Hiit

[Cipher]

I just read the artical located at HIIT (http://www.cbass.com/fatburn.htm) someone posted it in another thread. What I am wondering is has anyone ever tried to do this? I am wondering if it is really that good.

[Ford Prefect]

I posted the link, and it's pretty much all I do now. I do two sessions like that each week. Two sessions where the rest intervals (active restoration) and activity intervals are the same. Then I do one session of a light 20-30 minute jog. I've never seen faster gains in my endurance on the mat.

[StarBoy]

Hi all,

I've been away from the forums and out of training (my instructor was a fraud) for a while. I was scanning some of the topics to get some new tips and I hear HIIT mentioned a bit for cardio/fat burning. I know what it means, but I'm so sure I understand how a HIIT program is set up. Can someone explain that to me? Thanks.

[Kempo Guy]

Take a look at this website. (http://www.straightblastgym.com/endurance.html) It explains HIIT type programs pretty well. You can use the HIIT type approach to weight lifting as well (I also developed a program for myself doing Kettlebell snatches/swings using HIIT methodology). You may also want to do a search on "Tabata protocol", as it's similar to HIIT.

Also, for maximum fatloss I would recommend doing resistance training. AND unless you're already eating clean/healthy already, I'd urge you to change your diet for maximum results.

Hope this helps,
KG

[Serpent]

Originally posted by StarBoy
Hi all,

I've been away from the forums and out of training (my instructor was a fraud) for a while. I was scanning some of the topics to get some new tips and I hear HIIT mentioned a bit for cardio/fat burning. I know what it means, but I'm so sure I understand how a HIIT program is set up. Can someone explain that to me? Thanks.

What was up with your instructor?

[StarBoy]

There were a quite a few things that I was suspicious of.

First of all, the style was supposed to be a MMA Japanese-based style, but I recognized a lot of Muay Thai and Mantis Kung Fu.

Second, I have a friend who is Japanese and used to study martial arts. I'd tell him about what I was learning and he told me that the Japanese language was broken and awkwardly phrased.

Third, he had practice weapons and he'd have us spar without any actual training or instruction.

Fourth, he did group lessons and private lessons. The private lessons were pretty decent, he spent half the time on kata and half the time on hand-to-hand, but the group lessons were all aerobic exercise, unguided sparring, and some basic boxing exercises.

Also, this isn't evidence of being a fraud, but all of the trophies were from local competitions. Nothing even regional. I don't mean to sound like a snob, but my previous instructor (from when I lived in CT) would have her students participate in regional, national, and even international competitions. I believe this summer she'll be taking the school to a competition in Bejing. I think you learn a lot more from a school like that.

Lastly (not fraud evidence), I didn't like going anyway because I still feel loyalty to my instructor. I'm only stuck in NY for a couple years, which will be over this summer.

I'm not making a big deal out of the fraud thing, because who knows? I could be wrong. Regardless, I think I'll just wait until I move back to CT.

And that's that.

Thanks for the HIIT lead. I read the article, and that's what I've understood so far, but the RPE scale can be a problem. I mean, what if someone is just a mental wuss?

[Kempo Guy]

Sorry to hear about your instructor. I hope you find another teacher soon.

As for the RPE (rate of perceived exertion) scale... well, you do what you feel you can do. A 10 one day may not be attainable the next. Of course you'd hope it's the other way around... :rolleyes: One thing to remember is that a ten for you may be a full out sprint, while for another it may be a jog. Depends on the level of fitness you're at...

In any event, most people train themselves to become complacent and staying within their perceived limitations. They convince themselves that they can only withstand a certain amount (which may only really be 80% of their max effort) because it takes them outside of their comfort zone. The reality is that you won't be able to hit a "10" every time you do your HIIT program. It takes a certain amount of discipline to exercise in the first place. so imho someone considering a program like this would be a step ahead. (to be honest I'd do a 15-30 minute HIIT workout over an hour on a treadmill anyday!) Eventually as people adopt this form of exercise, they will break through their mental barrier. In the end I believe that HIIT type training is all about strengthening and bringing out your inner fortitude. This could of course be said for anyone adopting a healthy lifestyle...
:)

Sorry for the rambling.
KG

[Ford Prefect]

There is also a good HIIT article on www.cbass.com Look for an article with Tabata in the title. Dr Tabata did a lot of the research in regards to HIIT type training and some people refer to it as "the Tabata protocol". BTW, I wouldn't recommend HIIT training if you don't currently do a moderate amount of cardio every week.

[StarBoy]

First, how exactly does one determine the intervals? In the article posted above the max duration of a HII is 90 seconds. In other articles I read it was a few minutes.

Also, I was always under the impression that this kind of exercise burned sugars and carbs (as they can be utilized easier for high intensity workouts), not fat.

Lastly, what are some good HIIT workouts that don't require a lot (in size or price) of equipment other than running or jump rope? I worry too much about damaging my knees, so I'd like to use something like an eliptical walker or a x-country ski machine, but I move around a lot and can't really take that kind of equipment with me.



As for the RPE...


I have to say, beautifully illustrated. Only when I am doing Wushu do I think of the mental aspect, never when I'm doing my cardio or weight training. I can see how this kind of philosophy/attitude can have more than just physical benefits that carry back over to the martial arts training.

