As if we needed any more reasons to love HIIT Training, a joint study with the University of Valencia, Spain, University of Calgary, Canada and Adams State University in the USA have given us more reasons to love it and make sure we are incorporating it into our training.
A lot of the studies that I've seen on the subject usually use untrained indaviduals as part of the study, which I think can cause confusion with the results, and usually show large improvements over a short period of time. But in this study they used trained athletes to see if HIIT training elicited an effect on their speed and performance. In the study they had 16 trained trail runners complete 2 weeks of training where they performed four to seven rounds of 30 seconds running at maximum intensity and then recovered for four minutes in between sets. They were asked to perform this training three times a week over the course of the two weeks. Before and after the two week block of training, the runners performed a 3000m time trial and it was found the runners improved their speed by 2.3%, with power also improving by almost 2.5%.
Training Protocol Used In The Study
6 Training Sessions of:
- Easy Warm up
- Sprint All out for 30 seconds, recover for 4 minutes(Repeat 4 to 7 times)
Even though these seem like a small increase you need to remember these are trained runners, so even a small increase is considered significant. The second point to mention is that one of the aims of the study was to also see if these results could be achieved without the need of a laboratory setting for the runners to perform training and test results. All participants were able to perform their training where they wanted to without the need of a laboratory or coach.
Summing It All Up
We have known the benefit of HIIT training for some time now, at it provides both effective means of improvement for both speed and endurance, but these results also give light to the fact, it may be an effective way to taper or peak in the lead up to a race.
Now over two years ago, a pic of me running Ironman New Zealand
About the Author
Hey I'm Vince, an Aussie living in New Zealand, trying my best to make the most of the time I have. I work as a Software Engineer but love to run and all aspects of it, including geeking out on the latest science to help get the most out of my body.
