By Jade Teta ND, CSCS and
Keoni Teta ND, LAc, CSCS
clients. And guess what we found out
is irrelevant. The volume, 1,000, is ex-
the next day? We were sore. A sure sign
actly the same and therefore the results
takes a back seat to duration in almost
of a meaningful training stimulus.
will be equal. In this way a lightweight
all conventional exercise programs.
lifted repeatedly over and over with pur-
Given a choice most personal trainers
Short bouts are effective
pose can generate the same response of
and exercise enthusiasts will defer to an
a heavier weight only lifted a few times.
hour-long workout of low to moderate
In the old way of thinking, it was
Intensity is a concept that is a little
intensity over a higher intensity workout
thought that to be of value exercise had
more intuitive. If you run for 30 min-
of shorter duration.
to last a certain amount of time (i.e.,
utes at an easy pace or 30 minutes at
However, when time becomes a
20-60 minutes). We are not sure exact-
a hard pace the duration of the work-
factor the blitz-training model can de-
ly where this idea comes from or why
out remains the same but the intensity
liver a strong stimulus. Several studies
people continue to perpetuate it but
is drastically different. A higher intensity
have shown a one set to failure proto-
the fact is, one set to complete failure
usually delivers a better result. Intensity
col can have signifi cant effects. Two
is a valuable and productive stimulus
to maintain fi tness and even develop it.
The idea that exercise has to be continu-
ous for a certain time is a fallacy that has
been debunked. Even the American Col-
lege of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have
acknowledged this fact. In 1995 they re-
leased a joint statement reporting short
bouts of activity induce an effective
physiological training response.
Whatever the reasons for the con-
tinued perpetuation of long duration
workouts, one thing is certain; people
are fi nding it more and more diffi cult
to spend even 20 minutes working out.
This leads many to believe that they just
don’t have the time to exercise. How-
ever, done properly even a 10 second
workout of signifi cant intensity can be
a strong driver of results. If you don’t
believe it, go talk to a 100-yard-dash
sprinter. In 10 seconds they are able to
deliver an incredibly powerful exercise
stimulus that has defi nite benefi cial met-
abolic affects. If this 10-second sprint
were repeated several times through the
day, the effect could be even greater. If
people don’t have time to train then we
say lets take time out of the equation?
That is what blitz training does.
Blitz training concepts
Two important concepts are chang-
ing exercise thinking, volume and inten-
sity.
Volume is a concept that many per-
sonal trainers overlook. Essentially the
concept of volume says that it is the to-
tal volume of work that is the driver of
results in exercise. Whether you lift 100
pounds 10 times or 10 pounds 100 times
MAY 2009
57
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