[David]

The 'mental wuss' who went through with this exercise would have to admit that their 10 needs ramping-up eventually. That's a gain for them :)

I like the HIIT stuff. Don't have a programme for it, just train that way in class n stuff.

-David

[premier]

Does any of you have experience in doing your forms or shadow boxing in HIIT style? If so what did you think about it? Can you really reach 10 on the RPE scale like that? Maybe just beat the hell out of the heavy bag instead?

[Ford Prefect]

I don't think it's as effective in raising VO2 max since it isn't as demanding as other exercises.

[Ford Prefect]

Starboy,

That's what this article answers. Dr Tabata has done extensive research on the effects of different approaches to interval training. Short intervals at very high intensity (20 seconds) with short rest (10 seconds) were the most efficient:

http://www.cbass.com/SEARCHOF.HTM

[Kempo Guy]

I would think it would be difficult to design a HIIT program around doing forms/kata. Whaling on a heavybag in a HIIT fashion is probably more doable.

KG

[Suntzu]

that article is most interesting and should make for a tuff spring and summer…

[Kempo Guy]

Starboy,

You could do HIIT type programs with any aerobic activity. I usually either run/jog, use a kettlebell or skip rope. Sometimes I put together a HIIT program using a couple of these exercises.

There are many ways of doing HIIT. Some prefer doing a 30/30 split, i.e. 30 seconds of sprinting and 30 seconds of active recovery, which in this case would be a light jog. Of course this is pretty harsh, so many start with longer 'recovery periods' with 30 seconds of intense effort. Others (such as in the book "Body for Life"), you may use what they call a "High Point Technique", which is in essence a modified HIIT. An example of a HPT would be this:
1st minute - level 5 intensity jog
2nd minute - level 5 intensity jog
3rd minute - level 6
4th minute - level 7
5th minute - level 8
6th minute - level 9
7th minute - level 6
Keep doing this up to level 9 for three more cycles. In HPT you would only hit your 10 at the very end of a 20-minute workout.

Hope this helps.
KG

[StarBoy]

First of all, I'm too nervous about my knees to run/jog or skip rope because I had two pretty serious injuries when I was younger and I don't want to ruin them for good. What is a kettlebell though?

Ford, thanks for the link to the article. There were some parts of it that were a bit over my head, but I got the gist of it. There was one bit that talked about the subjects VO2max (don't know what that is), but I'm guessing it's somehow related to what I read in other articles about exercising around your target heart rate. Considering that I don't take a stethescope and stopwatch to the gym, how do I work with that?

Also:



"Because volume is the key to successful aerobic training, [athletes] must perform a large number of [intervals]." (They do caution that there's an upper limit.)


Upper limit to what? To the the number of intervals? If so, how does one determine this.



If the goal is improved aerobic and anaerobic capacity, the Tabata research suggests that intensity, carefully applied to produce maximum overload - not volume - is the key to success.


How do I carefully apply the HIIT program properly?

[Cheese Dog]

Why not do both? Do forms or shadowboxing for 3 minutes, 1 minute rest, than 3 minutes heavy bag. Repeat until exhausted.

[Jamesbond_007]

Premier:
Don't you do CLF? If so I practice my CLF for some of my HIIT workouts and it works great. What I do is I warm up for 2-3 minutes, then I practice 1-2 forms back-to-back as fast as I can, with full power and I really try to get my waist in it. After this (it takes about 1-2mins) I rest for 2 minutes by practicing one of the forms really slow paying attention to detail and deep stances. I do this for about 20 minutes. Sometimes instead of forms I do techniques, hand combos, moving strikes, or kicks, flowed by the same movement slow. I also like to mix things up and sprint 50 yards 8 times and them some clf after that.

[TzuChan]

Hey guys, just wondering, is it ok if I do this every day ? Since I have exams I don't do alot of activity, so I try to do some HIIT on our hometrainer every day, on a good day 20 minutes, other days just 5 minutes or 10 minutes .. I've been told that doing 5-10 minutes HIIT is useless btw .. care to correct that ? I just do it to do something, exams = prison ;(

[bodhitree]

What is HIIT?

[TigerJaw]

HIIT = High Intesity Interval Training.

Apartently very good for shifting the chub and for CV endurance. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't do it everyday. You may loose a lot of weight though, which may or may not be what you want.

[TzuChan]

Well I've been doing HIIT on the bike/hometrainer, and every three days I do a workout, posted before. I always remained @ the same weight for like two months. Now suddenly I gained two kilos ! Which is good btw, because that's pure muscle, for sure :D I'm not overweight or something lol, I do the hit for my abs, Iron Fist stressed that if you wanted your abs to show through that low body fat was the key, and he stressed 'LOW' :D So I just do HIIT along with my workout, I can see 4 well defined abs now, and the botton two (yeah I know it ain't 4 different things balbla, I'm talking about the little squares ok ? :p) are starting to show :cool:

[Ford Prefect]

Might lead to overtraining. 3-4x/week should be fine. What was the routine posted? Taku's or Tabata's? Thibadeau's even?

