High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Boredom is one of the most common reasons people hate cardio, particularly in a gym environment. Plodding along on a treadmill/bike/crosstrainer for 45 minutes is not only mind numbingly boring but is also extremely inefficient. This type of exercise will ,of course, burn calories and help reduce body fat but when your long distance cardio ends , so does its effects. So what is the answer to this? Resistance training, partly yes. If your target is to burn body fat then resistance training is one of the best solutions, but what if you also want to increase your cardio vascular fitness, i.e. that of your heart and lungs? Interval training is a simple but effective way of both improving your cardiovascular fitness and reducing BF%. While it is predominantly cardio based, the intensity levels (if performed correctly) should far out do that of traditional steady state cardio. A simple interval based training session for a beginner would be 1 minute at a fast pace followed by 2 minutes at a slower pace. Both the working period (the faster pace) and the resting period (the slower pace) can be varied to take account of your fitness levels. The most obvious way to increase the intensity would be to increase the working period, however an increase in intensity can also be achieved by decreasing the rest periods. Try it and mess with the variables until you find a time split which is challenging for you. HIIT (high intensity interval training) is one step further. This is still interval training, however, your work rate is maximum effort followed by much shorter rest periods, only long enough to allow you to rest sufficiently so that you can perform to your maximum capacity during the next working period. This form of training should only ideally be performed twice per week to allow adequate rest. One form of HIIT, and perhaps the most recognised is Tabata training. This is 20 seconds of maximum effort followed by 10 seconds doing absolutely nothing. This should be performed in 8 sets, a total of 4 minutes. Studies by the ACSM (American college of sports medicine) have shown that HIIT reduces body fat, increases cardio vascular fitness and importantly, helps with the retention of lean body mass. These studies have also shown that the metabolic effect lasts far longer than traditional cardio. HIIT training is not a replacement for resistance training as resistance training offers other benefits, but should be included as part of an overall training program, to work alongside your resistance training. The best question i can think of to demonstrate the outcomes for this type of training versus traditional steady state cardio is which runner would you rather be built like, Mo Farah or Usain Bolt? The long distance runner or the sprinter, i know my answer.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 19:54:39 +0000
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