HIIT (High intensity interval training) Where do I start on the this beautiful beast! HIIT is bursts of high intensity sprints, followed by longer rest periods. Example: 20 second all out sprint, then 4 minutes rest, then repeat 4-5 times. Why do this? HIIT increases lipolytic hormone release (fat burning hormones), increases mitochondria density in muscle (the energy powerhouse in your muscle cells). HIIT can help you get to the lowest body fat % you have ever been, while holding onto that precious muscle. The sprint will cause a hormonal response in your body. Increasing the release of IGF-1, growth hormone and other fat shredding hormones. These hormones are the grand daddy of fat loss. This response significantly boosts your metabolism for the remainder of you day! If none of that makes sense, read this. Your body thinks its being chased by a Lion. Once you escape, your body never wants to be that close to death again, so it needs to make you faster to make sure you outrun the Lion again. To do that, it reduces your fat stores to make you lighter (can go faster) and also promotes muscle development (can go faster), so you won’t get eaten. PURE adaption. Slow pace cardio (continuous running), is a catabolic activity, (break down of tissues). Continuous cardio may help you lose some fat (some people), but also takes muscle along with it too. Remember, muscle is what burns fat. We want as much as we can get. HIIT will retain muscle due to the hormonal response, and SHRED FAT due to the hormonal response. If you don’t care about the evidence, skip this bit (Bit wordy). High intensity interval training has been demonstrated to induce the similar physiological and health related benefits of high volume endurance training, in a significantly shorter period of time (Gillan, 2012). Research that supports this theory involves a study that found two minutes of high intensity interval training equals similar oxygen consumption over a twenty-four hour period to that of thirty minutes of continuous endurance exercise (Hazell, Olver, Hamilton & Lemon, 2012). Subjects trained three times a week for six weeks of either sprint-interval exercise (SIE) or continuous endurance exercise (CEE). The authors quantified VO2 during and after sprint-interval exercise (two minutes) vs. continuous endurance exercise (thirty minutes). VO2 was measured in eight male students, eight times over twenty-four hours under three conditions (SIE, CEE, and control (control=no exercise). VO2 was 150% greater during CEE vs. SIE (Hazell, Olver, Hamilton & Lemon, 2012). There was a small difference between average exercise heart rates with SIE compared with CEE. There was also a small difference in peak heart rates during CEE and SIE. Eight hours post exercise, total oxygen consumption was greater with subjects that executed CEE compared with SIE and control. Twenty-four hours post exercise, both CEE and SIE subjects demonstrates an increase in total oxygen uptake vs control. At this point, there was no difference with total oxygen consumed over a twenty-four hour period between SIE and CEE. Although there were large differences between SIE and CEE in total oxygen uptake during the twenty-four hour period, the oxygen consumption of SIE equaled a similar to CEE at the end of the twenty-four hour period, indicating that metabolism post exercise is higher in SIE than that of CEE, despite SIE subjects only exercising for two minutes vs. CEE subjects that exercised for thirty minutes (Hazell, Olver, Hamilton & Lemon, 2012). If that was still a little confusing, basically, 4 x 30 second sprints equals 30 minutes of continuous exercise. Time to do sprints? Before you do, make sure you’re healthy and fit enough to give it a crack. HIIT pushes your body to the limit, so you need to have a reasonable amount of fitness behind you. Go slow first, then build up. Furthermore, why sand? Sand absorbs your body weight, placing less stress on your joints and increases the demand on of the muscle (100x harder) YEHHH BABY!
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 08:01:59 +0000
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