YOU DON’T NEED HIIT TO GET FIT

A lower-intensity alternative, LISS, is another option for good health

Sometimes it seems that all

I hear about is the magic of high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

This protocol alternates short periods of intense exercise with longer periods of moderate recovery periods (think sprinting 30 seconds, then walking or jogging at an easy pace for one minute, and repeating for about 20 minutes total) and promises results in as little time as possible.

But the concept can be daunting for anyone who is just starting a workout program, recovering from an injury or surgery, or packing a little more weight than ideal.

So I’m here to preach the gospel of LISS: Low-intensity steady state.

LISS exercise is any repetitive motion for 30 to 45 minutes at 50 to 60 per cent of your maximum heart rate (MHR), according to sports medicine specialist and physical therapist Kevin McGuinness. Typically, this refers to such activities as walking, swimming, or even jogging or biking at an easy pace.

“LISS is any activity that gets your heart rate up just a little bit and for a longer period of time,” McGuinness says. If it sounds familiar, that’s not surprising: Before the recent popularity of HIIT, McGuinness says, lowintensity exercise was simply called “cardio.”

McGuinness says in addition to improving your mood and cognition and helping you control your blood sugar, “LISS is one of the best ways to maintain a level of fitness.”

Assuming your doctor has approved your fitness plan, here’s how to practise LISS exercise. Calculate your maximum heart rate (MHR) by subtracting your age from the number 220. For example, if you are 49 years old, your MHR would be about 171 beats per minute ( bpm). To stay within the 50 to 60 per cent range, you would want to keep your MHR between 85 and 115 bpm, McGuinness says.

There are many devices that help monitor your heart rate, but you can also do this by taking your pulse and counting the beats for 60 seconds (or for 15 seconds and multiplying by four). Or see if you can hold your end of a conversation comfortably. If you can, you’re working within the optimal range for LISS.

LISS is a great option for firsttime exercisers, McGuinness says, especially those who might be intimidated or limited in their ability to engage in higher intensity exercise.

“Whether it’s a more approachable form of exercise or whether their weight makes that type of exercise too painful to complete regularly, low-intensity exercise is a much friendlier, easier to try, version of cardiovascular exercise for the uninitiated,” he says.

Because it’s associated with fewer injuries, LISS is particularly appropriate for individuals recovering from an injury affecting a weight-bearing part of the body, such as an ankle, knee or hip, according to McGuinness.

“Getting your heart rate up again and reintroducing some of the benefits of exercise without the potential pitfalls and risks that come with higher-intensity exercise make LISS an ideal option for people recovering and rehabbing injuries,” he says.

LISS isn’t helpful for only neophyte and recovering fitness buffs, however, McGuinness says. It has a place in the exercise program of nearly everyone, including higher-level athletes, who may use a LISS day to tone down the mileage and the intensity to take pressure off the joints — but still keep moving to make sure they don’t stiffen up.

Varying the level of intensity in any exercise program can help you avoid burnout and offer adequate time to recover while still being active, McGuinness says. But in LISS, as in any exercise program, it’s also important to vary the stimulus.

One of the physiological adaptations of exercise is that the body becomes more energy efficient and may not burn as many calories to do the same volume of exercise after the body adapted to it.

“If you go out for a one-hour walk five days a week and always on flat ground and never change the pace, eventually that exercise is going to be less useful than it used to be,” McGuinness says. He recommends you consider changing that one hour of walking to 40 minutes of easy bike riding. Or you could change the distance or intensity by varying it within the confines of LISS, to retain your level of fitness.

“There’s value in staying at a good place where you can comfortably exercise and maintain your body composition and not hurt yourself,” McGuinness says.