I got my bike yesterday and actually just got done doing a ten minute session (just riding, not HIIT). As far as working correctly and not over exerting yourself, how can you tell? My max. heart rate is supposed to be 199 (I used an online calc.) and when I work, I do the six-second multiply by ten thing and it's really high what I am getting to (like 180 and up). When I'm on the bike, my legs are burning (because I haven't been working out in a long time) and my heart is pumping, but I can just keep going - I'm not getting dizzy (I need water to drink, but other than that). Should I tone down the workout and keep my heart levels at about 50 % (i.e., 100 BPM)?

I can do what I am doing, but I don't want to burn myself out, hurt myself, or have a coronary. Since I am a begginer, any tips would be helpful - thanks!

When using any type of cardio equipment, you should start off slow because there is always the chance (a good chance) that you would end up overexerting yourself. I don't use a bike and I do have a treadmill, still, what was mention still applies. When I started off doing my HIIT, I have actually started doing intervals that never exceeded 5 min (10 min will never really produce the best results, if any) but that was how I started off. Once I was used to that amount of time, I added only 2 mins. I continued this cycle until I reached 20 min, and by then I was doing at least 20 min of HIIT every 6 days and the results were quite nice. (you will not lose more than 2 pounds of weight a week or in other words, muscle, if you have a proper basis for your nutritonal needs)

My words of wisdome: Start off slow & low (intensity) :nod:

nibrudt,
I wouldn't drop the heart rate to 100 b/m. That's not really much of a work out. At the lowest, you should set a rate of 120 b/min.