We Need To Talk About...HIIT

   We've talked about this before, we'll probably talk about this again, in fact, everyone who reads a health column in any publication will have talked about this: High Intensity Interval Training. If you have a problem with your vowels, you almost definitely should not talk about this.

WTFIHIIT?

   Essentially, it is a form of cardiovascular training that incorporates short bursts of high intensity with sometimes, but not always, longer intervals at a low intensity. It can be applied to anything: running, rowing, squatting, boxing, jumping etc.

Paint a picture for us Freddie, please...

   The following is done on an exercise bike...

• 30 seconds at 5 RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion - I apologise for these acronyms; it appears we can not escape the claws of pseudo-communication. Thank you Hank)
• 20 seconds at 7 RPE – this is the preparation stage: you should be getting up to speed, moving up the gears, increasing resistance, so that come the end of the 20 seconds you are flying – don't waste two of the following ten seconds catching up, it's not cool, man.
• 10 seconds at 10 RPE – you can not physically be going any faster, the resistance is up and you should be struggling, really struggling.
• Go straight back into the 30 second period, without stopping, and repeat the minute sequence FIVE times, cycle gently for two minutes, then repeat another FIVE times.
  
  
  OR
  
  
• 40 seconds at 5 RPE
• 20 seconds at 10 RPE
• Repeat FOUR times, cycle gently for two minutes, then repeat another FOUR times

   Now, for this to work you have to go 'hell for leather' during the 10 second burst, otherwise you are nought but another gym sheep, ensnared by the monotonous rhythms of elliptical life, destined to keep your heart rate at a steady 60%; the grass is absolutely greener on the other side. Ba-ram-u...

Porqui is it good for moi?

• You use your anaerobic and aerobic energy systems, which means you are often exercising without the use of oxygen - that hurts after a while but strengthens you heart considerably. Bonjour lactic acid. Pedal through the pain, please.
  
  
• Very good for sport – supplement it for a usual run or swim (whatever be your poison) and reap the rewards.

• It has been shown to burn your adipose tissue (body fat) 50% more effectively than steady cardio.
  
  
• You get the 'after-burn' – as we've discussed before in 'Oxygen Debt & Other First World Problems', this means you burn calories long after you've finished, for up to 24 hours after.
  
  
• You don't need equipment: you can run, jump, burpee...so long as you go 100%.
  
  
• Preserve muscle – good for metabolism and shape (looking good naked).
  
  
• It's not easy – good for the soul.
  
  
• Endorphines – good for feeling like you've wrestled a bear, naked, then swam with dolphins.
  
  
• Time – good for making it. The workouts above, including warm up and down, should whip no more than 20 minutes from your lives. Fact.

   I have barely scratched the surface of HIIT, so do have a deeper dig on-line  I shall also post other HIIT workouts in due course; for now I feel emotionally exhausted. I will instead rest on a bed of pedals and allow my dreams to float off into visions of florescent Lycra and energy systems, make of that what you will Freud.