Have to switch cardio from swimming

[headhawg7]

Went to the doc with both my ears pounding in pain and have swimmers ear. So I have to stop swimming until they heal. I am going to try to do some HIIT. I just hope I don't pass out or throw up. I am now 217lbs and have been working out for a month and doing cardio for a month. I am also 5'10". Am I ready for HIIT on my cardio days(2 days a week, lifting 3 days)? If so how should I approach it being a beginner. I will go all out so tell me what to do and I will do it exactly. Thanks Hawg

[Lee J B]

Right, your going to feel it for sure the first few times ok? It is nothing like using your own bodyweight like you would swimming. Go for 10 minutes only for the first week (2 sessions). Find a flat peice of land for these two sessions about 100m distance, sprint it as fast as you can, then jog back to where you started, then sprint back up again, and then WALK back this time. Repeat that for 10minutes. A set is :

100m Sprint
100m Jog
100m Walk

After each set have 20-30 seconds breather and as I said carry on for 10minutes, doing the same, in the last few sets you can bump up the rest between sets to 40-50 seconds. Going into the second week bump up the 10minutes to 20mins, and just do exactly the same. On the third week, find a hill and reduce the time to 10minutes again, still doing the set stated above. Then the fourth week do the same as the third week but for 20mins. For the weeks after this, you can experiment with rest times and different inclines etc, dont go over 25mins MAX for this type of work, you shouldn't be able to anyway if your working hard enough.

Hope that helped.

[headhawg7]

Originally Posted by Lee J B

Right, your going to feel it for sure the first few times ok? It is nothing like using your own bodyweight like you would swimming. Go for 10 minutes only for the first week (2 sessions). Find a flat peice of land for these two sessions about 100m distance, sprint it as fast as you can, then jog back to where you started, then sprint back up again, and then WALK back this time. Repeat that for 10minutes. A set is :

100m Sprint
100m Jog
100m Walk

After each set have 20-30 seconds breather and as I said carry on for 10minutes, doing the same, in the last few sets you can bump up the rest between sets to 40-50 seconds. Going into the second week bump up the 10minutes to 20mins, and just do exactly the same. On the third week, find a hill and reduce the time to 10minutes again, still doing the set stated above. Then the fourth week do the same as the third week but for 20mins. For the weeks after this, you can experiment with rest times and different inclines etc, dont go over 25mins MAX for this type of work, you shouldn't be able to anyway if your working hard enough.

Hope that helped.

Thats exactly what I wanted. I will use that exactly. Thanks Lee!

[DaLinkWent]

Out of curiosity what did your swimming routine look like? Was it HIIT?

[headhawg7]

Originally Posted by DaLinkWent

Out of curiosity what did your swimming routine look like? Was it HIIT?

Not sure if it was HIIT or not. I did 12 olympic laps in 20 minutes 2 times a week. For me 12 laps in 20 minutes I think is alot. For some I know its nothing. I went just about as hard out as I could and tried to keep rest to a minimum. What do you think?

[CJNY]

If you are new to high intensity intervals then you might want to work into it a little more gradually. Going all out at first works OK for swimming but is a good way to injure yourself when running and not really necessary at this point. The work periods should leave you breathing hard but not gasping. Do fewer work periods now than you think you can handle but add to them gradually over the coming weeks. It will get plenty difficult soon enough and this way you'll stay out of the doctor's office (which is always a good goal!)

[headhawg7]

Originally Posted by CJNY

If you are new to high intensity intervals then you might want to work into it a little more gradually. Going all out at first works OK for swimming but is a good way to injure yourself when running and not really necessary at this point. The work periods should leave you breathing hard but not gasping. Do fewer work periods now than you think you can handle but add to them gradually over the coming weeks. It will get plenty difficult soon enough and this way you'll stay out of the doctor's office (which is always a good goal!)

How would you then revise what Lee has suggested?

[headhawg7]

Originally Posted by CJNY

If you are new to high intensity intervals then you might want to work into it a little more gradually. Going all out at first works OK for swimming but is a good way to injure yourself when running and not really necessary at this point. The work periods should leave you breathing hard but not gasping. Do fewer work periods now than you think you can handle but add to them gradually over the coming weeks. It will get plenty difficult soon enough and this way you'll stay out of the doctor's office (which is always a good goal!)

