Redbullet

Just for curiosity: does anybody have an idea about how much the blood pressure increases during high intensity intervals training on road bike? Let's say - for an amateur with average training, some 3 x 70km rides per week.

jadocs

Everyone is different but this is what the range is for a stress test.

https://www.nature.com/articles/hr20...e%20the%20test.

rubiksoval

I dunno, but mine was in the mid to high 170s during a treadmill stress test.

Iride01 

I can only think that if you have to ask, then you should be asking your healthcare provider if you are physically okay to do HIIT or HIT.

MoAlpha

FWIW, trained athletes produce a bigger BP bump with exercise than the general population.

Redbullet

No, it was just curiosity and, due to practical reasons, I'll never be able to measure my blood pressure while riding.
But with regards to healthcare provider, I think no one would advise HIIT, even for people below 30 years of age. There is some kind of disclaimer here: they will avoid being accused for bad advice, even if the risk would be 1/10000 persons and many of the remaining 9999 would have some benefits from HIIT.

MoAlpha

The risk of anything bad occurring at the result of HIIT in a healthy person without known cardiovascular disease is negligible—far, far, below 1/10,000 individuals—and there is no basis for believing the risk is any higher than that of longer duration intervals performed at high intensity.

Redbullet

Maybe, I don't know, but still... I think doctors would never recommend. Not necessarily that they are always right, but many times over - cautious. That means "disclaimer". And at this point, there is an issue: mentally, you will be trapped in a risk zone, no matter what. Because it's normal that doctor's advise has high authority. On the other hand, sure, in certain situations, HIIT should be avoided.

Marylander

My expectation would be that it's lower doing HIIT than doing something like a max squat or deadlift. I haven't had a cardiologist recommend against high end intervals but I have had them tell me no more powerlifting (I have an aneurysm so really high blood pressure is a no no).

mcours2006

If you're really wanting to know you could always get yourself one of them portable BP monitors and then go out and perform some HIIT. Report back. I'm curious too.

MoAlpha

All the same risks apply to straining at stool. Sex can be deadly too.

Marylander

It's my understanding that the issue in the bathroom is more likely to be related to the vasovagal reflex, which causes blood pressure to get really low. I'm no medical doctor though... I've not heard of sex being an issue, in a blood pressure sense.

MoAlpha

It’s the Valsalva maneuver. BP gets high, then low, then high, with differential effects on the left and right sides of the heart, and a bunch of bad stuff can happen. Cerebral aneurysms are famous for popping during sex. No doctor would recommend such activities.

Marylander

Phew, I'm glad I don't have a cerebral aneurysm.

aplcr0331

Heres a few studies.

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/53/14/859

This study states that “Our findings confirm modest but consistent reductions in SBP in many studied exercise interventions across all populations but individuals receiving medications generally achieved greater reductions than those following structured exercise regimens”

Reading through the design on these and they’re not doing HIT. It’s more endurance exercise.

Looks like BP does not rise at the same rate as HR during exercise.

In this study on obese athletes;

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/...0.2012.00145.x

They found that; “However, there is no consensus on how the intensity of exercise affects blood pressure and heart rate variability (HRV)”

Most conclude that there needs to be more studies on the link between the two.

HIT is defined in cycling as short bouts of high intensity exercise ranging from 5 seconds to 8 minutes with rest intervals. So sprints and VO2 Max work.

Most coaches, exercise physiologists who focus on cycling say you shouldn’t do more than 2 HIT workouts per week. Maybe 3 if you’re young an already in shape.

You doing that type of stuff on your 44 mile rides?

Iride01 

I can understand the curiosity, but it's not something that but a few ever know. Unlikely to be anything that will be useful for a performance metric, other than hey you might be about to have a dramatic end to your current ride. <grin>

As for your concerns about healthcare providers withholding info for liability risk, Yeaaaah, maybe kinda sort of. I've experienced some of that, but I think it's just more outside their area of expertise and they've never had to think about it because they themselves don't do HIT or HIIT much less even ride a bike.

When I finally got a real honest to goodness Cardiologist, they had no reservations discussing doing activities at a high level to max HR to exhaustion. And for me, I was told I was in decent enough cardiovascular shape to run my HR as high as I want for as long as I can or care to.

