TIME TO GIVE HIIT A MISS?

Since January I’m sure many of you will have started some sort of exercise regime. And just like a seaside fortune teller using their astonishing ability to balance probability, I’m going to guess that your new exercise regime is probably some form of HIIT.

HIIT is an acronym for High Intensity Interval Training whereby high intensity bouts of exercise are interspersed with lower intensity periods of rest or recovery.

Now before you marvel at my divine ability as a clairvoyance and beg me read your palm, I must confess, the reason I knew your new exercise regime was some form of HIIT is because nowadays you simply can’t step foot in a gym without someone banging on about its super powers.

Go on social media and you see personal trainers and their devout followers evangelically banging on about HIIT, HIIT and blimmin’ more HIIT. In a bid to seek refuge from this bombardment, you switch on the TV only to find another personal trainer trying to flog you a fitness DVD which surprise, surprise is all based on HIIT.

But is all this fuss warranted?

On the face of it probably yes. Search the internet for its benefits and more fitness professionals appear extolling its virtues than Lindsay Lohan has short skirts! According to renowned fitness expert Brad Schoenfeld HIIT trumps traditional steady state cardio (running, jogging, cycling at ‘lowish’ intensities) because it burns more calories and requires about half the time. (There are numerous other benefits too and I urge you to check out Brad’s website for more info on this: www.lookgreatnaked.com).

However, it would be remiss of me if I didn’t mention at this point that equally renowned expert Lyle McDonald refutes the grandness of many of these claims. (Check out his excellent website for more info on this: www.bodyrecomposition.com).

So, is there a down side to HIIT?

Oh yes, there most certainly is and it can mean different things to different people. For example, if you’re new to exercise and approach training in a balls-out type of manner, HIIT, if done in the high doses and at the frequency that many personal trainers recommend, can lead to overtraining and injury and even quitting exercise altogether.

Conversely, if you have what in polite society is described as a lazes-faire attitude towards training and you approach HIIT with the same level of motivation as a prisoner on death-row you’ll end up doing low intensity work for even less time than if you were doing steady state cardio. In which case, you may be better of sticking to steady state cardio and forgetting about HIIT altogether.

Rubbish, sprinters always perform HIIT and they don’t suffer from overtraining!

I hear this argument lots, and up to a point it’s correct – sprinters, do largely train using HIIT, and as a former sprinter I should know. But believe me, a large amount of our training was not performed using the ridiculously tough protocols which many personal trainers advocate for fat loss.

No, our training was based largely around working at ‘maximumish’ levels for anywhere between 10 – 30 seconds with recoveries of up to 3 - 6 minutes in between, so overall far less intense than many people think.

So, it’s all a question of Intensity then?   

Yes, and personal preference. HIIT has many benefits if used prudently. If you’re a beginner, in a bid to stave of injury and overtraining, keep the work time relatively low and rest high, something like a ratio of 1:4 or 1:3 work: rest is generally a good starting point and as you get fitter try to reduce your ratio of rest.

But if you don’t enjoy the ‘go hard or go home’ training approach then don’t do HIIT. The key to effective training is sustainability and if HIIT doesn’t float your boat stick to the steady state cardio as there may not be that much of a difference between that an HIIT with regards to calorie burn after all.

In conclusion…

HIIT is a welcome form of training which I personally utilise a lot with my own training, but just because its espoused incessantly by social media fitness ‘experts’ it most certainly doesn’t mean it’s the only way, or correct way to train given an individual’s circumstances!

I approach HIIT with my clients in much the same way as I approach watching comedian David Walliams:

Given the right circumstances HIIT can be very effective, just as, at times David Walliams can be very funny. But unfortunately, his persona based largely on ‘is he straight/is he gay’ soon becomes very boring and hard for my head to handle, just as too much HIIT becomes too hard for many people’s bodies to handle!

If you like to train hard, and get it over and done with give HIIT a whirl, just go easy on how hard and how often you do it, to reduce the risk of injury or over training. If you approach your training with the same level of intensity as Joey Essex approached his school work, you may be better off opting for steady state cardio!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

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