HI everyone!
Ive been asking this question with no anwers yet, and wanted to post it again....sorry... Im trying to loose fat, and when I tried HIIT today, it took 4 minutes for my heart rate to get to 135 which is still 70% of my max heart rate. I sprinted for 30 seconds, then it took 4 minutes for my heart rate to get down enough . Although I feel I have recovered enough after 1 minute, my heart rate is still at about 155 after a minute. So what is the right way to do HIIT for maximum fat loss...just do the time, without paying attention to the heart rate or wait for my heart rate to go down and do a ratio of 1:6 or 1:7.

I think you should keep the ratio of 1:2 or so, Even I can't get my heart rate down in that time but if I wait for my heart rate to come down everytime after a fast sprint, it would take me like 40 minutes to finish the session with 8 bouts. So I think you should keep doing it even if your HR doesn't slow down that much, as long as you can give it your all, I guess it doesn't matter.

I'm not all that knowledgeable about doing HIIT using heart rate as the measure... I always just do it by time.

If you feel like you're sufficiently rested after one minute, I would say go for it. I'm not entirely convinced heart rate is a great way to measure it anyway.

Had the same question when I started HIIT. Got a couple of good advices from illiniphase4 and Wrangell. Check this out: http://training.fitness.com/high-int...iit-32899.html

In my opinion, if after a minute of rest your heart rate is still 155, you are not ready for HIIT. I am a follower of Joe Friel who believes that you have to have a minimum base training level before undergoing HIIT. I would recommend a couple of months at steady levels 70 - 85% of your max heart rate before undergoing HIIT. That will prepare your body for the demands of HIIT.

yep, 1:2 is not letting you get your heart rate down to under 70% then you should start with jogging for a few weeks to a couple months to build endurance and cardio-vascular health before starting HIIT.

I agree you must have your functional capacity built up for HIIT, also don't worry so much about your heart rate going down below a certain number. The basis of HIIT is avoiding using certain energy sources, although you will use them no matter what.

If you don't care much about losing a little bit of muscle don't do HIIT