• Workout at home: how to get fit in 7 minutes

Less than a month ago, on March 18, an investigation was published warning about the unwanted consequences of excessive 'use' of high intensity interval training (hiit).

According to this study, conducted by researchers from the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences and the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm (Sweden),

abusing hiits could damage mitochondria,

the energy generators found in every cell in the body.

Before analyzing what that 'obsessive use' would be, it is convenient to explain what these trainings consist of and where their extraordinary popularity comes from.

Quick, effective and 'presumably' simple

to execute (if you have a good physical condition and master the technique of each of the exercises that compose them), these routines gain followers every day, in addition, due to that magical effect that allows

Keep burning calories

until hours after the session ends.

"In the last decade, hiit has become one of the most effective strategies to

improve the physical qualities and capacities

of the people we train," says Carolina Álvarez López, a CAFYDE graduate (collegiate 54,842).

Its applications extend "to the different areas that physical activity encompasses, from

high performance for elite athletes

(due to its objective of

improving maximum oxygen consumption

) to

common

physical exercise programs

or those with various pathologies that wish to improve their quality of life (overweight people, diabetes, cancer, coronary heart disease, etc.) ".

Beyond "the effects and adaptations generated during the session", its 'great miracle' lies "in the work that the body is 'forced' to carry out after the session, which causes

energy expenditure that lasts up to 24 hours

after having performed the exercise ".

Neither better nor worse than other methodologies, Álvarez López clarifies that "it is simply

one more tool

when planning training."

WEEKLY SESSIONS

According to José López Chicharro, doctor of Medicine and Surgery and professor of Exercise Physiology at the Complutense University of Madrid, in HIIT: High Intensity Interval Training, a hiit should meet the following criteria to be considered as such:

- Intensity at 100% of maximum aerobic speed (VAM) or VO max.

- Duration of the interval of 3-4 min.

- Active recovery, maximum efficiency at 50% of VAM.

As short as possible.

- We must accumulate at least 10 minutes of work in the red zone (VO max).

Requirements that, as Chicharro points out, will only be able to tolerate

high-level athletes

and only

once or twice a week

at most, since the

recovery period

between sessions should be approximately

48 hours

.

That is, if "more than two sessions a week or two a day on alternate days for five days are carried out, surely they will be 'sweetened'".

Despite all this, Carolina Álvarez López recalls that practically "

any exercise stimulus is valid to improve all the physiological qualities

of inactive people or people with little adherence to exercise; it does not have to be a pure hiit, there are different application models" .

From his point of view, the key is

scheduling

, that is, finding the right dose to deliver to get the desired results. "

For this, it is essential "

quantification

(monitoring of the blood lactate level or heart rate measurement, with the Perceived Exertion Scale ...) and the

design of the session

individually to properly adapt the training load and the progression, especially in terms of health. "

Two premises that would only be achieved by always working "with

qualified professionals

who value and individualize planning based on the characteristics and objectives of each person, because nothing is good or bad and not doing more is better", he concludes.

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