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High Intensity Interval Training – It’s Here to Stay

MEDIA RELEASE: For Immediate Release - 24 May 2016
FROM: The New Zealand Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs)

What do TIME Magazine, The New York Times, the Washington Post and The NZ Herald have in common with international researchers?

They are all reporting on the health benefits and popularity of High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT. Whether it’s called tabata, CrossFit, or a session of interval training with bouts of hard work with rest periods, it’s here to stay.

Sometimes known as HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training is simply alternating between higher intensity bursts of exercise, with time to rest in between. Those doing HIIT can improve both their endurance and speed during one workout. There is also research being reported that indicates the benefits of working your body as hard as you can, and this is more realistic when done in short bursts for those at lower exercise levels.

For those whose injury history or exercise/fitness level prevents harder levels of exercising, it’s worth noting that it’s not just working at ultra-high intensities, or lifting huge weights that are getting the benefits. New research published in the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes suggests that training with alternating levels of walking intensity (interval training) could be better than walking at a constant speed to help manage blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes.

Interval programmes can be adapted to all exercise/fitness levels. ‘High intensity’ is a relative term, so for an untrained beginner, a high intensity programme will be at a lower level than someone who has been exercising for longer.

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Working at a higher intensity does come with some risk, but this can be limited by making sure you are working with a professional in a suitably supervised environment. A good exercise professional will have not only knowledge in a specific exercise style such as HIIT, but also a qualification that enables them to understand all the surrounding issues that are needed to keep you safe. They will also have a thorough understanding of how the human body works and responds to exercise.

Effective exercise is one which is done on a regular basis, and this is also a factor in the popularity of interval training. With a time poor schedule, a workout that is short and sharp is more likely to be fitted in on a regular basis. If time is an issue that prevents you working out, then an interval approach may work to keep you moving regularly.

If you would like to give interval or high intensity workouts a go, then there are couple of questions you should ask anyone offering a session:

• Are the trainers qualified and registered?

• Does your trainer hold a current first aid certificate?

• How do they ensure that the exercises you are doing are safe and appropriate for you (at a minimum you should be able to fill out a questionnaire about your health history and talk with the trainer about your individual needs).


As a consumer it’s hard to know what trainer knows their stuff, and who is just skilled at saying what you want to hear. So it is important that you can have confidence and trust in the knowledge and competency of the exercise professional that are you are entrusting your health and wellness!

ENDS

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