HIIT

[Coffeemonster1]

I gave it a go today. 15 minutes on the treadmill with a 5 min warm up. I sprinted for one minute then jumped off for one minute (which was how long it took for me to breathe enough to sprint again) I felt more out of breath and slightly sick before I felt physically exhausted. So once I'd finished and got my breath back, I didn't feel like I had done enough exercise because it was such a short time. Have I got it wrong. My heart rate was still up and down about an hour after exercising. Is this what it's supposed to do?

You're not doing it right if you aren't peeling yourself off the floor!

Try for longer reps with shorter rest time. Remember that rest doesn't mean stop moving - you have to keep your body in slight motion.

For me, when I do HIIT, my heart rate stays up for a while after I finish so I think that's normal.

Sounds good. You'll benefit more from the session if you can walk in your low intensity periods rather than stopping altogether. As you get fitter you should be able to reduce the length of the rest as well. Nice work!

I'll give that a go then. So shorter rest periods, and slow down to a walk rather than complete stop. I could barely stand up between sprints lol let alone walking. Is it normal to feel breathless and having to stop, before actually feeling sweaty and exhausted. My fitness is really bad, do I need to work on that first before HIIT or will it improve doing this?

Have a read of this coffee, if you aren't at all fit, the I would work on that before doing the HIIT you describe.