Tennis as a form of HIIT cardio?

**Luca Brasi** · 21-Jun-04, 01:22 PM

My roomate and I have started playing tennis in the mornings about twice a week. I think tennis is a great way to get your cardio, because it basically involves high-speed sprints followed by short durations of rest.

What do you think? Is tennis a good way to do HIIT cardio?

Tuna Fish · 21-Jun-04, 01:39 PM

Good exercise, yes.

HIIT, not really.

**Luca Brasi** · 21-Jun-04, 02:27 PM

No? I'm not too familiary with HIIT, but I thought it was all about changing your exertion in intervals, going really hard for a few minutes, then soft, then hard again. Am I wrong?

gcs118 · 21-Jun-04, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luca Brasi

No? I'm not too familiary with HIIT, but I thought it was all about changing your exertion in intervals, going really hard for a few minutes, then soft, then hard again. Am I wrong?

You have the right idea, but tennis isn't quite HIIT. I play racquetball and yeah you stop and go and get worn out, but I also ran track where we did HIIT and it's MUCH different. The running HIIT makes you want to kill yourself, whereas racquetball or tennis aren't quite as taxing.

grambo · 21-Jun-04, 05:19 PM

Its not really hiit because although the tempo does vary, it varies too much(from full on, to stop). HIIT possesses no real stops during the workout, simply varying degrees of work effort.

If you're playing every morning, you'll still get the benefits of any form of cardio.

jimmyv · 21-Jun-04, 11:02 PM

We're splitting hairs here, of course, but your heart rate never slows to resting levels while playing tennis or racquetball, so I'd imagine you're getting close to the same benefit.

Either way, who cares? You're getting great cardio benefit doing something you like, and that's hard to beat.