HIIT alternatives to sprinting

My gym doesn’t have a track and where I live it’s been iced over and totally frickin’ cold this winter. If I run outside in this weather, it gets me lungs sick right quick. SO…suggestions for a HIIT program without sprints? I love jumping rope, but I’ve been reading on this board A LOT of conflicting recipes on how to incorporate HIIT jump-roping. People seem to vary widely on what the rest intervals should be, so could some folks boil it down simple what the best paramaters for jumping rope should be, or perhaps alternate HIIT activities and times (that don’t require a track or being outside in the ice!)

In “Meltdown Training” the following was recommended: "Perform six “sets” of rope jumping for 60 seconds each set. Rest 180 seconds between sets. "

Also, in “Renegade Rope Training”, Coach D has it set up as “patterns”.
“The rope movement pattern I prefer is broken into fifteen-second splits within the three-minute rounds”

Of course, if you’ve never performed HIIT before (be it with a jump rope, sprints, row machine, etc.), you have to build up your capacity. So, begin with 15-seconds on/15-seconds rest, then you would increased to 30-seconds on/30-seconds rest, etc. I began with 1-minute on/1-minute of rest. NOW, it’s the “boxer rounds” (3-minutes) on/ 1-minute of active rest (shadow box).
It doesn’t matter if you’re using a jump rope, rower, or are sprinting for your HIIT. You have to begin somewhere and most are not able to hit a full 3-minute “round” right away.

Check out a recent post on the Dog Pound by Stubob; there was a great discussion that’ll surely help you out.

Thanks! I’ve done jumping rope before, but trying it at a balls-out “sprint” pace will definitely be different…I’m anticipating lots of rope bruises on the shins from over-enthusiasm.

Elliptical machines, ah! I didn’t think about that, excellent idea and much easier to replicate a sprint with than jump-rope—I love the rope but there is a definite learning curve for high velocities…