Posted on June 28, 2013 by Jenny Cromack

When I went to the International Fitness Showcase earlier this year, I decided to venture away from my usual routine of Step and Dance exercise classes and tried out “new innovative classes”. I was keen to educate myself and to get ideas for my own choreography and clients. Disappointingly, they were all interval classes. They all involved squats and burpees and they all had the cds which featured a count down and a bell (and yes, I’ll admit I now own such a cd). In fact, the only refreshing approach of a couple of these sessions had, was the inclusion of multiplanar exercises (taking the body in more than one direction at one time) and the application of interval training to Abs and Band workouts.

 

So whilst High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) may be the current “big thing” in the fitness industry, we need to get real and face it people, as much as I hate to document it, everyone has their limit with regards to how many burpees or squat jumps that they can do. Yes it’s time to be honest and admit that whilst we all LOVE these exercises (I know you all secretly do), they are not new, the concept of intervals is not unfamiliar to most people who exercise and there becomes a point in a training session where we just simply can’t do anymore.  But our exposure to HIIT through the likes of Insanity/Beach Body, the Fitness Channel and YouTube, is not only predominantly applied to cardio exercise, but also to the same type of exercises – it doesn’t matter what alternative name you give a burpee is still a burpee!

 

So here’s the thing – interval training is AMAZING and will help to get you the results you want, but it doesn’t just have to be cardio. All the research into HIIT agrees that high intensity simply means performing a short burst of an exercise at near maximum intensity for that individual, followed by a period of low intensity exercise or complete rest. The research also agrees that there are various types of interval protocols: Tabata (20 second intervals with 10 seconds rest over a 4 minute interval), Gibala (60 seconds high intensity followed by 60 or 75 seconds rest) and Turbulence Training (incorporating weight strength training) to name just a few.

 

But we really should be considering all over fitness. This means utilising those exercises which incorporate a large number of muscles so that we can get the maximum benefits from our workouts, and remembering that intervals should be used to supplement the workouts we already do. As fitness professionals we should pick intervals which incorporate a whole body approach and include weight and body weight training as well as cardio. As class participants or personal training clients, we should expect a whole body work out that pushes us as far as we want to go – but guys, there still has to be an element of Squat Jumps and Burpees in these workouts, as they are the best exercises in the world!

 

If you want some ideas, there are two of my current favourite Tabata workouts below. Alternatively join us for M8 HIIT on a Monday evening 6:15-6:45pm for an amazing workout at the motive8 Saxton Fitness Studio, Leeds.

 

4mins of work, 2 exercises. Complete exercise 1 for 20secs, rest for 10 then complete exercise 2 for 20 secs.

 

Tabata A

Exercise 1 – Kettlebell Swings & Turn

Exercise 2 – Ab Cycles

 

Tabata B

Exercise 1 – Squat & Press

Exercise 2 – Skipping