by the end of my interval sets, I'm not even coming close to hitting 60 percent in the rest sets, my heart rate is much higher. Should I change up my intervals to make them longer rest periods or should I shoot for lower intervals like maybe 50/75?

I realize this is a pretty specific question, I was hoping that Alistair might know.

[Alistair]

This is gonna sound like a bit of a dodge, but here goes...

People use different methods, but I would personally do a bit of both, going for something a bit more like 80-85% of max HR, and then resting to get it down again.

Are you doing sprint training with the specific aim of incresing speed or mostly endurance? For sprint you would want higher intensities and longer rest periods, and for Endurance lower intensity and lest rest time. Apart from that you can try varying things to see what works best for you.

[Alessandro]

Alistair

I'm training for speed/power right now, thus the high intensity intervals. I've even been doing some lower body plyometric stuff. I think I'm going to try something like a 50/85 interval next and take your advice. I probably should have mentioned in the last post that my rest and stress intervals are the same length, which is why I was suprised that my heart wasn't recovering better. Oh well, I'm probably just too out of shape.

Have you ever done the plyometric lunges? I've been doing those the last month- they kick ass!

[Alistair]

Originally posted by USC Alex:
<STRONG>
Have you ever done the plyometric lunges? I've been doing those the last month- they kick ass!</STRONG>

Yep, You know that they work when you can bearly walk aftrewards, feel better the next day, and then the next day DOMS kicks in and you can bearly walk again <IMG SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0" ALT="icon">