Am I doing HIIT correctly?

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mddolson

mddolson

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I'm 63 year old male, weight 250 lbs, 5 ft 11 in. I had a total knee replacement 15 years ago. This eliminates running & any impact sports. I started back to the gym, this summer, as my weight crept up to 260.
I do half hr cardio work outs on elliptical & arc trainer on Mon-Wed-Fri. Tuesday & Thursday I do 15 minutes on either machine (depending on mood) for warm up, then I do weights.
I dropped the 1st 10 lbs in 5 weeks, & have been stuck there for a month. In the past (10 years ago) I would use HIIT routines to break the plateau.
Now that I'm 63 the the recommended Max HR for me is 160-165 BPM, cardo target 135, & I set my HIIT max HR at 90% of 165 = 150 . I did my HIIT work out on an elliptical last week & tracked it on my fitbit (chart below). I warmed up 10 minutes to HR 135, (speed 5, resistance 10) then I went flat out as fast i could for 30 seconds, speed about 14-15, HR peaked at 150 bpm. Then slowed down to 5 again for about 2 minutes to allow my hearts to slow to 135. Then full speed again for 30 seconds. I am completely winded, & exhausted. I still felt fatigued 2 hrs later.
When I was younger I never worried about my MAX HR, I just kept going. At my current age I'm more respectful of the limits.

So the question is " am I doing HIIT correctly?
View attachment 24850
 
This week's work out, with similar routine.View attachment 24856
 
I was hoping to get some input from HIIT practitioners here. But it seems to be working. I broke my 1 month plateau & lost another 2 lbs. So I'm down 14 lbs & still have 16 to go to my target of 230 lbs.
 
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Hello there.

I see you're using your low-intensity period to let your heart rate drop down to 135, which is being a 2 minute period.

Have you tried reducing your 2 minute down period to say 90 seconds? Or even 60 seconds?
 
I haven't, because I am actually monitoring my heart rate, 2 minutes is what it takes for my heart rate to return to my normal cardio BPM.
Are you saying I don't have to? I am 64 years old (end of March 2018) my concern is that I would, would exceed my max heart rate (160 bpm) for my age. I am hitting 150 bpm now (94% of max).
 
On the upside, my weight is down 25 lbs, since last August. & my resting heart rate is 54, down from 60 bpm.
 
Today's workout, (downloaded from my fitbit) I did 20 minutes steady cardio & then started 20seconds max speed & 60 second recovery cycles.
My heart rate did not drop down to my 135 cardio rate, & it did not exceed 155 either (which was my concern).
 
Weighed in this morning 226 lbs, down 32 lbs. one more = 15 kg, target by March 6
 
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