Hi!
I've been working out now for a while, and kind of keeping track of things on my website. Although I find it tough to stick to everything.

Anyways I really quite like the HIIT stuff I'm doing, but I don't know if I'm doing it correctly. I do my cario on a treadmill. It ranges from speeds of 0.5 miles/hour up to 7 miles/hour which I find a little slowish. My usual HIIT routine goes like this:

Warm up with a light joggy walk at about 2.5 - 3 miles/hour for 5 min.
Then up it to 3.5 for 1 min
up to 4.5 for 1 min
down to 3.5 for 1 min
up to 5 for 1 min
down to 3.5 for 1 min
up to 5.5 for 1 min
down to 3.5 for 1 min
up to 6 for 1 min
down to 3.5 for 1 min
up to 6.5 for 1 min
down to 3.5 for 1 min
up to 7 for 1 min
down to 3.5 for 1 min
up to 7 for 1 min
down to 3.5 for 1 min
cool down for 3 mins

By the end of the workout I'm usually sweating quite a bit, so it's doing SOMETHING. Is my timing right? I'm wondering if the max speed of the treadmill is a limiting factor, I feel like I can go higher than 7 miles/hour.

Also nutirition. I usually run in the morning first thing. But I'm not sure if I should be eating before hand or not. Sometimes I do sometimes I don't. If I should eat before, what is good to have? I usually have some museli and MAYBE a glass of OJ, is that good or bad?

Any advice would be great, I really want to refine my HIIT and make it a little more effective.

Thanks!

it seems more like interval training then HIIT. for my HIIT (when not using the recumbent bike) is sprinting up a hill for about 20-25 seconds, then jogging down it for about 30. i do that 25x. tomorrow i will do it 30x. you should be dripping in sweat from my experience. the idea is to get up to your max heartrate, or as close as you can manage, for as long you can. much more than 30 minutes would be a health risk, or show you that you're not near your MHR


edit: i eat 25g of protein from egg whites about one hour and 15 minutes before i do- with glutamine. hopefully the protein and glutamine will prevent muscle loss. also, glutamine right afterwards

How can I make it more HIITy then?
I actually do be dripping afterwards. Quite a lot.

you're gonna have a hard time if your treadmill only goes up to 7mph. thats a fact. go outside i suggest

it's all about intensity, 5mph for you may be much easier than 5mph for me...

the best way to monitor whether you're "HIIT"ing correctly is to evaluate your heart rate.

you want your hard intervals (30-90s) to be 80-90% of your max HR... while your cool-down intervals should be ~60% of your max HR...

this site should help determine the right HR numbers for you to target: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calhr.htm

Well yes, I have short-ish legs IMO.
I can run at 7 for a while, but not too long. I could go higher but I doubt I could maintain it.

I just checked and I should be trying to hit 175bpm.
Is my timing right though? Should I be getting up to the real intense stuff sooner and do more of the max intensity intervals?

if its not intense for me i feel i didn't do enough. my daily affirmation is, "leave it all on the floor". i want the rest of the day to be a crescendo to what i did in the morning