Two of our Chiropractors, Dr Angus Steventon and Dr Bryce Conrad, have embarked upon a tour of Central Coast independent gyms. As exercise is a crucial part of staying healthy, they felt they should find out what is on offer for their patients.

In this first episode Bryce and Angus meet Frank from Transcend Training, and he puts them through a grueling half hour of high intensity interval training (HIIT). For those unaware, HIIT involves working to a timer in discrete intervals of effort and then rest. A workout like the one that Bryce and Angus performed might involve intervals of 20 seconds of maximum effort and then an interval of 10 seconds of rest. They would then move around the various exercises, and hopefully survive to the end.

High Intensity Interval Training has been shown to:

  • Lead to improvements in metabolic control, of similar magnitude
    to other forms of exercise training (such going for a long run) but requires shorter duration workouts
  • Has benefits on your heart and blood flow health (such as improved heart rate, improved blood pressure, and reduced cholesterol clogging arteries)
  • Leads to large improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, often superior to other forms of exercise training

Dr Angus and Dr Bryce recommend the following, regarding High Intensity Interval Training:

  • Check with your Chiropractor before commencing exercise, if you have injuries
  • Three sessions of HIIT per week seems ideal
  • If you are going to perform HIIT, you should work really hard during the “exertion” intervals, otherwise you won’t get the benefit (perceived exertion above 7 or 8 out of 10)
  • Effective sessions can be as short as 10-20 minutes of HIIT or as long as 30-40 minutes
  • The activities performed should involve a large muscle mass (not just one little muscle in one arm, for instance)

Check out our video to see what sort of exercises might be involved in HIIT.

Do you think you would survive this workout? Comment below!

Reference

Cassidy et. al. High-intensity interval training: a review of its impact on glucose control and cardiometabolic health. Diabetologia (2017) 60:7–23, DOI 10.1007/s00125-016-4106-1