Benefits of High Intensity Interval by Deepak S Hiwale Although I am not a big fan of the calorie equation, much of research points towards the difference between calories taken in and calories spent as key to either gaining or losing weight (Dionne, Johnson, White, St-Pierre, & Tremblay, 1997). Raising your metabolic rate – by means of exercise – seems to be aimed towards getting that very equation (‘the calorie equation’) to work for you. However, over the years, health and fitness researchers have reported that exercise increases appetite (especially in women); this can potentially lead to weight gain. If, however, on the other hand, these exercisers are prescribed a high-protein and low-fat diet, they end up losing body fat and packing on lean muscle mass. Although a number of other crucial factors (beyond the scope of this article) are at play as well, the fact remains that proteins contain less calories per gram as compared to fat – which helps in getting the calorie equation right especially if combined with an exercise program to burn most calories, not only during workout but also during the rest of the day. Also, combining exercise with a high-protein, low-carb diet can shift the balance in favor of calories burned and can help with fat loss (Tremblay, Almeras, Boer, Kranenbarg, & Despres, 1994; King & Blundell, 1995). Talking of exercise routines that would burn more calories during and post workout, heres something that you need to look at. EXERCISE INTENSITY Intensity of exercise does seem to make a difference. Strength and conditioning coaches have always known the fact that those who indulge in high intensity interval training (HIIT) are generally leaner than the ones who utilize other modes of training. Research findings support such an idea (Yoshioka et al., 2001). INTERESTING FACTS OF HIIT HIIT seems to not only cause better ‘calorie control’ (Yoshioka et al., 2001) but has a number of other benefits as well; these can be summarized as under: • A study conducted way back in 1994 - directly comparing a low to moderate-intensity weight loss program to HIIT, drew some interesting conclusions. In comparison to a ‘traditional’ 20-week program for weight loss, HIIT was shown to cause significantly more fat loss over a 15-week period. This, in spite of the fact that the traditional weight loss program expended twice the amount of calories per session than each session of HIIT (Tremblay, Simoneau, & Bouchard, 1994). • Increased appetite suppression (as opposed to a low-intensity exercise session burning the same amount of calories) (Imbeault, Saint-Pierre, Almeras, & Tremblay, 1997). • Increased post-exercise energy expenditure and post-exercise oxygen consumption (a measure of metabolic rate) compared to that after a low-intensity exercise session (Sedlock, Fissinger, & Melby, 1989; Bahr & Sejersted, 1991; Bielinski, Schutz, & Jequier, 1985; Phelain, Reinke, Harris, & Melby, 1997). Although, negligible changes are seen after an acute bout of HIIT, long term effects are quite significant (Yoshioka et al., 2001). In addition to increase in post-exercise energy consumption, resting levels of energy expenditure as well as oxygen consumption are elevated after HIIT. • Increased subcutaneous fat loss (Tremblay et al., 1990). • Great residual effects – individuals who lose fat using HIIT protocols are more likely to maintain their low body weights and continue to keep losing fat (Doucet, Imbeault, Almeras, & Tremblay, 1999). CONCLUSION HIIT, in short, seems to the ideal method of training for almost everyone: athletes looking to improve performance, men looking to lose fat and pack on lean mass and women looking to lose fat and get toned. REFERENCES Bahr, R. & Sejersted, O. M. (1991). Effect of intensity of exercise on excess postexercise O2 consumption. Metabolism, 40, 836-841. Bielinski, R., Schutz, Y., & Jequier, E. (1985). Energy metabolism during the postexercise recovery in man. Am J Clin Nutr., 42, 69-82. Dionne, I., Johnson, M., White, M. D., St-Pierre, S., & Tremblay, A. (1997). Acute effect of exercise and low-fat diet on energy balance in heavy men. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord, 21, 413-416. Doucet, E., Imbeault, P., Almeras, N., & Tremblay, A. (1999). Physical activity and low-fat diet: is it enough to maintain weight stability in the reduced-obese individual following weight loss by drug therapy and energy restriction? Obes Res., 7, 323-333. Imbeault, P., Saint-Pierre, S., Almeras, N., & Tremblay, A. (1997). Acute effects of exercise on energy intake and feeding behaviour. Br.J Nutr., 77, 511-521. King, N. A. & Blundell, J. E. (1995). High-fat foods overcome the energy expenditure induced by high-intensity cycling or running. Eur J Clin Nutr., 49, 114-123. Phelain, J. F., Reinke, E., Harris, M. A., & Melby, C. L. (1997). Postexercise energy expenditure and substrate oxidation in young women resulting from exercise bouts of different intensity. J Am Coll.Nutr., 16, 140-146. Sedlock, D. A., Fissinger, J. A., & Melby, C. L. (1989). Effect of exercise intensity and duration on postexercise energy expenditure. Med Sci.Sports Exerc., 21, 662-666. Tremblay, A., Almeras, N., Boer, J., Kranenbarg, E. K., & Despres, J. P. (1994). Diet composition and postexercise energy balance. Am J Clin Nutr., 59, 975-979. Tremblay, A., Despres, J. P., Leblanc, C., Craig, C. L., Ferris, B., Stephens, T. et al. (1990). Effect of intensity of physical activity on body fatness and fat distribution. Am J Clin Nutr., 51, 153-157. Tremblay, A., Simoneau, J. A., & Bouchard, C. (1994). Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism. Metabolism, 43, 814-818. Yoshioka, M., Doucet, E., St-Pierre, S., Almeras, N., Richard, D., Labrie, A. et al. (2001). Impact of high-intensity exercise on energy expenditure, lipid oxidation and body fatness. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord, 25, 332-339.
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