![]() The results showed that the short sprint intervals were just as effective as the longer intervals at raising key markers of fitness, despite the total work performed in the long intervals being 8 times greater and the exercise duration 17 times longer than during the sprint intervals!Īnother study by US scientists compared the effects of four different cycling interval-training regimes on recreationally competitive male and female triathletes (3): Long-duration aerobic intervals consisting of 3 x 20-minute bouts at around 87% of VO2max.High-intensity short intervals consisting of 7 x 30-second ‘all-out’ bouts (sprint intervals).For example, Swiss researchers compared the following cycling protocols in ten male cyclists competing at national level (2): ![]() ![]() The (frankly astonishing) results from Tabata’s research sparked a wave of further studies into high-intensity interval training and endurance performance. Indeed, Tabata was able to show that his very high-intensity intervals produced superior gains to the same number of sessions of one hour of steady-state, moderate-intensity (70% of maximum oxygen uptake – VO2 max) endurance training on a stationary bicycle! In one of the earliest studies on this topic (back in 1997), a Japanese professor called Izumi Tabata of the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya, Japan found that interval sessions consisting of eight repeats of 20 seconds at very high intensity – 170% of maximum sustainable oxygen uptake – produced excellent gains in aerobic capacity (1). When it comes to points 1) and 2), a LOT of scientific research has been carried out examining the performance benefits of training sessions using a variety of interval lengths and intensities. The length of the rest periods in between each interval.There are three key questions you need to consider when designing an interval programme: Interval length and intensity – what works? What’s often overlooked, however, is the rest interval, which is an integral part of the interval training process. That’s not surprising because we know that it’s the short bursts of relatively intense work that are responsible for the fitness and performance benefits interval training brings. When the topic of interval training comes up, it’s natural to discuss how long and how hard each work interval is, and how many interval repeats are performed. Andrew Hamilton looks at new research on the rest lengths in an interval training session.
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