[Kempo Guy]

I agree with Ford. HIIT should not be done more than 3 - 4 times per week. As for recommend length per workout... I have read that it should be 15 - 20 minutes of HIIT cycles, not including warm-up and cool-down (which should be about 5min each). Of course, you do what you can.

KG

[PAMantis]

How would one do HIIT without excersize equipment? I know the routine with a bike/tread,ill/stepper ever, but without any of them what can I do? I am a poor married man (I just graduated from college and got married so I have NO money), there must be a way for me to do HIIT without any fancy equipment and weights, but I'm also too dumb to figure it out.

Thanks,

PAMantis

[ewallace]

Here's one I'm thinking about trying:
http://www.musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp

Also you can get yourself a $10 speed rope and jump 60 seconds on/60 seconds off...etc

[Ford Prefect]

This is a good routine that is done jogging. Obviously you'd need a track to do 400m sprints if you wanted to...

http://www.t-mag.com/nation_articles/251run2.html

[Ford Prefect]

And, btw here is some stuff about Tabata's method (pioneer of HIIT)

http://www.cbass.com/FATBURN.HTM

http://www.cbass.com/SEARCHOF.HTM

And this is TAKU's (mma.tv forum member/trainer) routine:

Always begin each workout with a 5-minute warm-up at a level of 3-4 on your R.P.E. scale. Follow this with 5 minutes at a steady pace that is just starting to get hard by the end, level 5-6 on your R.P.E. scale. And then reduce the intensity and do 5 more minutes, back to level 3-4 on your R.P.E. scale. This 15 minutes remains the same throughout the first three phases of your H.I.I.T. protocol. After this 15 minute period proceed immediately to the high intensity intervals, which will be described below. During the intervals you should be pushing hard, striving for about a level 7-10 on your R.P.E. scale. Always finish your session with a 5-minute cool-down, another level 3-4 on the R.P.E. scale.

Phase 1.
Weeks 1 & 2 = 4 X 90 seconds work + 90 seconds recovery.
Weeks 3 & 4 = 5 X 60 seconds work + 60 seconds recovery.

Phase 2.
Weeks 1 & 2 = 6 X 45 seconds work + 30 seconds recovery.
Weeks 3 & 4 = 7 X 30 Seconds work + 20 seconds recovery.

Phase 3.
Weeks 1 & 2 = 8 X 20 seconds work + 10 seconds recovery.
Weeks 3 & 4 = 10 X 20 seconds work + 10 seconds recovery.

The first phase will lay the foundation for the following phases. Obviously you can not sprint for 90 seconds at the same pace you can keep up for a shorter duration. Your job is to go as hard as you can for the given time specified. During recovery periods you may go as slow as you wish but DO NOT STOP MOVING!

Active recovery is always better than passive recovery and will help remove the buy-products of your anaerobic overload more effectively. Once you reach phase 3, you can remain there in maintenance mode. Avoid boredom and stale training by changing machines* every 2-3 weeks as well as continually
striving to train at higher resistance levels on each machine.

* If you feel you are not fully recovering be sure to add extra rest days where needed. These sessions should be done 2-5 times a week, experiment to find what works best for you. Do your best to get in at least two sessions per week. If you are diligent you should start noticing an improvement right away. By the time you finish phase three you should be on your way to having a 30-gallon gas tank.

*For the H.I.I.T. portion of your training I recommend the following machines in order of my preference:
Versa Climber.
Air Dyne Bike.
Elliptical walker with arm attachments.
Rowing ergometer.
Cross country Ski simulator.
These machines have been selected because they work the entire body as a unit rather then just the legs alone. Although the machines mentioned are my favorites, anything will work, rope skipping, running, biking, stair-climbing etc. If you do choose running or rope skipping I recommend cross training with one of the above recommended machines to reduce the potential for overuse injuries due to the inherent impact on the joints from these activities.

[Ford Prefect]

Added Phase 4 to Taku...

Phase 4. (3-4 weeks peaking cycle)

Week 1 Monday & Friday = 10 X 20 seconds work + 10 seconds recovery. Week 1 Wednesday = 5 X 30 seconds work + 60 seconds recovery. 3 X 20 seconds work + 40 seconds recovery. 2 X 10 seconds work + 30 seconds recovery.

Week 2 Monday & Friday = 10 X 20 seconds work + 10 seconds recovery. Week 2 Wednesday = 5 X 30 seconds work + 60 seconds recovery. 5 X 20 seconds work + 40 seconds recovery. 5 X 10 seconds work + 30 seconds recovery.

Week 3 Monday & Friday = 10 X 20 seconds work + 10 seconds recovery. Week 3 Wednesday = 5 X 30 seconds work + 60 seconds recovery. 5 X 20 seconds work + 40 seconds recovery. 10 X 10 seconds work + 30 seconds recovery.

Week 4 Monday = 5 X 30 seconds work + 60 seconds recovery. 5 X 20 seconds work + 40 seconds recovery. 5 X 10 seconds work + 30 seconds recovery.
Wednesday = 4 X 30 seconds work + 60 seconds recovery. 6 X 20 seconds work + 40 seconds recovery. 10 X 10 seconds work + 30 seconds recovery.
Friday = 5 X 30 seconds work + 60 seconds recovery. 8 X 20 seconds work + 40 seconds recovery 12 X 10 seconds work + 30 seconds recovery.

