Interval training has gained in popularity over the last few years, but it is far from a new scientific practice. I actually don’t know who first coined the term ‘interval training’ but it’s been around as long as we’ve been doing exercise (i.e. since ancient Greek/Roman times), but it wasn’t really until the 1970’s that it started to be studied in sports science laboratories.

Interval training has gained in popularity due to a number of great research articles coming out that showed shorter more intense workouts were better at burning fat and delivering fitness capacity gains than one paced cardio sessions.(steady state cardio is the actual term).

It’s because of these studies that a new type of interval training has been popularised.

It’s called High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

HIIT is the type of training that I use with a lot of my clients and in a lot of my programs as it gives great results. However, it does not mean that HIIT is the only type of interval training you can do.

Have you ever heard of Fartlek training?

It’s a Swedish word that means Speed Play.
Unlike HIIT it uses lots of different and varying levels of intensity to deliver results.

So your typical HIIT would look something like this:

Work Hard for 20 secs (resistance training or some form of cardio machine, running outdoors)

Rest 10 secs

Repeat for 4-5 minutes.

Rest 1-2 mins and then do another set of exercises.

A typical Fartlek Program might look a little like this:

5 mins easy jog

5 mins fast pace run

2 mins flat out pace run

100m strides (i.e.over striding type drills or skipping type drills), rest 30 secs x 5-10

5 mins easy jog

10 x Hill sprints with walk back recovery

Etc etc

Until you have completed a workout that lasts 30-50 minutes.

So not all of work would be carried out at a really high intensity.

You can also apply this sort of thing to a cardio workout on a fitness machine. So that you may just have small and less intense changes in the interval ‘paces’. If you are only able to walk for instance then you might do this:

Walk @ 6 km/h up a 7.5 gradient for 5 mins

Walk @ 6.5 km/h up a 5 gradient for 5 mins

Walk @ 5.5 km/h up a 10 gradient for 5 mins

Etc etc

By now you should be getting the idea that if you are not ready to do HIIT then you can still get some of the benefits by working at lower intensities. So there is no excuse to continue with your long, slow, boring, one paced cardio workout anymore.

So what's the myth I hear you say...well the myth is that interval training has to be of the high intensity type. You'll get decent results doing lower intensity intervals (maybe not as good as with HIIT) but then not everyone is at a level where they can do HIIT.

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The amount of people who use high intensity interval training (HIIT) in recent years has grown rapidly as people move away from the old traditional execises like steady running and cycling in favour of this relatively new type of training that really is not up to scratch.

Here are the 9 reasons why HIIT sucks!

1.  It’s not liked it’s based on any real scientific data!  The studies conducted by Tabbata et al  showed that doing steady long durnation training like running and cycling lead to massive fitness and fat loss benefits compared with the HIIT group who hardly improved at all!!

2.  Another really annoying thing about high intensity training is that you have to have specialist pieces of equipment.  You have to be a member of a gym or health lub to actually do HIIT, unlike other training that can be carried out anywhere in the world with minimal amounts of equipment!!

3.  If fat burning is an issue for you then avoid HIIT like the plague, you’ll never get any real benefits from doing this type of intense exercise.  Doing long slow boring cardio will give you the best fat burning potential!!

4.  If you have hours to work out in the gym then HIIT may not be the best for you, it takes ages to do a full workout.  When you consider that other sessions can be done in a as little as 20  minutes you need to make sure that the high intensity sessions are never used unless you camp out at the gym!!

5.  Another physiological reason for avoiding this type of intense workout is that it really doesn’t do much for your aerobic capacity.  When this increases your heart and lungs work more efficiently, HIIT really does not do this!

6.  It’s not adaptable.  Interval training is a one size fits all type of workout.  there is absoloutley know ability to adapt exercises or workout times to match the individual person doing it.  Wouldn’t it be great if it was applicable to a whole variety of the population!

7.  It’s rubbish a delivering results in a only a handful of sessions, it takes ages to feel the benefit.

8.  Some other programs have some really simple and cheap apps that make it easier to get variety in the workouts.   There is one on the iPhone that costs less than the cost of a chocolate bar – I wish they’d bring out something for HIIT.

9.  Unlike other types of exercise intensity training, you need to do HIIT at least a couple of times a day to get any results, can you imagine using other techniques where you could workout everyother day and still get long term results.

Ok, so I was lying really, HIIT doesn’t suck and is actually one of the best forms of exercise you can do (if you’re up to it).  Every point I made obviously is one of the benefits of HIIT and therefore makes HIIT one of the best fat loss training tools.

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