oxologic

I'm not being a masochist here. However, I find that high intensity workouts are great, I seem to recover better or something. I kinda like the burn in my legs, whether is it running or cycling, though very seldom do I feel any burn especially during running. What do you guys think work best for you, whether is it the benefits, pleasure whatever?

joeprim

I usually start low and work to high.
Joe

dumpstervegan

Oxologic,

I'm totally the same. I'll stretch for about 10 minutes before a ride or spinning. If I'm riding I'll get my heart rate up by sprinting and then I'll settle into a quick cadence (I ride a fixed gear at a 52/16 so I'm going fairly fast).

If I'm in spinning then I crank it out as fast as I can possibly go until my legs are burning and I physically can't keep going. Spinning is really nice because then you have a coach/instructor sitting there telling you when to do jumps, 4up/4downs, power intervals, or whatever and it builds your legs so much. I try to sprint as much as I possibly can when I'm in spinning class (without throwing up though).

Anyway, you are not alone. Some of us live for the terrible, gut-wrenching burn that comes with the high-intensity workout. Plus how am I supposed to win the TdF if I'm not pushing myself all the time? Hah!

ngateguy

I break my workouts on the bike into two. In the morning it is a warm up so I don't push it I get to work refreshed and ready to go. At night I do high intensity I sprint as much as possible (Sprint for 10 blocks rest for 2 sprint etc.)I need the hight intensity work out after work to get the stress and all the excess energy I have out of my system. Beside there is nothing like a little adrenalin endorphin cocktail for happy hour

Maelstrom 

Short and fast. I loved walking into a gym and hauling ass for 30-45 minutes and crawling out. I carry that attitude biking too. I sometimes try for low intensity workouts but always end up dissatisfied.

bradw

When I was a teen I worked out on my own. I lifted weights at a moderate intensity 3 times a week and ran 2 to 5 miles 3 times a week.

When ever I went out for a sport (track or wrestling) I started the season out in better shape than many. But after a few weeks of interval type training, I couldn't sleep, I was chronically fatigued and I was slower and weaker. And my back, shoulders, etc were hurting. My performance was in constant decline. Then when the season was over, I went back to my methods and began feeling better.

While I like going faster, it doesn't go well with my health if I exercise at more than a moderate intensity. I've quit worrying about performance and instead concentrate on general well-being.

Guest

I mainly do moderate intensity, but I think if I had a better bike, I would definitely do high intensity intervals more often. I love to go fast, but my bike is limited in how fast I can go.

I will probably get a new road bike in the fall and test this theory of mine out.


Koffee

nathank

YES!

well, i personally LOVE high intensity... and for example in racing, my biggest challenge is NOT going to fast at the beginning so i don't burn out.

i love climbing! and i love intervals and sprinting... give me a hill and someone to catch and i'm gonna crank myself to death -- for example: weekend before last i spent 3 days in the Dolomites (oh, super trails and so beautiful!) and one one big ashpalt climb (to get to some super downhill trails!) of about 800 meters vertical at around 8-10% i left my 2 buddies and was cranking ahead already pushing pretty hard and a group of 3 italian roadies caught up to me and i tucked in with them for the last 300m or so (they were on light-weight road bikes with only waterbottles and i was on a full-suspension MTB with 2.2" tires and a 14lb backpack) - and i was pushing so hard AND loving it! note: after about 10 minutes the guys looked back and were "annoyed" a mountain biker was with them and the front 2 attached and were gone but i stayed on the 3rd roadie who didn't go with the push. i was satisfied! (i had also already been on the bike for about 4 hours and was on my 2nd big climb)

but of course you need enough recovery - that was the other big thing i have learned in the last 6-10 years of cycling --- how/when i need recovery so i can continue making gains and not be overtrained.

ride hard, train hard AND rest and recovery appropriately --- i.e. after a big interval session don't do it again the next day -- that's not being tought and hard-core, it's just dumb.

Guest

Nathank, that sure sounds like fun. When I get my new, lightweight, super fast road bike, I will come for a visit and you can introduce me to your kind of riding- but don't be surprised if you look back and all you see is a dot in the far distance!!!!

Koffee

oxologic

Definitely not high intensity all the time, I have learnt my lesson ever since I got my heart rate monitor. That day when I got it, I tried it out and it was in the 90s while sitting down. I guess I was overtrained, luckily I knew something about it. I went on with low intensity for about 3 to 4 months and the ambient HR is in the high 60s. Now, while standing gives me a low 70s and my resting HR is 50. There's lots of room for improvement especially the anaerobic side since there was almost no anaerobic training for 3 - 4 months.

However, I do notice that even though after high-intensity workouts, my resting heart rate rises only a little when I go to sleep at night, thus I think that I recover rather well with high-intensity. Low-intensity doesn't really affect my resting heart rate though.

Guest

Low-intensity does affect your resting heart rate in the sense that if you do more of them over a longer period of time in your base training, you will see that resting heart rate go even lower, as you observed.

I think you're saying that low-intensity workouts don't affect your resting heart rate, because when you go to sleep at night, your resting heart rate doesn't spike upwards like it does when you do a high-intensity workout. Is that it?

Koff

SamDaBikinMan

Just do not forget to recover. I like high intensity training and have to really discipline myself to recover properly between hard effort days.

I love to push just up to the point of a burn then back off just enough to prevent muscle shutdown and keep on pushing.

juciluci

i just bought a hrm, and the settings for a workout listed high and low heart rate.. i looked at it and shrugged.. entered in 200 for both!
i guess that puts me in the high intensity catagory

Guest

Don't do it!

Do a search under my name and find that 2 X 20 Anaerobic Threshold Test I have posted here several times.