[IronFist]

Here (http://www.musclechemistry.com/showthread/t-14294.html).

There's some background info which you can skim through. Then the basic routine is presented in tables.

This is more for my friend (the one from the other thread) than me.

It sounds strange to me that a program that progress from 4 minutes to 15 minutes total over 8 weeks (working out 3 times per week) could burn more fat than running slower for a couple hours 3 times a week.

Thanks.

[Toby]

Well, I do 20/10 x 10 = 5 min. I pace myself to do 5 min, so I doubt I could do 15 min. Certainly not if I was sprinting flat out every 20. But's that with 10 s rests. 30 s rests are a lot easier on the body, so I can see it could be done. But you (he) might lose interest of doing 15 min three times a week. I do intervals twice a week and that's enough for me. They're hard on my cardio system and my legs.

Re the burning fat. He doesn't give references (I think - I just skimmed the articles). But I'd guess it might be Tabata's research. If so, he advocates 20/10, not 30/30. I dunno. I don't do it primarily to burn fat, but it hasn't helped me. I've been constant weight since doing it for 5-6 months (dunno about body fat %).

[Ford Prefect]

There has been a good deal on research done on this besides Tabata. All of which have shown similar results with various different sprint/active-recovery protocols.

IF,

This burns fat because of the energy systems being used. Your aerobic energy system use oxygen to produce ATP for very low-intesity muscular contraction over long periods of time. The fat loss benefits from this "cardio" is mainly from a caloric deficit caused by the long duration of exercise.

A sprint is powered by anaerobic energy systems once the muscle runs out of it's initial ATP supply. This is garnered from the muscle glycogen (just as if you were lifting weights), but what happens when muscle glycogen stores are depleted? Well your body dips into it's glycogen reserves in order to perform the task at hand. That's exactly what fat is... glycogen that has been put away for use at another time. This type of training thus leads to actively burning fat in order to maintain the exercise and it leads to fat burning because it causes a caloric deficit as well.

It's not a bad program, but I'd defitely recommend at least a 5 minute warm-up before starting the sprint-jog cycles. Hitting a track is much more effective than a treadmill in these cycles too, but it's winter and I don't know what your local climate is like. Something to keep in mind though. A couple other programs that incorporate this type of interval training which I've had personal success with is:

http://www.t-mag.com/nation_articles/251run2.html

http://www.trainforstrength.com/Endurance1.shtml

If you are stuck indoors and you gym has one, definately try the versa-climber. They are absolutely killer for this stuff. Also, as you can see from these programs, it's relatively easy to design your own with many different activeties. As long as it's something you can switch from high-intensity to low-intensity you just need to come up with varying high-intensity active phases and low-intesity recovery phases.

[GeneChing]

How to get the most out of your exercise time, according to science (https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/1/10/18148463/high-intensity-interval-training-hiit-orangetheory)
A simple guide to high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, the fitness trend du jour.
By Julia Belluz@juliaoftorontojulia.belluz@voxmedia.com Updated Jan 13, 2019, 9:13am EST

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fM7nI11b1oBmbFG7P8Pca_br9H0=/0x0:5760x3840/920x613/filters:focal(2420x1460:3340x2380):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62822164/shutterstock_1007038000.0.jpg
The single most well-established benefit of interval training has to do with heart health. Shutterstock

Modern life has a way of making us feel time-crunched and under pressure to find the most efficient ways of using the precious hours when we’re not working or sleeping. The trendy fitness regimen called high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, is the embodiment of this feeling.

HIIT promises the best workout in the least amount of time. Runners have used interval training for more than 100 years, alternating between sprints and jogging to improve their endurance. But HIIT didn’t really go mainstream until about a decade ago, when exercise physiologists started to come out with study after study demonstrating that intervals could deliver the biggest health improvement for your exercise time. In 2013, the seven-minute workout, popularized by the New York Times, appeared on the scene, and by 2016, the one-minute workout.

Recently, fitness professionals voted HIIT the third top fitness trend for 2019 in a survey by the American College of Sports Medicine. And interval-based workouts are now popping up seemingly everywhere: at chains like Shred415 and Orangetheory (the fastest-growing franchise in the US), in group classes at YMCAs, on apps and YouTube, even in the routines outlined in Oprah’s O magazine. Often they promise to burn fat and “metabolically charge the body,” as Orangetheory puts it, in a short time period.

But there are some important nuances scientists have learned about HIIT that have gotten lost in the hype. The proven benefits of these workouts relate to a very particular type of interval training, and they’ve got nothing to do with weight loss. Here are six basic questions about HIIT, answered.

1) First things first: what is HIIT?

HIIT workouts generally combine short bursts of intense exercise with periods of rest or lower-intensity exercise. At fitness studios and online, these workouts often mix aerobic and resistance training.

To be clear, most of the interval workouts researchers have studied focus solely on aerobic exercise. Which means the scientific understanding of interval training is based on a more specific routine than what’s appearing in most gyms, videos, and magazines. And the researchers’ definition matters because when we’re talking about the evidence of benefits, we need to be specific about the kinds of workouts that science was based on.