Man, how right you were! Holy CRAP! Ok, I just about had a stroke. Seriously, I ran(sprint) as hard as I could for 100 yards, then jogged back, then TRIED to sprint but couldn't do it cuz my legs were too numb/tired to sprint, so I just jogged at 50% and then walked back and rested for about 45 seconds. After that I tried to sprint again but just couldn't do it, combination of legs being numb and tired and hard to breathe. So I just jogged at 50%, for 100 yards then walked back and repeated that for about 5 more times for a total of 11 minutes. I probally could of kept doing that for about half an hour. Any suggestions, because I don't think right now I can do HIIT until I get into better shape so I might just have to do like 30 minutes of cardio(jogging). PS, I just quit smoking too, so I think over time I will be able to catch my breath a little easier. Thanks for any input.

[CJNY]

This is not unusual. It takes some time to adjust to the intensity but stick with it - there's nothing else that will give you the same results.

Sounds like you went at it too hard. The idea here is progressive overload, just like with lifting. Start out doing something you can handle and get your body used to it. Then slowly add to the difficulty until you are pushing your limits. Later you can change the length or number of the work periods to hit your system from a little different angle.

Most people in your condition can start out with doing intervals one day per week if they are careful about the intensity. You can increase that to two days later if it seems to work for you. People who are doing it for three or more days per week and lifting hard at the same time probably aren't getting everything out of it that they could be.

Congrats on quitting smoking, BTW. That will make things SO much better for you.

Carl

[headhawg7]

Originally Posted by CJNY

This is not unusual. It takes some time to adjust to the intensity but stick with it - there's nothing else that will give you the same results.

Sounds like you went at it too hard. The idea here is progressive overload, just like with lifting. Start out doing something you can handle and get your body used to it. Then slowly add to the difficulty until you are pushing your limits. Later you can change the length or number of the work periods to hit your system from a little different angle.

Most people in your condition can start out with doing intervals one day per week if they are careful about the intensity. You can increase that to two days later if it seems to work for you. People who are doing it for three or more days per week and lifting hard at the same time probably aren't getting everything out of it that they could be.

Congrats on quitting smoking, BTW. That will make things SO much better for you.

Carl

Thanks Carl, I am ready to get serious about my health and since I'm only 27 I should be able to live a long healthy life and can't wait until I don't crave smokes anymore. So what I suggested earlier about jog 50% then walk and keep repeating for 20 minutes on my cardio day would be ok until I get into better shape to start slowly doing the HIIT?

[CJNY]

Go at a pace that leaves you breathing hard but not gasping for breath - a step below an all out effort. Walking between is good for now. For this kind of workout it's best to start jogging/running again before you are completely recovered (that is, mostly recovered but not completely) from the last work interval. You are training your body to tolerate the burning in the muscles as well as to recover from it faster.

Usually when planning intervals you trade off intensity and duration. So, an all out sprint for 100 yards might work, but at a somewhat slower pace you go for longer time. Maybe something like 30-60 seconds on and a similar time for recovery.

When I begin intervals after a layoff of some time I usually start out with a 90 second work period. This way you can notch back the speed even further (reducing the chance of injury) but you still go hard enough to make it difficult. I start out with 4 of these, add more over a period of weeks until I am doing 6-8 each workout. Then I think about doing shorter, more intense ones. Find what works for you, though.

[headhawg7]

Originally Posted by CJNY

Go at a pace that leaves you breathing hard but not gasping for breath - a step below an all out effort. Walking between is good for now. For this kind of workout it's best to start jogging/running again before you are completely recovered (that is, mostly recovered but not completely) from the last work interval. You are training your body to tolerate the burning in the muscles as well as to recover from it faster.

Usually when planning intervals you trade off intensity and duration. So, an all out sprint for 100 yards might work, but at a somewhat slower pace you go for longer time. Maybe something like 30-60 seconds on and a similar time for recovery.

When I begin intervals after a layoff of some time I usually start out with a 90 second work period. This way you can notch back the speed even further (reducing the chance of injury) but you still go hard enough to make it difficult. I start out with 4 of these, add more over a period of weeks until I am doing 6-8 each workout. Then I think about doing shorter, more intense ones. Find what works for you, though.

I think I got it. So for the first 2 weeks 10 minutes should be ok. After that I will try and push myself to 20 minutes and after that I will go 10 minutes really hard and after that go 20 minutes of full out HIIT. That should do it, I think. Thanks Carl