You could end up overdoing it or underdoing it if you are just picking arbitrary numbers out of the sky to work with. The test is easy, takes an hour, and you will at least be accurate (I think within 2- 3% of your true numbers from when I've performed the test and then actually had my heart rate tested professionally).

It wouldn't hurt to do the test- what do you have to lose?

Koffee

oxologic

What I meant was that low-intensity workouts does not increase my resting heart rate when I measure it, but it does return my resting heart rate to the normal values. That is in the short run, but in the long run, it definitely brings my resting heart rate down.

Anyway, I'm so totally not used to such low resting heart rates, very slow at times that it scares me a little. Wonder how is it like to have a resting heart rate of the low 30s. That would be like : Huh? Did my heart stop pumping? Oh, there it is again.

Guest

A guy I knew was in the hospital- he got hit by a car. He was resting comfortably in the bed and had dozed off, and when he woke up, there were nurses around him. They were alarmed because they were checking his heart rate, and it was in the 30s. He just explained to them that he did a lot of cycling all the time. They were shocked- they'd never seen anyone that fit in their hospital before!

If I ever get my heart rate to the 30s, I'll celebrate with a full night of salsa dancing in the tightest, shortest, most revealing dress I can get my hands on, seeing as though I will be in such great shape!

oxologic

How much is a lot of cycling? I sure want to be real fit, maybe to scare nurses! HAHA.

Guest

Well, he is an older guy and he's been cycling most of his life- probably like 30 years religiously.

You'll be there in no time! Give it 30 years of patiently riding....

gonesh9

I just don't feel right until it's an intense workout, even when I'm just playing around. I like the feeling of using all my energy, and especially like seeing the results in my legs.

fietser_ivana

Koffee, a low HR can also indicate a slow metabolism..
My morning RR usually was/is 40 when I'm OUT of shape and like 32bpm when IN shape. I had an ECG taken though when it plunged to 29 bpm once upon having been vaccinated..

So, SOME people DO have low RRs..

As a matter of fact, I WAS in a Swedish hospital overnight for observation after some concrete blocks crossed the street and I somersaulted and got knocked unconscious for 30 mins. Nurses checked my HR every hour or so and it was continuously around 32-33 bpm!

Ivana

Guest

I haven't heard of that- low resting heart rates are healthy....

From the amount of exercise you do, I really think your low resting heart rate is a result of a healthy lifestyle, not a slow metabolism..

From the looks of it, even when you are "out of shape", you still have a low resting heart rate, which is good.

Ivana, sometimes I really think you overexaggerate when you say you're out of shape! I wish I had your out of shape problems!

There are several factors that influence resting heart rate- keep in mind, a higher resting heart rate means there is more load (stress) being placed on the body. Lower resting heart rates means less load is placed on the heart. You don't have to be super skinny or light as a feather to have a lower heart rate. I've seen people classified as "fat but fit" with lower resting heart rates than their thinner, lighter, less active counterparts. So it's not necessarily that they have a lower metabolism because they have a lower resting heart rate- it is probably that they are active, but are still heavier than their counterparts, but the amount of physical activity they do gives them a lower resting heart rate.

roadbuzz

I'm with nathank! There's nothing like a super high-intensity workout, like a fast group ride, or chasing someone on a climb. I love it... the burn, the exhilaration (sp?), exceeding my limits! I really have some trouble allowing myself sufficient recovery time.

My resting HR is mid 30s, but it's mostly a genetic thing. Mine has always been low, it just got scary-slow from all the cycling. And it's not like it stops between each beat. Each heartbeat lasts a long time, maybe a second. Each half-beat is pretty pronounced, with a pause in between. What's weird is in the evening after a long hard ride, like a century. It beats slow, but it beats hard. Buh-boom! Buh-boom! My wife says it keeps her up.

fietser_ivana

Indeed roadbuzz.. when I was doing a very hard trip 2 years ago that lasted 2 months (4000 K with 100mtn passes) I couldn't sleep for TWO freaking weeks and finally started drinking alcohol just in order to sleep.
When you are guerilla camping like I do and put in ear plugs to not hear strange sounds, it gets worse as the sound resonates in the ears.

Also, when I did the brevets last month, both the 300K and the 600K saw me sleepless after the ride.. despite being extremely tired!

Eh, Koffee Brown.. I've gone down from 85 kg and 38% BF to 65 kg and 27-28% BF in 16 months.. must say that my usual summer-winter weight was 72-80 kg for the past 7 years since I took up cycling. (I'm 1,58 m tall, so that's a LOT for a woman!) Before it crept up from 63 at age 21 to 72 at age 22 and up and up and up to 85 in 1994 and down again to 72 in 1996 when I took up cycling..

I may have a decent cardio-vascular condition, but BF is still outta control!

Do you still want to be as fit as me ?

Ivana

Guest

Yep!

bradw

I think this gets at the "heart" of why I don't/can't exercise at a high intensity.

My best resting heart rate runs around 70 bpm.
My pulse can be 90-100 bpm more than two hours after a moderately intense ride. I recall it being that high about 4 hours after a windy 50-miler at a pace everyone would laugh at. Usually I can't sleep well or at all the night after big effort. It may take me a week before I feel 100%. During that week I'm just cruising or taking the day off.

I did manage to win a couple training criteriums and finish 2nd overall in a training series (citizen's class) when I was in my early 30's. The constant acclerations of racing just wasted me. Plus I blew out my right leg for a couple years.

But now I'm concentrating on a "touring" approach to cycling. Pedalling along at 12-15mph for a few hours keeps my blood pressure and pulse down and I have relatively few physical problems.