HIIT Moves Out of the Exercise Lab and into the Real World
The HIIT movement (high-intensity interval training) has been gaining popularity among elite athletes and serious, younger, well-conditioned exercisers for several years. Now a scaled-back version may be ready for wider use among older, less fit, and overweight individuals, as well as those with certain health issues.
The science behind HIIT is that in controlled trials, short bursts of relatively intense exercise followed by brief recovery breaks, repeated several times, produced the same benefits as traditional endurance training, but in much less time. “Relatively intense” exercise is achieved by reaching a high percentage of recommended maximum heart rate (see What You Should Know) during exercise. Since the first studies were published, variations of HIIT have been designed for runners, swimmers, cyclists, weight-trainers, and others.
WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF US? But while HIIT seems like a good idea for the upper echelon of exercisers, is there evidence that this kind of program has any value for the average person?
“Yes,” says Martin Gibala, PhD, Chair of the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, and one of the pioneers in HIIT. “Much of our work has been conducted on previously sedentary, but otherwise healthy, individuals, as well as a few studies on people with cardiometabolic diseases.”
One specific protocol tested by McMaster researchers required one minute of relatively hard effort while cycling, followed by one minute of rest or light exercise, repeated 10 times, for a total of 20 minutes, three times a week. The subjects were 65 years of age or older and had either type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
The results, replicated in similar trials in Denmark (which involved walking), showed that the HIIT exercisers had greater improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness and reductions in blood sugar compared to exercisers who walked the same total distance at a slower pace in a continuous manner (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, October 2011; the first in a series of studies).
“An important point is that absolute intensity can be scaled to different fitness levels in order to elicit a similar work intensity,” explains Dr. Gibala.
REAL WORLD APPLICATIONS. In Christchurch, New Zealand, Helen Lunt, MD, and her associates at two universities and one hospital moved their HIIT research out of the exercise laboratory and into a real world setting—a public park program for inactive, overweight or obese, and at-risk participants, many of whom had not exercised for years (PLOS ONE, March 18, 2014).
“The program produced less improvement in fitness than was seen in some laboratory-based studies,” says Dr. Lunt, “but HIIT was not the ‘magic pill’ we had hoped for, though participants did see minor improvements by the end of 12 weeks.”
BENEFITS AND RISKS. Both Dr. Lunt and Dr. Gibala recognize the advantages and limitations of HIIT, and neither is suggesting that it should replace other forms of exercise.
“The time-saving benefits hold great appeal for busy people who struggle to find the time to exercise,” says Dr. Lunt. “But we don’t yet know the best HIIT exercise prescription, and we need additional research of longer overall duration. Also, our study suggested that outdoor walking/jogging HIIT activities might increase the risk of minor foot and leg injuries.”
She adds that combining exercise with a healthy eating program is likely to be the most effective way to achieve most health and fitness goals.
“We are not saying that people should only perform HIIT, or that it induces all of the benefits of continuous moderate-intensity training, or that it replaces current public health guidelines,” says Dr. Gibala. “However, given that lack of time remains the number one barrier to regular exercise, HIIT warrants consideration by health care professionals and exercisers.”
CHECK AND MODIFY. Check with your doctor first, then set exercise goals that you feel comfortable modifying if “life gets in the way,” says Dr. Lutz.
“If HIIT doesn’t turn out to be convenient and/or fun,” she concludes, “there are plenty of other ways you can achieve your health goals.”
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