Thursday, June 11, 2009

moderate-intensity endurance training VS. high-intensity interval training

There were two Groups of people and each group worked out 5 days a week for 6 consecutive weeks


The first group, we will call them "Waste of Time" performed 60 min of moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise per day


The second group, we will call them "Smart" performed 4 minutes of intense-interval cardiovascular exercise per day

Both Groups used the same mode of exercise


The "Waste of Time" group worked out for a total of 30 hours after which time their Aerobic and Anaerobic capacities were measured to see how much they improved. Well they increased the efficiency with which they use and process oxygen by 5 ml/kg/min (VO2max) and increased their Anaerobic capacity by NOTHING


The "Smart" group worked out for a total of 2 hours after which time their Aerobic and Anaerobic capacities were also measured to see how much they improved. Well they increased the efficiency with which they use and process oxygen by 7 ml/kg/min (VO2max) and increased their Anaerobic capacity by a freaking 28%


So lets compare.

30 hrs to get 5 vs. 2 hrs to get 7 and...

30 hrs to get 0% vs. 2 hrs to get 28%

If some of your cardio sessions are not high intensity interval, then you are doing yourself a disservice.


here is the study, that goodness for Dr. Tabatta


However, this is not the complete story and there are many benefits that can be derived from those long slow runs that you just don't get when you do intervals but I'm going to save that info for the next post. After that I will talk about how to structure interval training.

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