5:2 and HIIT on an eliptical cross trainer.

This topic contains 6 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by fatrabbit 7 years, 7 months ago.

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

Notascoobie

3:41 pm
8 Feb 14
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Hello everyone

I’m new on these forums, but have read both the FAST DIET and FAST EXERCISE books.
I am not long started on the 5:2 method of eating, but not using the 600cal allowance on FAST days – I find if I do use it, it tends to make me feel more hungry than if I don’t,(Anyone else experience this?) so I am managing on 2 or 3 cups of coffee and seems to work fine. I am also trying to do HIIT on my Nordic Track cross trainer and wondered if anyone else had tried this? My current method is a 3 min warm up building the resistance up to level 13, then 10 mins of 30 sec flat out/30sec easy, and 3 min cool down. So 5 mins hard going out of 16 mins total. HR is peaking at 183bpm. I am doing this 3 times a week. I am mildly concerned about how high my HR gets as I am a 53 year old male, and all the calculators seem to say my max should be around 165-168bpm – should I be concerned?

Best regards
Notascoobie.

JC

1:10 pm
9 Feb 14
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Hi Notascoobie,

Personally I dont find it does that too me, but thats the beauty of the human body, everyone is different. So if you’ve found that you cant go that long without the food, then great! Just workout on the days you’re not fasting on.

And the crosstrainer is fine for doing your HIIT on! I’m not surprised your heart rate is getting up there, you’ve chosen to do a pretty tough level of HIIT with the 30sec/30sec. How new are you to exercise as a whole? There’s not really a reason why it should be concerning if you’re fit and healthy, but if you’re starting out you may want to do as the book say and keep it a shorter amount of time sprinting till your body starts responding. Has your doctor advised that there’s any reason you cant exercise? If so I wouldn’t advise sprinting for that long. Can put your heart under serve pressure. But if not then keep on at it, or if its getting your heart going too much, have a longer rest in between sets.

Notascoobie

3:37 pm
9 Feb 14
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Thanks for the reply JC.
I’m not totally new to exercise, and I guess I’m reasonably fit for my age – I was training to run a marathon last year, but didn’t manage to do it due to injury, furthest run was about 20 miles. However the running is over for me now thankfully!
Re the heart rate thing – Its not causing me any chest pains or anything, and I really enjoy the effort of the 30/30 sprints. Also my HR drops down to a more reasonable 145bpm by the end of my 3 min cool down, so perhaps I’m worrying needlessly.

JC

3:12 pm
16 Feb 14
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Notascoobie, short sprints and recovery is safer than pounding out mile after mile for the heart. But without knowing and training you personally, I cant really offer too much individual advise. However, I find a nice general approach is just to listen to your body. If at the end of the week you’re struggling with what you need to do in life, then perhaps lower the intensity for your sessions at the end of the week and allow the time to recover. By the sound of things you seem to be doing well though and its working for you so keep going.

MaryAnn

8:29 am
20 Feb 14
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Hi Notascoobie,

I wonder if you are trusting the heart rate monitor on a machine at the gym. I suspect many of those are WAY off. I’m looking into buying a heart monitor to keep a closer eye on things. If anyone can recommend one, that would be great!

vivski

10:06 am
20 Feb 14
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Mary Ann,

I bought a Mio Alpha HR monitor which is worn on the wrist and does not require a chest strap and which will feed data into the adidas MiCoach app for my smartphone. This is the one app I have found which tells me what my HR was at all times I am out training, and it does not require a subscription to see all of the information I want.

Adidas also make a monitor, the SmartRun, which does not need a chest strap and will sync with their app. It is about twice the cost of a mio, but I think that it displays more information than just heart rate.

I am very happy with the mio, and would recommend it, although if your wrist is smaller than 16 cm the strap will be too big, and you cannot replace it as it is integral with the watch. The strap needs to be fairly tight to get a good contact between your wrist and the sensor, but it is not uncomfortable, even after a couple of hours, and I have forgotten that I was wearing it on one occasion.

The strap is rubbery and has a weird method of fastening, but I am now used to it after a few days and do not find it a problem. I believe the battery will last up to 8 hours between charges in HR mode, a lot longer when it just shows the time, and is supposed to need replacing after about five years.

Viv

Notascoobie

8:40 pm
21 Feb 14
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Hi MaryAnn,

No, the HR monitor I use – and the eliptical for that matter – are both my own. The monitor is a polar device, and uses a chest strap, which I believe gives the most accurate results.

Notascoobie.

fatrabbit

10:27 pm
14 May 17
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