Oh My Stars and Garters!
Jul. 1st, 2007 07:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinanjuDear god, it feels like my lungs are trying to crawl out of my mouth in search of more oxygen!
So I read about something called HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training. It's a form of aerobic exercise that is supposed to be far superior to ordinary aerobics like jogging. It improves your endurance and also apparently improves your ability to burn fat (i.e., lose weight) as well. How?
The simplistic answer is that it accepts the basic principle that our bodies are inherently lazy. Whatever exercise routine you practice, your body will do its best to accomplish it with as little energy expenditure as possible. It makes sense--if your primitive ancestors had to forage for, or hunt down and kill, every calorie they consumed, then those who can stretch every meal as far as possible will do better at surviving the lean times than those who don't. Every calorie stored as fat instead of burned to keep you breathing is a calorie you can use later if times are tough.
What this means for Yours Truly (and you, too) is that if you jog every day in order to burn calories, improve your cardiovascular health and lose weight, it will help--but not as much as you might think because your body will be doing its best to use as little energy as possible in the process. Hight Intensity Interval Training is intended to sabotage that effort by preventing you from getting into a metabolic routine.
It works this way: After a five minute warm-up, you perform your chosen exercise (in my case, running) at top effort (in my case, by sprinting) for 30 seconds. Then you continue at a minimal level (jogging slowly) for thirty seconds. Repeat this cycle four times in the beginning (eventually working your way up to 15 minutes of alternately sprinting and jogging). Because you don't perform at a consistent level, your body can't be so lazy, which improves the aerobic and fat-burning value of the exercise.
Or so the laboratory tests tell us. And having done it just a little while ago, I'm a believer.
When I first read about this and saw that you started out by only doing the sprint/jog thing for four minutes I found that hard to believe. Only four minutes? That seems unlikely. I jog for 30 minutes at a stretch! How can four minutes (even if it's only at the beginning level) compare to that?
Well...I was wrong. Holy cow, but I was wrong! I did my five minute slow warm-up jog, then worked through the four minute routine and it left me gasping for breath and more tired than a full half hour of jogging ever did. I haven't felt that wiped out after running in a very long time, if ever. And that was shortest training interval. At the moment I can hardly imagine being able to work my way up to the 15 minute cycle.
But I wasn't sure I'd be able to work up to a half hour run once upon a time. So I can probably manage this too. I'll let you know how it goes.
So I read about something called HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training. It's a form of aerobic exercise that is supposed to be far superior to ordinary aerobics like jogging. It improves your endurance and also apparently improves your ability to burn fat (i.e., lose weight) as well. How?
The simplistic answer is that it accepts the basic principle that our bodies are inherently lazy. Whatever exercise routine you practice, your body will do its best to accomplish it with as little energy expenditure as possible. It makes sense--if your primitive ancestors had to forage for, or hunt down and kill, every calorie they consumed, then those who can stretch every meal as far as possible will do better at surviving the lean times than those who don't. Every calorie stored as fat instead of burned to keep you breathing is a calorie you can use later if times are tough.
What this means for Yours Truly (and you, too) is that if you jog every day in order to burn calories, improve your cardiovascular health and lose weight, it will help--but not as much as you might think because your body will be doing its best to use as little energy as possible in the process. Hight Intensity Interval Training is intended to sabotage that effort by preventing you from getting into a metabolic routine.
It works this way: After a five minute warm-up, you perform your chosen exercise (in my case, running) at top effort (in my case, by sprinting) for 30 seconds. Then you continue at a minimal level (jogging slowly) for thirty seconds. Repeat this cycle four times in the beginning (eventually working your way up to 15 minutes of alternately sprinting and jogging). Because you don't perform at a consistent level, your body can't be so lazy, which improves the aerobic and fat-burning value of the exercise.
Or so the laboratory tests tell us. And having done it just a little while ago, I'm a believer.
When I first read about this and saw that you started out by only doing the sprint/jog thing for four minutes I found that hard to believe. Only four minutes? That seems unlikely. I jog for 30 minutes at a stretch! How can four minutes (even if it's only at the beginning level) compare to that?
Well...I was wrong. Holy cow, but I was wrong! I did my five minute slow warm-up jog, then worked through the four minute routine and it left me gasping for breath and more tired than a full half hour of jogging ever did. I haven't felt that wiped out after running in a very long time, if ever. And that was shortest training interval. At the moment I can hardly imagine being able to work my way up to the 15 minute cycle.
But I wasn't sure I'd be able to work up to a half hour run once upon a time. So I can probably manage this too. I'll let you know how it goes.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 05:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-02 06:09 am (UTC)I run a program called Super High Intensively Trainng. I provide the program outline, the guidance on how to do the program, and the motiviation that you need to successfully complete the program. While the initial fee is quite reasonable, there is constant monitoring and the financial penalties for non compliance are severe.
So, just send me $19.99 and I'll give you all the SHIT you can handle.