The concept of interval training has been around longer than I can remember. It’s the reason Lifecycles and StairMasters had built in programs taking you up and down simulated hills during a workout. The science behind it is this; by varying the workload during a workout session you also cause a variance in heart rate resulting in both greater aerobic demand and greater calorie expenditure. The net result would be increased conditioning and more significant weight loss.
Now interval training is back with a vengeance in the form of High Intensity Interval Training. The main difference is HIIT requires even higher intensity levels, but at a shorter duration. The idea is that this higher intensity causes greater adaptive response by the body yielding far better results in a shorter period of time. Also, the HIIT concepts can be adapted to weight, functional and other types of training.
At Ultimate Health we take High Intensity Interval Training to the umpteenth level with our proprietary version we call Micro-Burst-Training. We use durations of 5, 10, 20, maybe 30 seconds max. This is akin to sprint training and therefore anaerobic in nature. First priority is given to the quality of work (work load) performed in the specified time. The goal is repeated near 100% efforts. We start with a 1:3 work to rest ratio to keep the intensity as high as possible. As the subject’s fitness improves we shorten the recovery period until we reach a 1:1 work to rest ratio, for instance 10 seconds of lightening fast box jumps followed by 10 seconds rest per interval. Our implementation protocols ensure the heart rate stays in the training zone even in the recovery phase and therefore leads to aerobic benefit as well.
Resistance bands, medicine balls, and plyometrics lend themselves extremely well to the use of this concept due to the fact that they are not limited by speed of movement. In fact at Ultimate Health we perform a variety of Micro-Burst routines on heavy bags. A standard Micro-Burst workout would include upper-body, leg, and core work combining speed and power exercises in a single session.
So, what does this mean for you…increased lean body mass, greater fat loss (3x’s more than moderate level exercise) greater cardiovascular capacity, shorter less frequent workouts, enhanced strength, speed and explosive power.
If you want to supercharge your results without having to increase your workout time then Micro-Burst-Training is for you.