How Would You Go About Doing HIIT On A Recumbent Bike?

[Premo55]

Okay, I'm doing this as a change tomorrow, does anyone do their HIIT on a recumbent bike? I've never used the machine personally, but it looks decent.

Peace.

 

[P-funk]

I do my HIIT cardio on the recumbant bike sometimes.

 

[Premo55]

So, uh, Funkster, how would you go about structuring a program for it? I like 30-60 second sprints at maximal effort interspersed with 60-90 second recovery periods, but I hvae no idea what level I should set the bike at.

Peace.

 

[LAM]

I use it...

what I do is to warm up for 2 minutes on like level 7 then I'll do my HIIT alternating my 30 second intervals from levels 8 to 10 @ 80% and 100% effort...

 

[P-funk]

So, uh, Funkster, how would you go about structuring a program for it? I like 30-60 second sprints at maximal effort interspersed with 60-90 second recovery periods, but I hvae no idea what level I should set the bike at.

Peace.

I usually warm up. Then I will do 40sec rest intervals at level 0 (sow pedaling) followed by a 20sec sprint interval pyramiding up from level 8 (my first few sprints) to level 10 (my last few sprints) and then a cool down.

 

[Premo55]

Um, REALLY stupid question. Do your bikes only go up to 10, or do they go all the way up to 20?

Peace.

 

[P-funk]

The ones at my gym go to 10. Oh yeah, mak sure you have the straps for your feet on the pedals otherwise your feet wil go flying everywhere.

 

[Premo55]

Well looks like I was doing it wrong. Mine go up to 20, I was doing sprints at 13. I tried going up to 15, and it just felt like I was going up a really steep hill. How do you do sprints with that kind of resistance?

Peace.

 

[P-funk]

Well looks like I was doing it wrong. Mine go up to 20, I was doing sprints at 13. I tried going up to 15, and it just felt like I was going up a really hill. How do you do sprints with that kind of resistance?

Peace.

You don't lol!! I guess waite until your legs get strong enough?
I try and increase the resistance every 2 sprints but if I am not getting better than 150 rpms I'll drop down one level to make sure I can go all out and pedal my ass off.

 

[Premo55]

Yeah it was kinda tough considering I never use the bikes, recumbent or stationary, for cardio. Pretty fun, though, I was sweating bucketfuls while the girl sitting beside me was giving me strange looks. I was pedalling so hard the entire machine was moving. Another dumb question. How many calories do you look to burn on the recumbent with a 20 minute session? Seems like I got more mileage out of a rowing workout, maybe I could just push myself harder on that.

Peace.

 

[P-funk]

Clories aren't important during HIIT cardio. What is important is that you effectivly spike your metablosim in order to benefit form Exccess post exercise oxygen consuption. Meaning you will burn the majority of your caloires over then next 24hrs or so. You can do sprints on a rower also. I do them on the elliptical sometimes and sometimes I do them on the treadmill. I wil probably go back to doing them on the treadmill now that my competition is over.

 

[LAM]

Um, REALLY stupid question. Do your bikes only go up to 10, or do they go all the way up to 20?

Peace.

my gym they go up to 20...

 

[aztecwolf]

mine go up to 20, i try to go 45 secs at level 7 at 100 rpm then 15 secs on level 15 at 150 rpm for my intervals. I also usually split up my hiit, i'll do 10-12 minutes on the treadmill then jump on the bike for 10 minutes, is this just as effective as doing it all on one machine at once

 

[nikegurl]

Hi P-funk (and anyone else) - i just started doing cardio. (as in i've done NONE for years). I had planned to just do "conventional" cardio to start with thinking I wouldn't be ready for HIIT my first week.

Then this morning I decided I wanted to play around with it. I have a few questions.

I did 3 minutes at a "not too terribly hard" speed followed by 1 minute "barely able to make it through" speed. (i did it on the treadmill at a 4.5 incline and then on the recumbant bike)

Are these interval times ok?

