High-Intensity Interval Training Is the Best Way to Get Fit During the Pandemic

Getting fit or staying fit has been one of the greatest challenges for people at home during lockdown. Dr. Andrew Keech from the University of New South Wales recommends a certain type of exercise to get back in shape efficiently.

Dr. Keech, who has been studying exercise for the past two decades, recommends high-intensity interval training or HIIT. However, many seem to overlook HIIT and believe it may just be another trendy workout and would rather do sports or low-impact workouts like jogging.

In reality, explained Dr. Keech, most sports follow an unstructured form of HIIT such as basketball or rugby. When playing a sport, athletes generally make short and vigorous efforts then have a short period of rest before another hard effort.

Origins of HIIT

In other words, HIIT is the same as working hard for a while, recovering, and repeating the process - something athletes have been doing for a long time. It was only until the 1990s that HIIT became mainstream thanks to Tabata training, designed by Dr. Izumi Tabata from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kagoshima. His entire workout lasted only four minutes with eight 20-second exercise periods and 10 seconds of rest in between each interval.

Dr. Keech, who has no time for slow jogs, does his own HIIT workout. At a hill near his home, he runs uphill for 20 seconds at intense speed then walks downhill, repeating the process five times.

In 2007, Norweigian scientists released one of the earliest studies on the cardiovascular benefits of HIIT. In a cardiac rehab center, Ulrik Wisloff and his team compared HIIT for patients recovering from heart failure compared to moderate continuous training. Aerobic fitness was significantly improved in patients who did HIIT compared to those who did traditional moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT).

"Aerobic fitness," explained Dr. Keech, "is an index of how well a range of bodily systems are functioning and it's a strong, independent predictor of mortality risk, especially for cardiovascular disease which causes things like heart attacks." Other studies have also proven that HIIT is beneficial for diabetic patients or reducing the risk of developing diabetes.

"Genuine Intervention" During the Pandemic

Even for those who don't exercise, starting is never too late. People can start with MICT and gradually progress into HIIT.

Getting fitter, he clarifies, is not just about losing weight, but means losing fat. It would be better to keep track of your waistline and not your weight since the increase of muscle mass may cause weight gain due to water retention. One of his previous studies showed that without dietary change, both HIIT and MICT could lead to nearly four pounds of fat loss after 10 weeks of training three times a week.

In conclusion, Dr. Keech said that HIIT is a "genuine intervention" that people can start at any time. The human body likes to work hard, he said, and HIIT has a range of advantages ranging from improving overall health to reducing the risk of early death.

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