HIIT will make you Stronger, Faster, Leaner
HIIT will make you stronger, faster and leaner…..One of the ways it does that is by improving your lactate threshold (LT).
What is Lactate Threshold?
Lactate threshold is the level of exercise intensity where lactic acid builds up in your bloodstream and you begin to feel that lactic acid burn. In the world of athletic science, LT is usually expressed as a percentage of VO2 max.
What is VO2 Max?
VO2 max is defined as “the highest rate of oxygen consumption attainable during maximal or exhaustive exercise”
Essentially, it is a measurement of how much oxygen you can get into your muscles during exercise, and is widely accepted as the single best measure of cardiovascular fitness and maximal aerobic power.
The Magic of HIIT
So how does LT & VO2 Max make me stronger, faster, leaner?
- If you can delay the build up of lactic acid in your blood, you can trainer longer, faster, harder.
- If you can train longer, faster, harder, you will become stronger, faster leaner.
And how do we delay the lactic acid burn, increase our LT and maximize our VO2 max?
Well, according to this study, high intensity interval training significantly increases LT and VO2 max.
The Study
Researchers took 20 physically active individuals and put them through one of two separate 6 week training programs.
- Group 1 performed 1 interval training workout per week
- Group 2 performed 2 interval training workouts per week
After 6 weeks,
- Group 1 improved their LT by 4.3%
- Group 2 improved thei LT by 8.2%
Conclusion
Not only is interval training (HIIT) a successful strategy for improving LT and VO2 max, there is a dose-response relationship between frequency of interval training and the magnitude of LT improvement.
In other words,
- if you increase your HIIT, you increase your LT
- if you increase your LT, you increase your VO2 max
- if you increase your LT & VO2 max, you get stronger & faster & leaner….
And who wouldn’t want to get stronger, faster & leaner?
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Jimbo
February 28, 2011 at 11:06 pm
Fake post
healthhabits
March 1, 2011 at 7:06 am
Fake comment
Irene
January 11, 2011 at 5:39 pm
I absolutely love HIIT. Cathe Friedrich & P90X have great HIIT workouts. I also love doing it on my Spinning bike – less stressful on the joints than doing it on the floor. If you have issues with the knees, you may also try using a “rebounder” or small trampoline – takes all the impact out of the move.
Marc Perry
December 4, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Just wanted to let you know I find your website to be very informative and your free E-Book was compelling. Conceptually, I’ve always been drawn to the “Paleo” type of nutrition strategy, but I think it becomes confusing because there are so many different schools of thought, and different levels of devotees. You definitely made the subject easier to understand.
Thanks for all the hard work on your website and providing readers with great value! You are a very prolific writer to say the least. I have trouble with one post per week.
tyesi
November 28, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Who is the man on the right of the image? He’s a gymnast but for which country?
healthhabits
November 29, 2010 at 5:52 am
He-s an Olympic weightlifter, but his name/country escapes me right now
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Fat Burning Hormones
October 22, 2010 at 3:49 pm
HIIT with weight training is what I find most effective for me. Getting on and nearing 40, I find that sprints are just too hard on the joints. I go to about 70% weight of what I can lift and up the repetitions with 30sec intervals. Great article, thank you.
SixMDMatt
October 20, 2010 at 9:45 am
I still wonder what the upper limit is for HIIT, can you do HIIT 3, 4, 5, 6?? times a week? When I have been in my “HIIT” groove the most I was doing was 3 official sessions a week, but I felt like I could do more, and probably was doing more considering some martial arts training is similar to HIIT (sparring, striking bags, even kata are fast and then slow at points) but I have always been concerned about over training. I would suspect when your reaching maximal heart rates, any over training is of more concern then just pushing more reps on a bar, but when I was in the “groove” I never felt like I was over training. Maybe HIIT is not really like weight lifting, the recovery is much faster?
healthhabits
October 20, 2010 at 10:14 am
Matt – take a look at the neural activation workout post – 10 minutes – very HIIT friendly
Kris
October 1, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Great post once again. And might I add HIIT is less boring? Always a plus for me
PS – I had to research to see what that stood for LOL – but I do this!
Nathan
August 29, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Hey I’m confused…HELP…are the HIIT activities done 5 days a week or 1-3? THANKS
George @ Gain Muscle Now
June 30, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Doug,
You are killin’ me with the pic of the kid with man-boobs! Great post though…and the picture does actually does inspire. I’ve done HIIT for years, but have never used a timer. I will check out your suggestion and maybe order a Gymboss interval timer like you recommend.
-George D
healthhabits
June 30, 2010 at 7:48 pm
They’re pretty…ain’t they?
Terry@Threeminutefit.com
June 29, 2010 at 10:41 pm
I am living proof of live longer and better with “HIIT” habits.
As a former golden glove boxer I was trained early using HIIT over 40 years ago. We didn’t call it anything but boxing routine back then.
But it was really high intensity interval training
You are right HIIT creates a health habit that can make anyone live longer and better. Yesterday at age 54 blood pressure 125/77 and I owe it all to the light routine I do 3 days a week, workouts I learned at age 14.
Lets conquer child obesity this decade.!!!
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James
June 16, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Great write up on an underused technique. I use HIIT frequently and it certainly does work. You’ll work your ass off whilst training, but the rewards are more than worth it.
The best thing is that it can be applied to near anything! I might do 30 sec sprint/1min jog on the treadmill one day, then the same on the bike another day. Can be applied to weight training too – highly recommended to the many people who are desperate for quick results.