How do you set the intensity of the rest interval

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basilic
Posts: 1028
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:05 am
Location: Geneva, Switzerland

by basilic

I was told that for one minute on, one minute off intervals, if you do the "high intensity" period at X watts, the rest period should be at half X, or slighhtly higher. No justification was offered.

Recently I did the rest much lower (at X/3), by mistake, and discovered that I felt fresh as a daisy, could do more intervals than the usual 10, and/or at a higher wattage. So what gives? what is the benefit of a more intense rest period, if that prevents you from doing more or more intense HIIs? What is the downside of lower intensity rest periods?

I don't care all that much about the results, but I'd like to understand the physiology.
Any insight appreciated!

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AJS914
Posts: 5392
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:52 pm

by AJS914

It depends on the goal of the workout.

You could do 30 second all out sprints with 5 minute recovery to build anaerobic capacity. The long recovery allows you go maximal each time.

Or you could do 30 seconds hard / 15 seconds easy as a Billat style VO2max interval. The 15 second rests allow you to do more work than a continuous interval while keeping the HR will elevated for longer.

I always liked this podcast:

https://www.fasttalklabs.com/fast-talk/ ... ian-weber/

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daneferrari
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2023 11:31 am

by daneferrari

AJS914 wrote:
Thu Apr 13, 2023 3:37 pm
It depends on the goal of the workout.

You could do 30 second all out sprints with 5 minute recovery to build anaerobic capacity. The long recovery allows you go maximal each time.

Or you could do 30 seconds hard / 15 seconds easy as a Billat style VO2max interval. The 15 second rests allow you to do more work than a continuous interval while keeping the HR will elevated for longer.

I always liked this podcast:

https://www.fasttalklabs.com/fast-talk/ ... ian-weber/
Hi, I am a beginner and would like to ask this question: should I allocate a certain amount of time per day to training so that my body gets used to it? Or can the hours vary from day to day?

Best regards

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