Can you give me a rough idea of mph on treadmill that I should be reaching for the "not so hard" part and the "panting like crazy" part? I know my speed will be a lot slower than yours since I'm new at it...but just a rough idea?

Same thing with the bike in rpm? For instance on the bike I did 75 rpm for the not so hard part and had to be over 105 for the hard (for me) part. Is that enough to even count as having been HIIT (at 3minute/1minute intervals)

 

[P-funk]

I use 20-30sec for my sprint. If I can last longer than that I incraese the speed (unless I am outside where I uses distance to gauge my intervals).

the rest interval is dependant upon your recovery. Are you using a heart rate monitor to know what you are at? I usually go with 30-60sec rest depending on which interval I am on (1st sprint out of 15 or the 10th sprint out of 15) because I try and see how fast my heart rate is falling.

 

[nikegurl]

i have a long way to go...3 minute "rests" seem way too long now that i've asked.

during the slower times my heart rate was 130-132

near the end of my minute are hard intensity it was up to 158-160


so...as i improve at this should i try to decrease the time of the "rest" intervals?

also is it ok if i keep the level on the bike the same and just change my rpm or do i have to also increase the level?

thanks for the help

 

[P-funk]

Well, the only problem that I see with the bike level staying constant through out is that if the level is to low then you will be pedaling so damn fast on the sprint that there will be no resistance for you. If the level is to high then you wont be able to take it easy on the rest because when you slow down the resistance will be so great you will just be grinding it out.

As you get better you can lower your rest interval as well as do other things like increase the level (speed) or if running increase the incline (resistnace). I like to go with 30sec sprint and 30 sec rest. If both of the variables are set appropriatly (speed and resistance) this is really brutal.

 

[nikegurl]

gotcha. thanks!

in all honesty - 3 minutes lower intensity followed by 1 minute sprint was hard for me. damn hard. would it be reasonable to continue with that for another week or two before reducing the rest time? i forgot the bike level i used today (i think it was 6) and i only got the rpm up to 105 during my "sprints". not very fast at all

is that ok as long as my heart rate was high enough?

 

[P-funk]

yeah, stick with that if it was hard and keep trying to build up. 3min. is a long rest interval. Are you sure it took you that long to get your heart rate to drop 20-30beats?

 

[nikegurl]

actually it dropped a lot faster than that. when you put it that way i'm sure i can reduce the rest interval to 2 min right away. the part that was really bad was how slow i went to get my heart rate up that high! (only 105 rpm)

i'll keep working on it. thanks!

 

[P-funk]

I usually shoot for a resistance where I can get 150-170 rpms.

 

[nikegurl]

i'm such a wuss. i'll see what i can do next time. oh - any idea what kind of rpm you are at during your rest times? thanks again!

 

[P-funk]

for my sprint I put it on the highest level I can and get 150-170 rpms, usually pyramiding up in levels until I am at the hardest level possible for my last 2 or 3 sprints before my cool down.

on my rest I put it to level 0 and pedal about as fast as i need to keep the bike on (LOL) about 50-60rpms.


Why the sudden interest in cardio?

 

[Var]

Hey P! Look at my avi and tell me the file I sent u doesnt work!

Someone needs to take your computer privilages away!

 

[P-funk]

What the hell??? it wont work from here. Maybe because of the way I downloaded it? I gotta get the other picture though, that one is not so good.

ps- F*CK YOU...YOU SUCK

 

[Var]

Yeah...the other pic would be better. Or have PreMier zoom this one. He's better at this shit. Nice work, buddy!

 

[nikegurl]

sudden interest in cardio?

i don't eat crappy stuff if i can say it will negate having dragged my lazy butt out of bed to do something i hate.

 

[P-funk]

gotcha

 

[nikegurl]

it's like magic. suddenly no crappy food is worth it to me anymore. thanks for the help.