When researchers talk about HIIT, they’re referring to workouts that alternate hard-charging intervals, during which a person’s heart rate reaches at least 80 percent of its maximum capacity usually for one to five minutes, with periods of rest or less intense exercise. (It’s not easy to know that you’re working at 80 percent, but a Fitbit or heart rate monitor can help.)

“There’s a strict definition of HIIT in terms of heart rate,” explained Todd Astorino, a professor in the department of kinesiology at California State University San Marcos.

There are also SIT studies, which include all-out bouts of intensity (working at 100 percent of your heart’s capacity). The SIT research, also focused on intervals, reveals similar benefits, so I’ll draw on it too.

2) What does a HIIT routine look like?

What differentiates HIIT (or SIT) from the steady-state, continuous types of exercise — jogging at an even pace or walking, for example — is the intervals, those periods of heart-pounding intensity. If you want to try it, you can simply take a HIIT class, or run or even walk in a way that involves higher-speed and higher-incline bursts.

If you want a routine that’s been lab-tested, there’s the 4-by-4 from Norway. It involves a warmup, followed by four four-minute intervals (again, where your heart rate reaches past 80 percent of its maximum capacity), each interspersed with a three-minute recovery period, and finished off with a cool-down.

So, for example, you’d jog for 10 minutes to warm up, then do four four-minute intervals of faster running, with three three-minute intervals of moderate jogging or brisk walking in between, and a five-minute cool down at the end. And you can substitute jogging with other aerobic exercises, such as biking or swimming. The whole routine should take 40 minutes.

A shorter, and also heavily studied, example of an interval routine is the 10-by-1, which involves 10 one-minute bursts of exercise each followed by one minute of recovery.

Again, these routines look pretty different from what’s on offer at chains like Orangetheory, CrossFit, or even the seven-minute workout. Even though they’re often referred to as HIIT, they combine cardiovascular exercise with strength training.

3) What are the benefits of interval training?

The single most well-established benefit of interval training has to do with heart health. Intervals can boost cardio-respiratory health with a smaller time investment compared to continuous forms of exercise. So we’re not talking about superior fat-burning capacity (more on that later) or bigger muscles. We’re talking about improved VO2 max, a measure of endurance that calculates the maximum volume of oxygen the body can use.

“Scientists have found that [VO2 max] is one of the best predictors of overall health,” according to the recent interval training book The One Minute Workout, co-authored by Martin Gibala, one of the world’s leading interval training experts, who’s based at McMaster University in Canada. “The more aerobically fit you are, the better your heart can pump blood, the longer it takes you to get out of breath, and the ****her and faster you’re able to bike or run or swim.” And that, in turn, can help prevent heart disease.

Consider this 2016 SIT study, in which Gibala and his co-authors followed two groups of participants for 12 weeks: One group worked out for 10 minutes (including several intervals that added up to one minute), and the other for 50 minutes (at a continuous pace).


The most remarkable finding in the study was that the two groups of exercisers saw the same improvement in their oxygen uptake, despite their varying time commitments.

In a 2014 study, Gibala and his fellow researchers got a group of overweight and obese sedentary adults to do three workouts per week, for a total of 30 minutes of exercise. Each workout included three 20-second intervals of fast pedaling on an exercise bike. Even in that short period of time, the study participants saw improvements in their VO2 max.

Reviews of the research have come to similar conclusions: Interval routines lead to greater gains in VO2 max compared with other forms of training in a shorter period of time.

“HIIT is a time-efficient strategy to get the benefits typically associated with longer bouts of traditional cardio,” Gibala told Vox.

Of course, the more you put into a HIIT workout, the more heart health benefits you get out. In this 2013 meta-analysis, researchers evaluated the effects of high-intensity interval training studies, separating out nine studies that showed the largest improvements in VO2 max and nine studies that reported the smallest gains.

The findings were telling: Less intense training programs with shorter intervals carried the least health benefits, while interval training studies reporting the greatest increases typically used longer (three- to five-minute) intervals.

For this reason, athletes have long used the interval technique to up their game, Mayo Clinic exercise researcher Michael Joyner told Vox in 2016. “There’s observational data in athletes going back almost 100 years showing the benefits of a few bouts of really high-intensity exercise in people.” He added: “If you want to get people to their biological maximum, they need to be doing four to five times of three- to five-minute intervals.”

continued next post

[GeneChing]

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/U6Dp6HkB30Dn1Vdvw4YDnnn5OrA=/0x0:3000x2000/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upsca le()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13681242/GettyImages_1044778064.jpg
Orangetheory encourages the use of a heart rate monitor to track cardio fitness in its workouts. Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Orangetheory Fitness

4) Why does HIIT improve cardio health?

Researchers still haven’t figured out exactly why HIIT works to improve aerobic fitness more than continuous types of exercise. But one key hypothesis, Gibala explained, has to do with the heart’s ability to pump blood.

One measure for blood pumping is something called stroke volume, or the volume of blood that comes out when the heart contracts. And a major determinant of VO2 max is stroke volume.

“The maximum amount of blood that comes out of the heart is improved by exercise training,” said Gibala, “and there’s evidence that when you do interval exercise training, the stroke volume increases even more.”

5) Is HIIT the best exercise regimen for weight loss?

