The Hottest Trend: High Intensity Interval Training
By Daryl Conant, M.Ed. T
he hottest trend in 2014 is High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). HIIT consists of performing short, intense, periods of exercise (10-20 seconds) followed by an active dynamic
recovery phase (10-30 seconds). This form of training will in- crease energy output by increasing: hormone production, blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen consumption, and lactate levels in a relatively short amount of time.
Benefits of HIIT
The benefit of HIIT is that it significantly increases the thermogenic effect. The thermogenic effect, is simply, the more intense the exercise becomes the greater the demand is placed on the systems, which helps create more energy for the contract- ibility of muscle fibers. The greater the amount of muscle fibers that are used, the more oxygen and vital nutrients (glucose, protein, vitamins, minerals, water) are needed to resynthesize the cells during the recovery phase. The idea is to increase as much heat in the muscles in as short a time as possible. Performing maximum contractibility of the muscles in short duration will promote greater overall muscle activation. The more muscle fibers are recruited the more sugar is depleted from the muscle cells providing energy. However, the glycogen depletion process is very taxing to the muscle. The muscle cell can only withstand a short duration of high intense exercise, because, during high levels of inten- sity, oxygen is not being used. The muscles must rely on sugar metabolism for energy. This would not be a good situation for long durations because obviously oxygen is needed to support the enduring properties of muscle tissue. In order to protect the muscles from being burned up completely during the anaerobic phase, lactic acid is formed in the muscle cell to help stop the contraction cycle. This is the burning feeling that is felt during intense exercise. Once the lactic acid accumulates in the mus- cles there needs to be a moment of recovery to clear it out of the muscle. The heart rate must be reduced to improve oxygen flow back into the muscle tissue. Once a brief recovery period is over the muscle can then again be influenced by another blast of high intensity.
10 Essential Living Maine ~ July/August 2014
Concerns with HIIT The muscles can only withstand a certain amount of high
intense cycles before it becomes problematic. Usually a muscle can perform 4-20 minutes of HIIT. The more intense the ex- ercise, the less duration is required to perform the exercise. Unfortunately, there is a down side of HIIT. Uneducated trainers, and exercise enthusiasts that are misinformed about the cor- rect exercise prescription of HIIT can promote overtraining. It is easy to overtrain using the HIIT method. It is becoming quite common for programs like Cross Fit, and intense boot camp style classes to produce negative side effects to its participants. Broken bones, dislocations, muscle tears, musculoskeletal dys- functions, ligament damage, and serious life threatening condi- tions known as Hyponatremia and Rhabdomyolysis are showing up during HIIT type classes.
Serious Medical Conditions
Hyponatremia is a serious physiological condition where there is too much blood flow to a particular extremity or muscle group that causes a reduction in blood sodium levels. Sodium loss can result in a loss of blood volume in the body, which triggers the release of ADH (Antidiuretic Hormone). ADH forces water retention to help keep the water from being completely eliminated from the body, shutting down the kidneys. I have witnessed guys training in hot temperatures in the gym, sweat- ing profusely and drinking a half gallon of water, then perform 5 sets of 20 reps of heavy squats. At the completion of the last set they would immediately go into the bathroom and vomit. Their buddies would be hooting and hollering, praising his efforts. What these primal barbarians failed to realize was that their buddy was actually in a serious condition. He was in a state of hyponatremia. After vomiting he came back to do more exercise. And
guess what happened, he threw up again! This time he didn’t make it out without an ambulance. He was so depleted that he couldn’t walk and was confused. Even when he was being carted away on the gurney his ignorant friends were still prais-
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