HIGH-INTENSITY EXERCISE: The High Road to Fitness

Like the engine used by the lead vehicle for the Royal Victoria Marathon, one’s aerobic engine gets put to the test in high-intensity exercise.

Similar to Aerobic Exercise: The Low Road to Fitness, there are a variety of ways to do high-intensity exercise - running, cycling, rowing & swimming - to name a few. Yet, the main purpose of high-intensity exercise is to raise one’s capacity to transport and utilize oxygen - one’s VO2 max. To do this, all major organs (especially heart, lungs & muscles) are put to the test. Exercising this vigorously produces more lactate than what the muscles can handle. This surplus can be “shuttled” to various organs, including the muscles, heart, and brain which use it for an energy source. Surprising to me, not only does high-intensity exercise benefit athletic performance, it has health benefits as well. For instance, medical researchers study the use of high-intensity exercise due to its cardiac and metabolic benefits.

Frequency of High-Intensity Exercise
Most running-specific training programs schedule high-intensity exercise SPARINGLY during each week. Often, exercise physiologists and running coaches recommend that runners should be doing 80% of their training runs at their aerobic pace and 20% at an intensity above this pace. However, to be discussed later, in HIIT training, where intensity is high and duration relatively lower, often 3 HIIT workouts are scheduled each week.

Intensity and Time Length of High-Intensity Exercise
To get an idea of the intensity for running-specific workouts, runners can use recent race results to identify the pace for high-intensity running (especially the 5K distance which is usually raced or time-trialed at 96% of VO2 max). According to exercise physiologist and running coach, Jack Daniels, interval running should take place at 95-100% of VO2 max. For instance, using this DANIELS RUNNING CALCULATOR, being able to race a 5K at a pace of 5:00/km (8:02/mi) works out to a interval running pace for workouts of 4:50/km (7:47/mi). For time length, Daniels recommends each interval last between 3-5 minutes in duration. For example, training at a 4:50/km pace, 800m intervals (2 laps around the track) would be targeted at 3:52.

For more on intervals and running, check out the post, INTERVALS ARE FOR ALL RUNNERS

The World of HIIT
High-Intensity Interval Training (also known as HIIT) is an exercise protocol that revolves around alternating bursts of vigorous exercise and brief recovery periods. Research has shown that it can rival, and at times even surpass, benefits derived from prolonged moderate-intensity endurance activities. The idea of time efficiency - making fitness gains in considerably less time than continuous moderate-intensity exercise routines - is part of HIIT. Researchers have found there to be a trade-off between intensity and duration. So as exercise intensity increases, the duration can decrease without compromising the cardio benefits. For instance, research has shown that subjects engaging in 25 minutes of HIIT get approximately the same cardio benefits as subjects doing continuous moderate-intensity exercise for 50 minutes - twice as long.

Previous posts mention that when it comes to achieving a healthy lifestyle, the national physical fitness guideline is 150 minutes of moderate - vigorous exercise in a week. HIIT, with its focus on vigorous exercise and time efficiency, lowers the guideline to 75 MINUTES OF VIGOROUS EXERCISE per week.

For more on HIIT, I recommend the book, THE ONE MINUTE WORKOUT, by Dr. Martin Gibala, a professor of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

As I wanted to give HIIT a try, I discovered that due to the undulating nature between high and low intensity of aerobic exercise, monitoring heart rate is not considered a good option by coaches. Instead, the use of Rate of Perceived Exertion is used to monitor intensity:
 
Rate of Perceived Exertion Scale used in HIIT Workouts

HIIT Workouts
Here are a couple of sample HIIT workouts for which you use Rate of Perceived Exertion to be your guide:

The Beginner
If you are just beginning your fitness journey, this workout is a good place to start and will add variety. In a previous post on WALKING WORKOUTS, interval walking is mentioned. The Beginner is a great example of an interval walking workout.

The Workout
1) Warm up by walking at an intensity of 1 (Very light) for 3 minutes
2) Increase your effort to intensity 3 (Moderate), so you are breathing deeply but can still hold a conversation. Hold that pace for 3 minutes.
3) Ease back to intensity 2 (Light) for 3 minutes.
4) Repeat steps 2 & 3 another 4 more times (33 minutes total duration).
5) If you are just beginning, you may not be able to do over 30 minutes of interval walking right away - start with as many repeats as you can manage and work your way up.

Research 
This Beginner HIIT Workout was used in this RESEARCH STUDY with participants four times per week over a three-month time period. After this time period, researchers reported participants increased their cardio fitness and lowered their systolic blood pressure (the higher number of a blood pressure reading - went from 127 to 119 on average), both to a statistically significant degree.

The Ten By One
The Ten By One workout provides versatility. Both newbies and veterans seem to be able to get something out of this workout. It can be done using different activities (running, biking, swimming, etc.) in different settings (track, hills, gym, trail, etc.).

The Workout
1) Warm up at an intensity of 2 (Light) for 3 minutes.
2) Increase your effort to a sprint at intensity 9 (almost max), to the point of gasping for breath for 1 minute.
3) Ease back to intensity 2 (Light) for 1 minute.
4) Repeat steps 2 & 3 another 9 more times for a total of 10 sprints.
5) Cool down at an intensity of 2 (Light) for 2 minutes (for a total duration of 25 minutes).

Research 
This RESEARCH STUDY used the Ten By One format with a group of participants for which following an exercise program was a new experience. The program took place 3 times a week (M, W, & F) over 6 weeks. Results showed reduced body-fat percentage and improved cardio fitness to a statistically significant degree. Also, on the other side of the fitness spectrum, professional athletes have used the 1 minute “on” / 1 minute “off” protocol to good effect. As mentioned in the post, LEARNING FROM A PROFESSIONAL RUNNER’S TRAINING SCHEDULE, men's marathon Olympic gold medalist, Eluid Kipchoge, uses this protocol for some of his training runs. Albeit he runs 25 intervals of 1 minute “on” / 1 minute “off”. Calling it a fartlek workout, Kipchoge runs the “on” portion faster than his race pace.

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Thanks for reading! For more, check out the Training & Racing section in the EOOC TABLE OF CONTENTS.

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Experiment of One Coaching covers topics ranging from running, strength training, health & wellness, sports nutrition to travel. I usually post once or twice a month.

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