There’s no doubt that interval training can be a time-efficient way to burn calories. Researchers have repeatedly shown that people can burn comparable amounts of calories in HIIT routines lasting, say, 20 minutes, compared to longer continuous exercise routines lasting, say, 50 minutes. The reason for that, Gibala said, is that higher-intensity exercise, like intervals, results in a greater disturbance of the body’s homeostasis, “and it literally takes more energy and oxygen to return it to normal basal levels.” (We’ll get to the related “afterburn” effect in a moment.)

But the question is whether that calorie burn translates into weight loss, and that’s where HIIT falls short. “Many people overstate the potential for interval training to cause you to lose weight,” said Gibala. But that’s a problem with exercise in general, not HIIT specifically. As we’ve explained, it’s much easier to lose weight by cutting calories in your diet than trying to burn excess calories.

That’s especially true if your workout is only 20 minutes long, said Jeffrey Horowitz, a kinesiology professor at the University of Michigan. To burn a lot of calories, “you need to exercise [for] a more prolonged period of time. HIIT routines, by definition, tend to be shorter. So if your goal is weight loss, you might consider a longer interval routine, and you definitely want to look at your diet.”

Gibala summed up, “In terms of the overall magnitude of calorie burning, it tends to be small relative to what you can achieve by dietary changes.”

6) What about the “afterburn” effect?

Many HIIT gyms tout exercise programs that will lead to an “afterburn” or “excess post-exercise oxygen consumption” — a period of elevated calorie burn after you exercise.

“This revs your metabolism and makes you burn calories long after your workout is over,” Orangetheory claims.

“The afterburn effect is real — but it’s often overstated,” Gibala said. “When we’ve measured it in a lab, we’ve shown that a 20-minute session of intervals can result in same calorie burn over 24 hours as a 50-minute bout of continuous exercise. So that means the afterburn effect is greater after the intervals — but it peters out after a while.”

It’s also marginal, he added, not the kind of calorie loss that would lead to lasting weight loss. (I saw the same effect when I entered a metabolic chamber to measure my metabolism. In the periods after I hit the exercise bike, my metabolic rate ramped up — but only by a few more calories each minute, and the effect wore off within half an hour of exercising.)

Building more muscles, however, can be a little more helpful for the afterburn. Here’s why: One of the variables that affects your resting metabolic rate is the amount of lean muscle you have. At any given weight, the more muscle on your body, and the less fat, the higher your metabolic rate. That’s because muscle uses a lot more energy than fat while at rest.

So the logic is if you can build up your muscle and reduce your body fat, you’ll have a higher resting metabolism and more quickly burn the fuel in your body. But that takes work — a lot more work than a short aerobic HIIT workout. And even a short HIIT workout may not be for everyone.

“Intervals can be demanding mentally and physically, so some steady-state continuous is nice once in a while,” Gibala said. “[But] for those who truly are super time-pressed and can tolerate intervals almost exclusively, it’s the most efficient way to train.” SCIENCE! :rolleyes:

[GeneChing]

F45 is the most popular workout you’ve never heard of (https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/2/14/18214000/f45-hiit-gym-fitness-crossfit)
This fast-growing HIIT franchise is poised to have more studios than Pure Barre and SoulCycle combined.
By Patrick Sisson Feb 14, 2019, 7:00am EST

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F45

From the first time you encounter trainer Cory George in the gym, it’s immediately evident why he’s the one demoing the workouts. A 6-foot-3 former football and volleyball player from Grass Valley, California, the muscular 27-year-old looks like a personal trainer created by an algorithm (his unerring form during ab exercises and cardio-heavy warmups betrayed no hint of effort or exhaustion).

His form, in fact, is copied by hundreds of thousands every day, across the globe, most of whom he’s never met. George has become the body behind F45, a rapidly expanding Australian workout class that claims to be the globe’s fastest-growing fitness franchise, boasting 300,000 active members worldwide.

Every gym — from the first location, which opened in 2012 in Sydney, to the Venice, California, location where George teaches — plasters the walls with flat-screen TVs showing recordings of the trainer demonstrating that day’s routine, one of roughly 30 different sets offered by F45. George knows exactly how varied the constantly evolving routines can get; in 2017, he filmed every one of the then-3,800 exercises in F45’s repertoire over a 2.5-month period in an LA warehouse.

A 45-minute, high-speed series of punishing, “functional” exercises that engage multiple muscle groups — hence F45 — the Down Under export currently has 1,300-plus outlets across the globe, with 570 gyms active or planning to open in the US. For comparison, Pure Barre has roughly 460 US locations, and SoulCycle has 88 studios. I’ve attended F45 classes in the Venice studio and saw George’s face and form onscreen, modeling perfect burpees, effortless squats, and nonchalant hammer swings, before I met him in person.

The program feels a bit like a workout designed by a computer. Everything is optimized, from the ever-changing routines — which involve circuit training across a series of stations stocked with barbells, ropes, rowing machines, and more — to the curated hip-hop playlists that shake the room (Saturday classes feature a live DJ). During classes, the screens that catch George in an endless loop count down each and every second of each and every exercise. The constantly changing workout, George believes, motivates members, many of whom socialize over the latest F45 fitness challenge or via meetups outside the gym that George and other instructors organize.

“Nowadays, people lift in big-box gyms to look good,” George says. “It defeats the purpose. You should exercise to feel better.”

