Does anyone on the BSD do regular High Intensity Interval Training? I am 70 years age and fairly fit and active despite a badly damaged ACL. I had the best results with about 3 to 6 minutes of HIIT daily mixed in with an hour of hill walking and/or Xtrainer aerobic work. Not sure how to ease back into HIIT after a few weeks off it – any suggestions? I used to have a brilliant PT who was sufficiently sadistic to get me moving at 10 km/h uphill for short bursts despite crook knees and obesity. Since retiring recently I simply can’t afford PT sessions.

Hi Kando, my current exercise includes swimming and weights.

In both sessions I try to add in a part of HIIT. For the swims, I normally do a mile of front crawl followed by 5 sprint lengths absolutely flat out (i.e. 5 x 1 slow breast stroke length followed by 1 full tilt front crawl). Also, after my weights sessions, I do a mixture of sprints on either a running, rowing or cycling machine or the horrible leg cycle ones on the TRX.

If you’re out of practice I would suggest just starting off with a couple of minutes, and building up over the course of several weeks.

I would certainly suggest starting off slow and making sure you don’t overdo the resistance and strengthening exercises. I always joke that MM’s Fast Execise got me to my ideal weight. It did but only because I was following the recommended ladder exercises and ended up in Bristol Spinal Unit. I would always get a GP check as well.