New training for the new year- Help w/ HIIT et. al

[stabmaster]

I had given up on weight loss in the middle of december. I've been eating at 250 cal. over maintenence and started a bulking cycle. It didn't take long to decide that I'm not as lean as I had wanted at this point, and I'm willing to give it another go. This time, though, there are some key differences.

The plateau occured months ago. I went keto, went on different types of diets, etc. Bottom line is that I averaged 10xBW per day. This time, I'm starting at 12.5xBW or perhaps more, because even though i'm an endomorph, my maintenence is around 18xBW (not sure if that's wierd, or just a product of my activity level).

This time I'm going with a more structured training protocol in order to make up for those other calories. Hopefully, this change will stimulate fat burning to start up again. The setup will not be extreme- as my body really gets into a funk if it doesn't recover correctly. Simply, I plan 2 days per week of HIIT and 2 per week of a reduced weight training (full body compound type of thing).

I read like 12 of those pages on HIIT. I pretty much have an idea of "what is right" and "what isn't"; however, naturally I have questions- they're easy and original (hopefully). One of the most useful things I took from the sticky is the following:

What I like about doing HIIT cardio on the treadmill is that I can monitor my heart rate and work strictly in my target range(75%-90% MHR.) So instead of doing a high intensity interval once every X amount of minutes, I will do a high intensity interval as soon as my heart rate recovers to 75% of MHR. That means as soon as my heart rate drops down to 161(75% of MHR based on Karvonian method), I jack the incline and speed back up trying to get my heart rate up to 181(90% of MHR based on Karvonian method, 175 would be 90% based on the flat-line method). Since I don't hold on to the heart rate monitor while I'm at the high speed, I don't know how high my heart rate always gets since it's recovering by the time I lower the speed and get a heart rate, but as soon as I see 161(75% MHR would be 146 based on the flat-line method), it's time for another high intensity interval. This also allows me to really monitor my progress. The more high intensity intervals I can do in 20 minutes, the quicker my heart rate is recovering, which is an indicator of cardio-vascular fitness.

I have a heart rate monitor which you can set an upper and lower limit, and you get beeping noises to indicate where you're at. I was hoping to use this with the type of training mentioned in the paragraph above. I know that there are some other general guidelines, like the 1:3 excercise:rest ratio, and the 30-60s excercise to 90-180s "rest."

Here's the rub: I saw a lot of HIIT routines posted with more like 10s:50s and 20s:40s and pyramids and such and such. These don't fall within the guidelines posted.

Unfortunately, I have to pose some general questions that are probably painfully redundant. If someone can help me out with a training protocol using my heart rate monitor, perhaps these questions can be circumvented: what is the overall time of HIIT best for recomposition? what is the number of intervals to be done? In other words, should i go with the 10s:50s or more like 60s:180s? Can i try to do it both ways?

I think what i'll do is try the 20 minute HIIT setting my watch from 75%MHR to 90%MHR. Warm up, sprint to 90% and hang there for a certain count? then slow down and 'rest' until i hit 75%MHR. After the fact, I look at what kind of intervals have surfaced. If the rest period needs to be extended for the 1:3 rule, I will take the 75% set point and lower it to, say, 70%. This is just an example. The point is that I adjust my experimental heart rates to form fit it to the generally accepted 1:3 rule. As for the sprint count- should it be 10 seconds, 30 seconds, or 60 seconds? What's the story here?

Thanks for all and any help.

[NewSc2]

I am no expert in HIIT at all, so I can't answer your specific questions, but from general knowledge of what I've read and what I've found to work for myself - you're taking this HIIT a bit too far.

It's going to help you, yeah, and it's a bit more effective than regular cardio, but how many intervals you do and how long they are aren't going to be the sole reason that you break your plateau.

Personally, I've been losing weight and body fat pretty well by sticking with a 1800 calories per day diet (I weigh 156, down from 197 in August).

When I do cardio, for example on the treadmill, I always aim for a certain mile number and I want to hit that number in the shortest time possible while keeping my HR as high as I can. A couple days ago I ran 3 miles in about 22 minutes, and I was mainly running at about 8 mph, but I had intervals of 4-10 mph in between, when I felt like I could push myself harder and when I felt like I couldn't go any further.

That's worked for me well, as I've dropped from ~20%BF to 12%BF in about 4 months. It's fine if you want to stick to a hardcore regiment, but I'm just trying to make a point that I think you're focusing on the wrong thing right now to lose weight. Run more, eat less, lift weights.

[stabmaster]

Lol. thanks man but structure is all I got. Eating less than I was before will just get me into starvation and storing more fat and muscle (a retardedly slow and painful bulking cycle). I know... I did it for 4 months. If 10x doesn't work, keto doesn't work, 7x + keto doesn't work, UD2.0 doesn't work... it's either not my diet, or i'm going too low. I get into starvation within 48 hours at 10x. In other words, i get the unbearably low leptin levels at 10x and my metabolism haults (and my reproductive system turns off- there's no mistaking what's happening here- my body is in limp mode). eating less is simply not an option- i need to take advantage of any body recomposition stimuli that is not a drug.

BTW I have lost 80 pounds already and i only got 10 or 15 left to be at 10%bf give or take. I consider myself an expert in my own metabolism in all aspects except for breaking about 187 pounds. Went down to 179 from glycogen depleting but that doesn't count. I really don't think the diet thing is my problem-- that is why i'm planning a more rigid training and eat a bit more. I will probably eat at no less than 12x to reach my goal. If i had done that to begin with at my first plateau, i would be at my goal already (provided i don't starve in 48 hrs. at 12x). Hell, 15 pounds in 4 months is less than -500 cal/day deficit- I could have been eating at about 15x or so.

If anyone has a better idea, please let me know. I got a digital food scale and a heart monitor for chirstmas. Hell I gotta measure something besides my weight, cause that aint' chainging at the moment.