Taking advantage of a titanic shift in the fitness world

F45, as founder Rob Deutsch says via email from Sydney, succeeds by offering effective, and in many ways mindless, workout routines. Members are challenged as they exercise together in a team training scenario, but one of the big attractions for the mostly 21- to 35-year-olds who shell out $200 to $250 per month for classes are the preset routines, guidance from trainers, and ruthless efficiency.

“Everyone is time-poor these days, so the efficient nature of a 45-minute workout, where a member can just enter their studio and start, is a real time-saver,” he says.


“EVERYONE IS TIME-POOR THESE DAYS”
Many workouts and fitness programs have, to varying degrees, tried to incorporate the personalization, tech, and community aspect of social media into a space long dominated by big-box gyms and crash-and-burn trends. As F45 expands to new cities this year, including Austin and Nashville, as well opening locations within colleges and universities, it’s seeking to be the more friendly, accessible, and tech-accentuated routine for the Fitbit generation. It’s also the latest concept, from CrossFit to SoulCycle, seeking to capitalize on an industry navigating a changing business and cultural landscape.

“Fitness is going through a titanic shift,” says Bryan O’Rourke, an industry veteran and president of the Fitness Industry Technology Council. “The idea of fitness just being brick-and-mortar locations that charge people for [gym] membership isn’t going to be the definition of the market anymore.”

“Think of what’s happening to music; consumers get what they want when they want it,” O’Rourke explains. “More and more, it’s about personalization, community, and convenience: F45 has done a good job of bringing together all these trends.”

The rise of HIIT

If F45 sounds like CrossFit, that’s because both are based on similar research and science, and can be categorized as the same style of workout: high-intensity interval training, or HIIT. As the name and acronym suggest, HIIT consists of a rapid-fire sequence of different exercises, which rotate through different muscle group and shock the body into shape.

CrossFit, which started in 2000, branded itself as a more extreme, exclusive version of HIIT training, offering classes in black, industrial-style gyms nicknamed boxes — critics complained of a cult-like atmosphere and strenuous and injury-prone workouts. F45 tries to sell itself as a more accessible style of communal exercise than CrossFit; not a lifestyle in itself, just an easier way to optimize the one you already have. As Deutsch says, the workouts are about “training smarter, not harder.”

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F45

Ryan Roth, the lead industry analyst for IBISWorld, a market research firm, predicts that the personal training segment of the fitness industry, which includes HIIT classes, will expand, due in part to the decreasing time Americans spend at the gym. Despite rising awareness and spending on a fitter lifestyle — one study suggests millennials spend more on fitness than on college tuition — the overall time Americans spend on leisure and sports declined over the past five years by 0.2 percent. It’s a small drop, but one that Roth says is indicative of the need for speed in such a time-sensitive culture.

Americas aren’t just becoming busier; they’re also trying to find connection within fraying social networks. The entire fitness world is trying to instill some feeling of community within their offerings, says Pam Kufahl, editor-in-chief of the fitness industry magazine Club Industry. CrossFit popularized the concept of fostering tight-knit groups that would cheer each other on. Now, boutique studios have tried to match that blend of intensity and teamwork — witness Peloton turning exercise bikes in living rooms into a link to a larger community — while lowering costs.

“CrossFit showed a way to do it cheaply,” says Kufahl. “That’s why you’re seeing these new studios pop up so much: They take less square footage, the rent is cheaper, and you don’t have as many employees. It’s a more efficient use of your money. There may be fewer members, but they’re all paying more money.”

continued next post

[GeneChing]

“IF THE INSTRUCTOR DOESN’T KNOW MY NAME WHEN I WALK IN, I’M NOT GOING TO COME BACK”
“If I’m spending money at a studio or gym, I want to make sure I’m seeing my results and can track my workout, but if the instructor doesn’t know my name when I walk in, I’m not going to come back,” she says.

The company is also ruthless about efficiency (Deutsch was an equities trader before launching F45). Scripted-to-the-second workouts, with names such as Brooklyn, Abacus, and Wingman, aim to provide a sense of community to more members with more video guidance, just a handful of trainers per class, and lower expenses (labor is the industry’s biggest recurring expenses, per IBIS). No-frills locations without locker rooms make turnover quick, and the gear is relatively inexpensive, largely consisting of ropes, weights, and mats. The most expensive items are basic stationary bikes and rowing machines. The company’s recurring eight-week group fitness challenges, which combine workouts with diet recommendations, highlights this approach; F45 leverages community without adding much in the way of overhead.

My experience with the Venice location, at a modest 1,200 square feet, suggested it works; despite crowded classes (and a low ceiling) that forced you to be very aware of whoever was swinging a hammer next to you, every class covered a lot of ground and always left me exhausted.

Tech and the efficiency scale

Deutsch believes F45 combines elements of Apple and Amazon: the elevated look and style, merchandise offerings, and engaging interaction and experience of Apple, as well as the tech and efficiency focus of Amazon.

F45’s embrace of technology isn’t new for the fitness industry. In 2013, Anytime Fitness created Anytime Health, which enables users to track their fitness progress and compare with other community members. Orangetheory, another HIIT franchise with roughly 1,000 US locations, also uses video screens to remind users of routines and exercises.

