T Nation

20 min HIIT

#1

im in a not too uncommon position now a days. i have a knee and an ankle that i have blown out snowboarding and playing football respectively (played line in high school and planted my foot with the upside facing down.. 180 degrees back.. no more football :frowning: ).

now i dont mind running and have gotten to be a very good one before, especially when i switched to basketball. however the surface i run on is very important.. wood floors (ala basketball) and grass is no problem. concrete on the other hand is not fun (get pain and swelling after a few times).

now, i live downtown in the city. and since im in university, i cant afford a real gym so i go to my school gym. which is ok (although busy) but since there is no football or soccer field at my school all i have to run on is an indoor track around the gym.. which is concrete. being in the city, its all concrete sidewalks too.

so what are my alternatives for performing HIIT that u guys have found particularly effective. cardio equipment my school has is:

rowing machines
elipticals
step machines (of course)
bikes (not good for HIIT)
tread mills (which are old and have a ridiculously short stride)
and a pool

suggestions?

#2

Get a bike trainer. If you don't don't think you could do HIIT on a bike think again. Go to www.spinervals.com. they sell high intensity interval training that will kick you tail. I recommend #3, sufferama. You can do it indoors with limited space. No need to worry about the weather either.

#3

if you live in a city im sure there are many high school tracks as well as parks etc. that you can run on.

#4

Try alternating between some of your options...row on one day, run on the treadmill on one day, and sprint on the bike on another. It is possible to use the bike for some HIIT work.

#5

Irondoc-

Thanks for the Spinervals link. My stationary bike has been sitting unused for some time. I have been doing more sprints and jump rope work. Do you have some of these tapes?

#6

ah i heard that most bike work was bad cause it was too quad centered. i like the bike too..

and no.. im in a bad area of the city.. the only school around has no track whatsoever (its ghetto) but the closest park is "crack park". no im not gonna run past guys passed out with their dicks hangin out thnx

#7

I have 1 through 7 Kragya and love them. Nothing will get my wind back quicker than those tapes. they're brutal if you push them. When i hit them hard my pulse rate will drop to about 45 at rest after 10=12 workouts.