do you hiit the mark?
Many of you will have heard of HIIT training. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is all the rage in running and cycling clubs in the pursuit of the holy grail, Improving VO2max score. VO2 max, or maximal oxygen consumption, refers to the maximum amount of oxygen that an individual can utilise during intense or maximal exercise.
Here are two tables detailing the range of scores and where they sit. The lower your score the bigger the risk of cardiovascular disease. That’s heart attacks, strokes, and other such nasty ailments. Nobody wants that.
TRAINING
The principles of training to improve your VO2Max is pretty simple. Go balls out for time or for distance then recover. Rinse and repeat 6-10 times and you should be fitter right? Not necessarily. Cardiovascular fitness needs to be at near max heart rate around zone 4 and zone 5. Now many of you will have performed interval workouts around a track. Following a protocol similar to run 300m recover 100m performed 10 times.
The issue with this style of interval is the time actually spent in the correct zone. If we work off a max Heart Rate of 200bpm we may see the following pattern:
As you can see of the nine intervals performed only 2 hit both the target working heart rate of Zone 4 and the target recovery Heart Rate of Zone 1. Albeit this would have been a sweaty session if we are specifically aiming to improve the VO2Max score we need to be hitting Zone 4/Zone 1 for all 9 intervals.
TESTING
The first part of addressing this training program is the testing. We use the Uptivo Heart Rate Monitoring system in the gym to be able to track our intervals. This system uses the generic calculations above as does most wearables and many apps such as whoop. However we use the PNOE Metabolic Testing equipment when our clients wish to have a 100% accurate picture of their zones. We have found that even being 1 or 2 beats out can be detrimental to performance. The beauty of this system is it can identify if you have a weakness with your breathing (Breathing rate/tempo and lung capacity/strength), your metabolic conditioning (muscle endurance) or your cardiovascular system (Heart strength). This accuracy allows us to build the program that will most effectively improve your weaknesses. Most see improvements within 6-8 weeks.
Gemma getting into the ZONE
THE FIX
Now you have the results from the test and have your zones locked in, here is how we go about improving our clients VO2Max. We recommend 2 HIIT sessions per week. One Zone 4 Session and one Zone 5 session. The protocols we follow are as follows:
We use the Echo bike, Row Erg, Ski erg and Bike Erg in our sessions to achieve the intended goals but you could also do this with running. I have listed the 3 levels we use. You would have to complete the Target amount of intervals in the 40min time cap to be able to move up the following week. If you don’t manage it then just keep repeating until you do.
CONCLUSION
If you give these sessions a solid 8 weeks of hard graft you will see some fantastic results. Personally I have seen an improvement of 9 points over 8 weeks. Give them a go and let us know how you get on. If you would like to find out anymore information book a NO SWEAT INTRO and i’ll help you anyway I can.
Happy Training
G-Unit