What F45 does well is create a seamless experience, says O’Rourke. The best franchises and facilities are the ones that have simplified their technology in a way that makes it very efficient for the user. A club with 2,000 members that offers everything from classes and weights to cardio has a hard time with technological integration.

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F45

“While there’s nothing new with F45, it’s a great user experience,” he says. “One of the advantages of being a focused offering is that you can incorporate the technology in a meaningful way.”

Last year, F45 offered nearly 700 new exercises, as well as four new pieces of equipment, all sent to 1,300 studios around the world. O’Rourke says this year, they plan to add stretch-based sessions, as well as a similar number of new moves. He also hinted at a new form of gamification within F45 workouts but wouldn’t provide more details.

Franchises riding economic trends

Analysts believe F45 and its franchise model have room to grow, in terms of both expanding the workout routines and community engagement and making a bigger impact on the fitness landscape. IBISWorld’s Roth says there’s growing demand for franchise fitness locations, which allow a local owner to invest and open a business, as opposed to starting from scratch, capitalizing on industry growth and low interest rates.

It’s no accident the Aussie chain, which has recently made big inroads in Canada and the UK, chose red, white, and blue for its logo and gym decor (“We actually made it look Americanized because we always wanted to take it to the US,” Deutsch said in an interview). The company, and franchises, seeks to grab a larger portion of the US gym market. Gyms, fitness clubs, and fitness franchises comprise a $37.1 billion chunk of the United States health and wellness industry, according to IBISWorld research, with nearly 61 million Americans paying for membership.

McCall compares the growth of these franchises to Howard Schultz’s strategy with Starbucks; spend on new locations, instead of advertising, and explosive growth becomes the story.

He sees reasons to be hesitant, with recent signals of a wider economic downturn hinting at a recession. But McCall has no doubt that F45, and studios and programs like it, will increasingly shape the fitness landscape.

“HIIT is going to be here for a while,” says McCall. “It’s effective, and there’s explosive growth. Adam Smith and Charles Darwin would have liked the fitness industry. It really does favor survival of the fittest.”

THREADS
F45 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70678-F45)
HIIT (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?8904-Hiit)

[GeneChing]

i'm stressed af and i don't even do hiit. :o


STRESSED AF? MAYBE LAY OFF THE HIIT FOR A DAY OR TWO (https://www.wellandgood.com/good-sweat/stress-and-working-out/)
RACHEL LAPIDOS, JULY 22, 2019

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Photo: Getty Images/Hoxton/Ryan Lees

“I’m hitting the treadmill so hard tonight.” That’s what I always say to myself whenever I’ve reached the top of a stressful day. And even if it’s not a treadmill, I always make sure to hit up the most intense fitness class I can find in order to burn through the stress. That’s what so many people do—we think that the ultimate way to release some stress is to take things up a notch with our workout… because all that sweat and movement feels like such a cathartic release. Amirite?

Then it hit me: Working out is a stressor. “It’s good to understand that movement is in itself another stressor,” says Emily Schromm, fitness expert who’s co-leading the upcoming Wanderlust Wellest Challenge. “It sounds like stress relief in your head, but if you want your body to change and get stronger, you have to break down muscle so that it can build back up—so it stresses the body to adapt.”

I mean, it’s true that working out doesn’t exactly relax your body—biologically, it does the complete opposite. But it’s the endorphins and sense of accomplishment that make you feel so great afterwards—not what you did to your muscles. Cortisol—AKA the stress hormone—obviously spikes when you’re experiencing lifestyle stressors… but it’s circulating throughout the body during an intense workout, too.

“If a person’s going to work out intensely all the time to release stress, that can often backfire,” says Schromm. “You can over-stress the body this way. A body in excess stress will not get stronger—it’s simply trying to survive.” In fact, we called that this year would see a huge rise in the number of cortisol-conscious fitness options out there, and the rise of recovery and kind-to-the-body stretch-forward classes stand as proof.

So if you’re scratching your head as far as what to do to de-stress when HIIT is your preferred release, know that it doesn’t mean you can’t workout. But Schromm says it’s healthier to just take things a little lighter. “When life is really stressful, you have less of an ability to handle something like a very hard, intense workout,” she says. “So it would be better to do something slower, like go on a hike or do slow, steady weight-training moves.” FWIW: There is growing research that resistance training can boost your mood just as well as cardio.

So, while you might be tempted to burn through the stress with an intense run or set of burpees, recognize that you can sweat it out without stressing your body out in the process, too.

[Djuan]

if working out is a stressor, they need balance AF...... add some nice qigong, or even a little pop culture yoga and pranayama, iron out those wrinkles.
adding qigong always helps.
that might become their focus too. "nothing is absolute" *in my jedi voice* lol, western physicians are seemingly always trying to define human phenomena in such a little a scope, and haven't even scratched the surface of practicing (healing/training) with their ch'i collectively. plus all the law of attraction "heal with your mind" gets looped in such a way they make it cliche till it appears useless lol, all the while the commercial with the meds comes on with the spanky side affects :rolleyes:
lol @ "short bursts" thats almost like saying microwaved, poor gongfu.
gongfu & qigong > all workout programs. :)

Amituofo