It was a very different experience from my previous doctors of other specialties that just hem-hawed and replied with a non-answer. I've even since seen another cardiologist and he told me pretty much the same as the first. Do what I want and don't worry. Though since this was a post COVID checkup for my heart, he did say it probably was a good idea not to go all out the first couple rides.

However as to what your blood pressure gets to I don't really remember ever seeing a discussion of that in exercise related topics.

MoAlpha

It is relevant on one respect: A BP drop during cardiac stress testing is a truly malignant sign of coronary artery disease. Anyone who experiences faintness during (not after!) intense exercise should get it checked out pronto.

datlas 

I suspect OP might be confusing high BP at rest (which is no bueno) and high BP with exercise, which is physiological and healthy.

Worry more about your resting BP. Current guidelines (which imo may be too strict for many of us) advise 120 or less upstairs, 80 or less downstairs.

Redbullet

Well, I didn't make confusion, but I remembered that many years ago - I was around 15-16 y.o. and practicing competition cycling with a club - I had a compulsory routine test. That included something that I now understand it was some kind of "stress test". Having a number of sensors on my body, they somehow made me feel my heart and pulse pumping as hard as I never felt before, although I felt I still had some 25% reserve to go harder on their medicine bike. At one moment, I heard the assistants talking about 220, which I assumed it was BP and that really scared me - I knew people dying for 180... But at the end, they simply sent me home with no prescription, so I said that 220 I heard was something totally different from BP. But now, seeing one chart in this thread and hearing about "stress test", I think it really was BP...

MoAlpha

BP during exercise is not a measure anyone would use to screen healthy athletes. I suspect you had an electrocardiogram and the numbers were heart rate, but even if it was BP, a peak systolic pressure of 220 wouldn't be anything to worry about in a 16 yo athlete on an ergometer.

ZHVelo

Why? They have that equipment that just goes around your arm so on a trainer you could do it alone but for sure with help.

aplcr0331

Highly doubtful a 16 year old cyclist would get their BP up to 220 when they were only cycling at 75% capacity. You certainly wouldn't have 220 as your HR when only riding at 75%.

I mean if I ride at 75% I don't even get to my LTHR. 75% of my max HR and 75% of max power would be around mid Tempo or Sweet Spot.

I'm guessing you get nowhere close to "HIT" on your 3 rides a week.

Do you have a HR monitor or a power meter?

colnago62

Yes, this is true. Something else to consider is high blood pressure is only dangerous if it lasts for long periods of time, like months, weeks. Being high for the amount of time an interval takes isn’t dangerous.

Redbullet

Well, it was a long time ago, it doesn't matter now. Maybe they had a method to artificially increase cardio workload for reaching a target, as I clearly remember heart beats abnormally fast and strong compared with perceived effort, which was well below maximum.
No power meter now - much too expensive for the the value it adds, I'm not a pro. Just Garmin HR meter - that's fairly accessible.

deacon mark

I have had HBP since I was teenager and taken medication since them. No cause know lots of test as a kid at age 14. Now at 59 and 42 years of running and cycling I still have it. I had a stress test about 4 years ago as had an ekg show a right branch bundle blockage that had never shown before. Those can be normal of endurance athletes but since mine was different they sent me to the cardiologist for complete work up. The follow up ekg by cardiologist was normal again.

I was so nervous because I thought they were going to tell me to stop everything and I ran 4-9 miles daily. My blood pressure shot up to 190/90 before I even got on the treadmill and I was shaking. They finally called the doctor in and he knew me so he said to let me get up to 250/100 then stop it if got that high. I have terrible white coat syndrome and always have I get nervous when they start pumping the cuff up. Well I get going on the treadmill and I got about 8 minutes into the test and my heart rate went to 148. That was what they wanted to see what happened to my heart at 90% of maximum. Well my blood pressure went to 245-95.

The whole deal was for me a nerve racking issue. In the end they did not find any abnormal and said I could keep on doing what I wanted. The nursing or tech mentioned that even though they stopped the test I was not in any distress or even seemed to be working more than moderately hard. She put that in the report.. I don't what it all means but I do still take my blood pressure meds and monitor it. Stress and anxiety for me I think are way more problematic that cycling and running. I don't what it means but my resting pulse is in the low 40's and I do not take a beta blocker. I take a calcium channel blocker so that does not slow the heart rate.