You're my hero. Hahaha. I just started throwing in HIIT on the treadmill these last couple weeks and I can barely hold my sprints at 9.0mph for 30 seconds...I feel like my legs won't ever go much faster than that! And then forcing myself to only take one minute recovery is the other challenge, haha.

I never see anyone else doing HIIT either. People look at me like I'm crazy. LOL. It's brutal, but it's a great way to mix it up. I do circuit training for my resistance exercise which has a lot of high intensity cardio intervals in it and then once a week I throw in the treadmill sprints to break up my ss runs. The one thing I love about the sprints is that it's not even remotely boring ever...sometimes during ss my head is just not into running for 30+ minutes.

Right now I do all my intervals on the treadmill. I alternate between 1 min 15 sec sprinting and 45 sec recovery. The extra 15 sec on the sprint is to give the treadmill time to get up to speed so that I'm sprinting for a full minute. My recovery pace is 4 mph, which is a brisk walk for me. For the intervals, I start at around 8 mph and then increase the speed of each sprint until I'm going as fast as I can. I complete 8 to 10 sprints, depending on how much time I have and how good I feel. Last time I got up to 10 mph. I try to run intervals three times a week but I have an ongoing knee problem and if it is bothering me then I can't run.

I need to figure out an interval routine on the elliptical so that I can still do some intervals on the days that I can't run, but I'm really intimidated by the idea. I do steady state cardio on the elliptical but I just dread the idea of doing intervals on it. It just seems so hard to keep up the pace.

My trainer sometimes has his clients run intervals (he's the one that first introduced me to it). He teaches a class on Thursdays; if the class is unusually small and the gym is unusually empty, he'll have us all run intervals for 5 min or so. But other than that, I never see any one else running intervals. There are some people that put in a good run and occasionally I'll see some guy get on the treadmill and run all out as fast as he can for a couple of minutes then quit (once I saw a guy do this in heavy workboots ) but no one seems to do intervals.

It took me six months to figure out that I could do this with the treadmills at my gym!

Wow! That is really cool! I wish the treadmills at my gym had that too! Then again, maybe they do and I just haven't figured it out yet.

Interesting. I see quite a few people doing it at my gym. I usually notice it when they are on the treadmill because of the sound of the treadmill revving, but I do notice people next to me on ellipticals doing it also. Because of my weight and knees, I do not do it on the treadmill. I use the elliptical or the step mill. The step mill KILLS me - if I kick it up to level 10-15 for 30 seconds I'm feeling like I am most certainly going to die and meet my Maker in 2 more seconds!

My trainer had me do intervals on the stepmill once and I was absolutely certain I was going to die--and it was only like 3 intervals. I haven't been able to motivate myself to try again. I think about and then I think, nah, I'll just do the treadmill.

I use the elliptical and the treadmill for intervals. I like doing them more on the elliptical because my back and knees hurt if I do HIIT more than once a week on a treadmill.

I have a lot of different interval programs that I use for myself and clients with the treadmill. Most are combinations of incline work and speed. I have affectionately called "Bust-a-Lung" during which you steadily increase speed and incline until it feels like you are running up a cliff, then back it to level and start again with 2 minutes of treadmill lunges.

Bust-A-Lung

Treadmill

Warm Up- 10 Min on recumbent bike or elliptical, moderate pace.

Set the treadmill at a 2% incline at a speed of 3.6+ and walk for two minutes. Back the speed down to 2.0 or less and lunge on the treadmill for one minute. Immediately up the speed to 6.0+ and run for two minutes. At the conclusion of the run up the incline by 2-3% and repeat the cycle adjusting the speeds for each section the same.

Interval Time
Adjust Incline to 2%
Walk 0-2
Lunge 2-3
Run 3-5
Adjust Incline to 5%
Walk 5-7
Lunge 7-8
Run 8-10
Adjust Incline to 8%
Walk 10-12
Lunge 12-13
Run 13-15
Adjust Incline to 10%
Walk 15-17
Lunge 17-18
Run 18-20
Adjust Incline to 12%
Walk 20-22
Lunge 22-23
Run 23-25
Adjust Incline to 0%
Cool Down- Walking cool down at 3.6 speed for 10 minutes, 0% incline.


Have fun!

Mel

I'm starting to think Mel has a lot in common with Jillian.....

Speaking of which, a few of us were chatting on the show thread, about how Jillian makes them do an all out sprint on treadmill setting speed of 14 for 30 seconds (who knows, that's my guess, but maybe we only see the end and it's really a full minute) and then jump off to the rails (they may jump on too to start, not sure). We were all thinking that was asking for a suicidal face plant to make someone run that hard, but what do you trainers think about that jump on/jump off technique. Is it less dangerous than it looks?

Not a trainer, obviously. But, quite a few people who do HITT at my gym do the "jump off" technique. I've never seen them jump back on though. They just start to run at a normal speed and then up the speed manually till they appear to be running for their lives.

In the Ballantyne HIIT video, he says to do the hight interval for 45 secs or so then back down to a 3.5mph walk but he doesn't say how long to stay at the walking pace. Anyone have an answer? One min, two min? Thanks.

Stay at a walk until you are breathing more or less normally again. It depends on your fitness level. 1-2 minutes is fine.

Jumping onto the rails is safe if you are used to it. start at a jog to practice. I have one interval program where after a sprint, you jump into the rails, then off the treadmill and do one minute of pop squats, then get back on at a walk. Don't get back on at a full sprint!

Mel

Hey thanks. I just did an HIIT on the TM the way Ballantyne suggested (vs. my abstract, sporadic, not bringing it down enough in the walking part) version. Did the 6 rounds, 45 secs starting at 7.0 up to 7.5, 1 min at 3.5mph betwn each. Of course, had to add two 20 sec HIIs at 8.2 - - just because why would I ever follow the rules completely? With a 3 min w.up and a 2 min or so c.down, done in 20 mins. Will have to incorporate this true HIIT - increasing the speed and playing w/the incline as well - more than what I've been doing.

Jumping off and on the rails? Truth be told, I hold onto the rails on anything above 6.5 mph for total and complete fear of doing a waaa-thump right into the shelving that's in back of my TM. Seriously concerned that I will trip on my feet and go flying. Maybe someday I'll be brave enough -- but for now, I'll play it safe.

Ooh, don't hold on! I'm sure that has to be worse and more dangerous than balancing yourself. I always get nervous when I see people clinging to the bar.

I haven't tried the jumping off thing. When I have 5 seconds left in my interval, I key in my walking speed and hit enter and then decelerate with the treadmill. I figure that some essential muscles are being trained by the deceleration part. But, I will try the jump-off if I have to use one of the treadmills where frantically hitting the down arrow key is the only way to reduce speed.

B2B -- you're two inches taller than me and you got to 10mph? HOLY COW!!!! That is impressive! How long were you doing HIIT b/4 you could do this? Ooooo, I'm gonna start working on my HIIT stuff waaay more seriously. At 7.3mph I feel like I'm a fiendish little gerbil and all but I'm not at lung pain intensity.

Hat, I am so trying to figure out how you run at a fast clip w/o using your arms!!!!!!! Reminds me of one of the SNL (or was it Seinfeld) skits where they had the person who didn't move his arms when he walked. Yeah, I think Elaine dated him!

Oh, and on the biggest loser (the show we're talking about), the make the girl sprint at 14 before letting her jump off. I believe she is only 5-3!

14??? I'm 5'2" and a smidge and have never made it past 11 and my legs couldn't go any faster!

I think there is a confusion about what the rails are, hattrick. We are talking about the solid, not moving part of the treadmill on either side of the moving belt- not the handrails!

Mel