Do you understand the method to the madness of your training? Have you thought about why are you doing the sessions? And not just because you have to or ‘it’s good for the body.’ What are you really wanting to gain from using the body? Exercise is not just about exercise. It’s not just about moving the body and getting the heart rate up. Your body has so much more value than that! Not only that, but it also needs to be respected so. Especially in the day and age where careers are less active, traffic travel time is increasing and everyone begins to feel time-poor. What often happens, people will resort to HIIT training, as it seems like more bang for your buck. Note the keyword…seem. However, there are several holes to longevity with this type of training. Maybe this has a correlation with the number of new members transferring from HIIT-based training and successfully adopting the progressive strength & conditioning style.
1. LEGIT HIIT?
A lot of online programs and group training sessions lately have been advertised as ‘High Intensity Interval Training’ but by true classification, completely miss the mark! Yes, they are prescribing interval training, but it is not true high intensity. HIIT allows for almost FULL recovery between the working sets so you CAN hit 85-90% maximal performance through each round. 30second on, 30seconds off is not HIIT. Yes, you will be gassed and it feels like you’re giving it everything but you will not hit 85- 90% maximal performance every time.
2. INJURY RISK!
Our bodies are not designed to handle this type of training for 45-60mins, 4-5 days per week. In terms of building muscle health and tendon integrity, you will not see the benefits in comparison to a progressive strength program. Our tissues need HEAVY loads WITH quality control to appropriately adapt and strengthen. I’m not talking hypertrophy (muscle building), I’m talking about strength and stability! These are the KEY aspects for reducing injury risk. I have seen several injury rehab clients with a background of excessive HIIT training struggle with burnout, tendinopathies (overuse injuries) and delayed recovery from their pain flares. High frequency, low control, long term stress is not ideal for any body.
3. THERE IS A PLACE FOR HIIT!
This is not a HIIT bashing blog. In fact, I genuinely enjoy HIIT! But there is a smart way to include it, which makes it better! How? By appropriately designing a HIIT session, the recovery time and combining with foundational strength training… it feels more effective and recovery time is efficient = enjoyable hard work without pushing through breaking point (enjoyable being subjective here). Sprinkle in 1-2 HIIT sessions per week around the strength and let the body adapt.
Like most things, this isn’t black and white. HIIT is neither good nor bad. BUT whenever you are putting your body through stress, you need to understand the effects it will have and how to use it to your advantage. If you are going to do the work, make sure you’re working smarter and not just harder! Here at P360, most of our sessions prioritise the progressive strength training as our body handles the work and can adapt appropriately to it. Our conditioning component (10-15min session ‘finishers’) and HIST class (High Intensity Strength Training) offer the aspects of HIIT, but the way they are intended to benefit the body. Using HIIT work to compliment, not compete, the foundational building blocks is our method to the madness!