High Intensity Interval Training vs Low Intensity Steady State – yep, MAXIM fitness guru, Alexa, runs through the ins and outs of cardio…
Most hard gainers and bodybuilders aren’t fans of cardio. And to be honest, what’s to like? At one end of the spectrum, it can be an absolute snooze fest, but on the other end – one of the most unpleasant, heart stopping and nausea inducing events of all time. However, while getting strong and jacked may help you look like a badass, if your gas runs out within a couple of minutes of hard work, can you really say you’re a badass?
The Mighty Mitochondria
All you really need to know is that mitochondria are known as the powerhouse of the cell, responsible for your body’s energy production. As you get older, they decrease in both density and function which has a knock on effect in the body and can lead to a decline in cognition, muscular performance and getting rid of glucose, essentially making it harder to lose body fat. In a nutshell, cardiovascular conditioning can be seen as anti-ageing.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: THE TRAINING ZONES
Everything you do in your training generally fits into one of the following energy systems.
- Neuromuscular Capacity or Anaerobic Power: This is when you produce the most intense power output, with each effort only tolerable for 20 seconds or less. This is your HEAVY lifting, and your ALL-OUT sprints – try 6-8 repetitions with 3-4 minutes of rest between each effort. If you don’t want to die after each individual sprint, you’re not doing it right. The best modalities to train this are sprints, hill sprints, sled work, ski erg, rower and air bike. Dr Andy Galpin (PhD in Human Bioenergetics) recommends getting to your Max HR at least once a week.
- Anaerobic Capacity: This is where it’s all about going AS HARD AS YOU CAN. While the duration is important, the intensity is even more important. This can be trained either with longer sets (1-3 minutes) and fairly long rest intervals (use a 1:3 – 1:5 work/rest ratio) or through high-intensity intervals. The best modalities to train this are full body barbell complexes, 150-300m Loaded Carries, 400-800m running sprints, 1-3 minute machine intervals (bike, rower, ski erg) OR intervals of 15-30 secs HARD/30-45 secs EASY. Try 6 x 30 secs HARD/30 secs EASY before resting 3 minutes and repeating 3-4 times.
TOP TIP: HIIT OR MISS
The term HIIT is thrown around far too loosely. High Intensity Interval Training should only be able to be done for a maximum of 20-30 minutes TOTAL if you’re doing it properly and hitting the required intensity in each interval. There is a difference between going hard and going as hard as you can. If you can comfortably keep going after 30 minutes, chances are you’re sitting in the grey middle zone of no man’s land – Medium Intensity Steady State – where you won’t reap the rewards of either your top tier energy systems or your easy recovery and endurance work.
- VO2 Max: To improve this score, you’re looking at interval repeats of 3-8 minutes at a max heart rate level of 90-100%. The best modalities to train this are running, biking and rowing.
TOP TIP: WHAT YOU DON’T MEASURE, YOU CAN’T MANAGE
If you’re a science geek and love to know your numbers, then VO2 Max Testing is a great tool for measuring the strength of your cardiovascular fitness. Essentially it tells you how much oxygen you can breathe in while exercising as hard as you can. Improving your VO2 max tends to improve most other capacities. The simplest way to do this on your own is to warm up then go at the maximum pace you can maintain for 8 minutes – the distance you cover in that time becomes your VO2 Max training pace i.e. if you make 2 kms in 8 mins then your VO2 max pace is 4 min/km.
- Anaerobic Threshold: The goal here is to spend a good amount of time – up to 15 minutes – with lactate in your muscles. Fartlek training i.e. varying high intensity intervals with “active recovery”, is an effective way of doing this. This style of training has been shown to cause the greatest increase in mitochondria. If you’re not a fan of traditional cardio, the good news is that you can use a full body weight training circuit of 3-5 exercises followed by 2 mins of active rest.
- Endurance (AKA Zone 2): This is what we generally see when we talk about LISS (Low Intensity Steady State Cardio), and you’re targeting a conversational heart rate of 60-70% for a longer period of time – 45+ minutes. This zone most effectively improves the body’s capacity to mobilise and utilise fat for fuel, and more importantly lays the foundation to be able to train effectively in EVERY OTHER ZONE. When I’m starting with a client, I always recommend 4-6 weeks of 2-3 x per week base building here before progressing onto HIIT.
The Interference Effect
In layman’s terms, this is a phenomenon that was first observed way back in 1980 and it showed that if you performed both strength work and Zone 2 cardio in the same program, it resulted in lower strength, less muscle growth and decreased power improvements compared to resistance training alone. However, thousands of studies since then have disproved this broscience theory with only 2 major caveats – do any performance goal based training (i.e. strength, hypertrophy) BEFORE your cardio or on a completely different day, and make sure you’re eating enough to remain in a calorie surplus to counteract the extra energy expenditure.
By Alexa Towersey
For the full article grab the November 2022 issue of MAXIM Australia from newsagents and convenience locations. Subscribe here.
