PART SIX

QUICK-HIIT ANSWERS

Is HIIT just a trend that’s here today and gone tomorrow or is it here to stay?

Yes, I believe it is very much here to stay and actually the time is right for it to be a big hit (excuse the pun). Unlike core training and functional exercise, it’s a much easier thing to get your head around because the benefits seem to fairly accurately reflect the amount of effort you put into the process. Often, you find with new trends in the world of fitness that people drop other stuff for a while then go back to it. HIIT, however, complements everything and competes with nothing, so in reality it’s something that you can do 52 weeks of the year as your main form of exercise, or perhaps just as a supplement to other styles of activity when you have less time available or are working towards specific goals.

How does HIIT work?

In its rawest state, HIIT is just a bunch of numbers that relate to the level of intensity you perform at and the amount of time for which you work, compared to the amount of time for which you recover before doing the work again. This simple format has led to the development by scientists and big businesses of a huge range of formats that can be classed as HIIT. These include anything from programmes that prescribe just seconds of activity per week up to far more traditional 30-minute sessions that are delivered in a group-exercise format in health clubs and gyms under brand names such as Les Mills Grit™, INSANITY^® and Tabata™.

Depending on your age, level of fitness, weight and medical status it’s true to say there will be a style of HIIT for you. At one end of the athletic spectrum it has been tested and used on extremely overweight diabetics in a controlled environment, while at the other end some of the fittest bodies on the planet are the result of HIIT activity (so long as you are in the group of people who think a sprinter’s muscular, athletic body is more aspirational than the very slim physique of a marathon runner).

Ok, health is great but is HIIT going to change the way I look on the beach?

Yes, so long as you don’t think HIIT is an excuse to eat, drink and be merry 24/7 because this magic exercise format will right all those wrongs, and provided that looking ‘good’ to you means reducing the levels of fat that cover your muscles. It’s also good to know that while all of the aesthetic improvements are happening you’ll also be improving your body’s sensitivity to insulin (which means your body copes better with an influx of sugar) and strengthening your heart and lungs.

I did HIIT and actually threw up – is that normal?

No, this shouldn’t be normal. You probably just need to sort out your pre-workout eating habits. Avoid eating anything one hour before your session, in particular heavy, slow-to-digest foods as eating these can have the knock-on effect of redirecting lots of blood that should be in your muscles for the HIIT session to your guts as part of the digestive process.

I’m pregnant – to HIIT or not to HIIT?

Firstly, congratulations! The answer depends on whether you were HIITing before you became pregnant, how advanced you are and, if we are honest, how big you are. Obviously as a man, any advice is based on observations made when working with and around pregnant women. If you were not doing regular HIIT sessions for the six-month period before conception, then NO I don’t think it is wise to begin now. If you were then there are still ‘buts’ (and you must speak to your GP before doing any exercise). Questions that may be asked are:

Is this your first pregnancy (this is relevant because if not then we have no precedent to refer to);

Have there been any issues, such as raised blood pressure or conditions that are exacerbated by exercise and especially high-intensity exercise?

Even if the answer to these is no, please don’t take my word for it and push yourself hard. Please visit your GP or healthcare practitioner who can offer further advice.

Can I train for a marathon doing just HIIT?

Yes, and no … I know of people who have run multiple marathons in under three hours with far less actual running than is promoted by conventional training programmes, by using HIIT to condition themselves and make them resilient (resistant) to being stressed by activity. This involves doing HIIT with bodyweight and weights up to five times per week and then in effect skipping the ‘long run’ that most people training for marathons aim to do at least once a week in the build-up to a marathon. However, I think that running, swimming and cycling all rely upon an element of skill development as well as fitness – there is a lot of skill involved in pacing yourself and maintaining your posture and technique throughout a marathon. In my opinion, therefore, you can use HIIT as part of your training programme but you need to also do the long runs to establish the required mental resilience to hold form, and the muscle memory to keep delivering the skillful strides that will get you around fast.

Is HIIT better if I use equipment?

Yes, and no. The joy of HIIT is that if you’re inclined to do so you could do a session in a field, gym, hotel room, kitchen, garage or basically anywhere that has a good, safe surface to work on and sufficient space for you to be able to move (including overhead height). What using equipment adds to the entire experience is: 1) a wider range of potential exercises; and 2) the ability to add intensity without increasing the speed of movement. If I ask you to do a fast squat then in order to get your heart pumping without a weight you need to attack the tempo; if you were doing exactly the same movement holding a weight (medicine ball, dumbbell, kettlebell) in your hands then the speed could be reduced. You’d achieve the same outcome either way. The short answer is that if you have some equipment then so long as using it improves the outcome then go for it, but it’s absolutely not necessary to have equipment to do HIIT.

Can I do HIIT every day?

