High Intesity Interval Training

DevilMayKare · January 21, 2007

There was a really good article on High-intensity interval training & its weightloss benefits in the Health section of the LATimes this week. You might have to register onsite to read this whole article, but I think it's really worth it.

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-interval15jan15,1,5158048.column?coll=la-headlines-health

I'm checking out the books referred to in the article, but just for a start the last couple of days I've been adding 30 seconds of going as fast as i can every five minutes of my ellipitical workout and it has definitely made it more interesting. Don't know about the WL results yet, but anything that can make exericise less boring for me has gotta help.

Anybody doing this H-I interval training on a regular basis?

rharriet62 · January 23, 2007

I also do high intensity intervals with my trainer. She has me run at my comfortable pace on the treadmill and then I have to raise the speed and/or the incline and run as fast as I can until she tells me to stop. I think it's usually 30-60 seconds per interval. Then, my "rest" period is back at my comfortable pace. We repeat that a lot in the workout. We've been adding that in about once a week. I think it's interesting and makes the time go fast. Also, it makes my comfortable pace seem sort of slow, so I think it will also help me build up my speed.

Enjoy!

Rose

Jachut · January 23, 2007

It will rip the weight off you and skyrocket your fitness to the next level!

The whole theory about long and slow for fat loss is true to a very large degree but there's something about high intensity training that they just cant explain - but it is known to give you a far greater afterburn.

And of course, if you train at high intesnity you get fitter and fitter so that eventually something like running is a low intesnity fat burning exercise, not a form of cardiovascular torture that has you collapsing after 2 minutes.

For example, previously I could have maybe walked 6kms in an hour, a few times a week. Now I can run 10 to 12kms in that hour six times a week at a fairly low heart rate. So I obviously burn far more fat and calories from having taken on higher intensity exercise till I became fitter, than I would be burning if I just did the walking.

What I really find works best for me is a combination. Adding those loooooong sessions of about an hour to an hour and a half of running got my weight moving again, but the high intensity stuff that I do once or twice a week keeps me getting fitter and fitter.

Of course, if you work at a harder intensity for the same period of time, you will burn less of a proportion of fat as fuel but you will burn MORE fat overall. That's where that long slow theory is bollocks. But of course if you can only keep going for 5 mintues at a high intensity versus an hour at a lower intensity, its not that beneficial.