HIT is being adapted as a training method for different age groups
This pace isn’t typically defi ned in terms of % HR max, since the sprints are necessarily brief owing to the all-out pace. “In comparison, a running pace equivalent to half that of an all-out sprint is still diffi cult and might elicit approximately 90 per cent of maximal heart rate. In terms of practical application in a health club setting, I would therefore suggest a pace that would be rated as eight or nine out of 10, averaged over the course of the 10 intervals.” And in terms of the benefi ts, Gibala explains: “Our group’s recent study (Hood et al. 2011), reported in the October 2011 issue of MSSE (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise), showed that six sessions of the practical HIT model over two weeks improved estimated insulin sensitivity in previously sedentary, overweight individuals. “We also recently showed that low-
volume HIT was effective and well- tolerated in people with Type 2 diabetes (Little et al. 2011): two weeks of HIT reduced average 24-hour blood glucose concentration and the magnitude of glucose spikes after meals. “The new protocol is time-effi cient: it’s a 20-minute training session. Importantly, this model is still effective at inducing rapid skeletal muscle remodelling, similar to our previous ‘all-out’ HIT studies and high-volume endurance training.”
THEORY INTO PRACTICE So how can we commercialise the HIT protocol and realise its benefi ts among gym-goers? What are the considerations when implementing it in a health club environment? How do we market it?
august 2012 © cybertrek 2012
Randy Huntington, global director of marketing, performance, education and research at Keiser, explains: “HIT is less suitable for building muscle bulk and will provide smaller maximal strength gains than outright weight training. And in circuit training, the number of repetitions on each station also tends to be relatively high, putting each exercise at the endurance end of the intensity continuum.
“However, interval training can be
easily structured to provide a whole body workout, and need not require expensive gym kit. Participants normally work in small groups, allowing beginners to be guided by more experienced exercisers as well as by the instructor. It can be adapted to any size of workout area, customised and adapted to any sport. The Cooper Institute in Dallas calls it ‘the most scientifi cally proven exercise
THE TRUTH ABOUT EXERCISE
The BBC’s Horizon documentary, The Truth About Exercise – which aired in the UK in February – featured presenter Michael Mosley investigating ways in which people can get fi t without spending hours at the gym, from incidental activity as part of everyday life through to high-intensity interval training (HIT). Under the guidance of researchers at the University of Birmingham, Mosley
undertook a four-week intervention programme based on just 3 x 20 seconds’ maximal effort on an indoor cycle, three times a week. Data from the university’s studies reveal that this sort of high-intensity training can result in many of the health benefi ts people would normally expect only if they committed to long gym workouts – health benefi ts in terms of both aerobic capacity (VO2
max) and insulin function. However, the attainment of these results is subject to people’s genetic make-
up, with some people simply classifi ed as ‘non-responders’. Mosley achieved an impressive 23 per cent improvement in his insulin function in the space of four weeks. However, he made no improvement to his VO2
max.
Nonetheless, across the sample of the study, the interval training was shown to be highly effective at shifting both scores in individuals whose bodies were genetically predisposed to positively respond to exercise. The hypothesis is that this is a result of HIT using far more of our muscle tissue than classic, typically more moderate, aerobic exercise.
Read Health Club Management online at
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