No, not if you do it properly. HIIT ‘hurts’ while you are doing it, and in a good way it ‘damages’ muscle fibres and stresses the tissues within our respiratory system, which all takes time to repair. Doing HIIT three times per week with a day in between each session is a good plan of action. The buffer/recovery day doesn’t have to be a day of inactivity – you just shouldn’t do exercise that challenges the muscles and system in the way HIIT does. So, for instance, doing strength training or mobility/flexibility sessions is the perfect way to complement the HIIT and maximise the returns.

Help, I’m scared. Are you sure this isn’t just for elite athletes?

In the same way that we can use various physiological markers to measure intensity, we can use psychological ones to help you achieve your maximum potential, and in particular one called ‘perceived exertion’. This involves you asking and answering the question: ‘How hard am I working compared to how hard I think I could work?’ This is a constantly moving goalpost because as a beginner what you think of as your 10 out of 10 today won’t be the same after a few weeks or months of regular activity. As for these athletes, well yes, there is an element of nature involved. That said, there is also a lot of nurture, meaning that they didn’t start out that good and have spent many years getting to their current level of ability. The same mindset nonetheless applies: their 10 out of 10 is very different now from what it was during earlier stages of their development.

Provided that you have ‘passed’ the reality check then you shouldn’t be scared. Just be sensible and listen to your body, accept where you are today in terms of ability, and remember that if you do nothing then your level of ability will probably get worse, whereas if you start training now the most likely outcome is that you will start to feel better within two or three weeks, and other people will actually start to notice the difference in six to eight weeks. How cool is that!

Can I do HIIT if I am injured or feeling ill?

Depends. Some problems such as a wrist or hand injury can probably be accommodated without any knock-on effects, but an existing injury in the shoulder, spine, hips or lower body will be harder to work around. Most injuries require a careful balance of work and recovery so you need to treat each one on a case-by-case basis. It is important to listen to your body and, when in doubt, consult a fitness specialist for their expert opinion. This takes precedence over any training programme outlined here.

There are two types of exercise: ‘Energy In’ which is the meditation styles of exercise such as are yoga and Pilates, and ‘Energy Out’ which is the high-exertion type that makes you sweat, out of breath and result in fatigue. HIIT is definitely ‘Energy Out’ along with running, swimming, weightlifting and most other sports. If you are feeling unwell then any form of ‘Energy Out’ exercise will make you feel worse and prolong the illness. With the exception of very light colds, if you have a fever, congestion and/or a runny nose then take a break from exercise until you feel better.

Should I stretch during my warm-up?

Not if when you say stretch you mean static stretching … this isn’t 1985! Doing static stretches as part of getting ready for a workout is a rather dated approach, and in fact there have been many athletes who have realised that when they stopped doing static stretches their performance improved, especially if their chosen activity demanded strength. Static stretches might feel nice but they have the physiological and neurological effect of reducing the individual muscles fibres’ ability to perform maximal contractions.

Mobility exercises, however, should absolutely be performed before HIIT sessions, as should dynamic stretches. Both of these have the benefit of complementing the requirements of muscles used during HIIT by firing them up rather than damping them down. There is warm-up and cool-down advice in Part 4 of the book.

Can I do HIIT in a swimming pool?

Only if your technique is good enough for you to be able to work hard in a productive way. If your standard of swimming is ‘recreational’ rather than ‘athletic’ then you most likely won’t generate the kind of intensity that will challenge your body in the right way. If you can sprint for 50m or more doing freestyle, including tumble turns and breathing on both sides, then the chances are you are good enough. The only caveat I would add is that maintaining good technique is critical when swimming so pushing yourself to exhaustion in the pool with HIIT sessions may a have an undesirable knock-on effect to the quality of your stroke.

Should I stretch before and after a HIIT workout?

In recent years pre- and post-workout stretches have virtually disappeared from training programmes. This could be down to time constraints, but is most likely because people are confused about the benefits. The thinking was that these stretches reduced the risk of injury and helped reduce post-exercise muscle pain known as DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). We now believe this to be unlikely, as DOMS is thought to be the result of damage/tears to the muscle fibres that have been recently worked. Workouts that include pre-exercise mobility exercises (rather than traditional static stretches) are, to me, the most productive.

Similarly for post-workout stretches, I don’t feel any benefit from doing static stretches. I do however find it beneficial to spend a couple of minutes resetting my body to its pre-exercise posture. Depending on which body zone the workout targeted, I’ll move through each area of the body that feels tight, moving the area in big sweeping movements until it feels as if the muscles have released.

Cooling down to ‘flush out’ waste products from muscles and the bloodstream is now considered to be unproductive. The original thinking was that we got sore on account that there was lactic acid ‘trapped’ in the muscle. This is now considered to be a myth due to lactic acid in fact being continuously metabolised rather than ‘left behind’.