High Intensity Training

[Harry H Howgill]

This BBC article on High Intensity Training (HIT) looks interesting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17177251

Although it appears that it can have an effect on the health of some people it probably wouldn't help greatly the fitness of someone who is already at least moderately fit. (Forumites.)

The following article discusses using HIT for training increases the interval times.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/0...raining&st=cse

I was wondering how many people fit some sort of high intensity interval training into their training regime.

[Trimm Trab]

I do, if I've only got a short amount of time to do some exercise then I'll often do short (very) sharp intervals if only because it's a bit more interesting than banging out half an hour at the same pace. I've also started to add intervals into my twice/thrice weekly run home from work (can't be bothered in the morning!) - though they might be a bit long (over a minute), to count as 'high intensity'.

My totally unscientific conclusion is: they help. Quite a bit actually. I don't think this should be any great surprise though; lots of highly trained athletes have been using HIT (such as the Tabata method) in their regimes for years. I understand that HIT sessions were featured in Horizon last night, with the result that this morning loads of people at work were hailing it as a cutting edge breakthrough that meant they could get 'fit' by doing three minutes exercise a week, or something like that!

[superflyguy]

I do a tabata (20secs hard, 10secs recovery x8) once a weeks. i really hurts! no scientific basis for my thoughts but i'd say it was good and my interval speeds have come down, still want to throw up at the end though!
i suspect it's too difficult to make a proper analysis due to all the other training.

I am unsure about advocating such training methods to 'unfit' persons should be very demanding and probably not suited to those just starting out.

[noel]

I was discussing this with my colleague over a run at lunchtime today. Although HIT would be great for a lot of people, this doesn't really tick what most people exercise for:
feeling better about themselves
losing weight
enjoyment
taking part in a competitive sport
teamwork
social

Also, if you're not a committed exerciser, the idea of doing 20 second eye-balls-out reps would put most people off. So, in summary, although it has the potential to improve the health of the nation, very few people will do it. And those who do will be those who were already doing a fair bit of exercise.

[andy k]

Didn't see the programme (thankfully since it would have wasted an hour of my life)

Amused to read the article and the earth shattering discovery that a tiny volume of intense Anaerobic training did not improve the guy's aerobic fitness.
It dosn't need a genetic test to tell you that ain't going to work - Professor Jamie Timmons

[Rob Furness]

I tried Tabata intervals a few times last winter, but to be honest I didn't like them. Not because they're hard, but because the session is too short for me to feel like it's worth bothering. I'll stick with speedwork and tempo runs thanks.

[Deadlegs]

Didn't see the programme (thankfully since it would have wasted an hour of my life)

Amused to read the article and the earth shattering discovery that a tiny volume of intense Anaerobic training did not improve the guy's aerobic fitness.
It dosn't need a genetic test to tell you that ain't going to work - Professor Jamie Timmons

It does work in most cases. People have mentioned Tabata training which is , unsurprisingly, based on a study by a japanese bloke called Tabata and involves 4 minutes of work after warm up. It has been shown to be very effective and the science is on tinterweb ( I can't do that thing where you link to other sites).