The Undeniable, Amazing, PerformanceBoosting Benefits of HIIT

TInterval training, especially high-intensity interval training (HIIT), has been an annual ‘hot training trend’ for 15 years now, and shows no sign of falling out of favour. HIIT’s hot streak started in 2005, when in a study published in the Journal of Applied

Physiolog y, exercise scientist Martin Gibala, PhD, reported that two weeks of regular sprint interval training didn’t just make riders better sprinters; it also improved their endurance, by doubling time to fatigue.

Since then, dozens more studies have solidified interval training as the fastest way to improve nearly all aspects of performance. Yet to this day, when riders come to me for training advice, and I ask if they do intervals, I inevitably get the same answer: “No, not really.”

But here’s the thing: everyone who wants to feel better on the bike (and in life) should do intervals. Here’s why: INTERVALS BUILD ENDURANCE How good your endurance is ultimately comes down to your mitochondrial capacity and function. Mitochondria are the cell’s powerhouses, where fuel is converted into energy. The more mitochondria you have, and the greater their capacity to burn sugars and fats as fuel, the better

your endurance.

It’s well known that longer, lowerintensity, ‘Zone 2’ rides increase the number of mitochondria in cells, says exercise physiologist Paul Laursen, PhD, a research contributor to hiitscience. com. “But high-intensity training makes those mitochondria more powerful,” he says.

Some studies show high-intensity exercise that’s performed regularly can also stimulate the production of new mitochondria.

Our mitochondria tend to lose functioning over time, so the older you get, the more important endurancebuilding intervals become. HIIT training can help keep mitochondria running on all cylinders. A Mayo Clinic study published in Cell Metabolism found that the mitochondrial function of older exercisers (ages 65 to 80) soared 69 per cent after 12 weeks of regular HIIT training. The older exercisers saw no mitochondrial gains following lowerintensity programmes.

hiit to go long: ▶or general endurance benefits, Laursen recommends intervals ranging between 30 seconds and five minutes at a very hard, VO2 max–level intensity (95 per cent of max heart rate, or an exertion level of 9 on a scale of 1 to 10) to build your aerobic system while also recruiting some fast-twitch sprint fibres, making those power-producing

fibres more fatigue-resistant.

“Performing three to six of these efforts, allowing one to two minutes of recovery between, can have impressive effects,” he says.

INTERVALS HELP YOU FRY FAT // Including a regular dose of HIIT in your riding routine can boost your VO2 max (how much oxygen you can use) by up to 46 per cent, increase your stroke volume (how much blood your heart pumps out per beat) by 10 per cent, raise your lactate threshold, and significantly lower your resting heart rate.

That all means you can stay ‘aerobic’ longer, so you can burn more fat at higher intensities.

hiit to get lean: ▶or maximum fatburning, Gale Bernhardt, two-time Olympic cycling coach and co-author of Become a

Fat-Burning Machine, recommends what she calls ‘miracle intervals’ – very short, maxeffort intervals with complete recovery between them.

After a good warm-up, perform the following intervals of max effort and easy ‘Zone 1’ recovery (you should be able to chat freely, like you’re on a coffee shop cruise with friends): 1 X 45 SECONDS ALL-OUT / 4:15 RECOVERY 1 X 40 SECONDS ALL-OUT / 4:20 RECOVERY 1 X 35 SECONDS ALL-OUT / 4:25 RECOVERY 1 X 30 SECONDS ALL-OUT / 4:30 RECOVERY 1 X 25 SECONDS ALL-OUT / 4:35 RECOVERY 1 X 20 SECONDS ALL-OUT / 4:40 RECOVERY (OPTIONAL) ADD: 1 X 15 SECONDS ALL-OUT / 4:45 RECOVERY 1 X 10 SECONDS ALL-OUT / 4:50 RECOVERY

INTERVALS HELP YOU CRUSH CLIMBS (EVEN IF

YOU’RE A FLATLANDER) // Victoria DiSavino didn’t have a whole lot of time to get out of the city and do hill training during the weeks before she flew up the mighty Mount Washington with a winning time of 1:07:32 in 2016.

So she did the next best thing: interval training. “I work long hours, so I don’t have the opportunity to travel to the hills to train,” she says. “I just go out and do three 20-minute efforts at threshold, which is pretty much the equivalent of the power you use to go up Mount Washington.”

Watts are watts, as they say, and you can develop hill-crushing wattage through interval work anywhere. And they don’t even have to be eye-poppingly hard; just strong, steady work.

intervals to fly up hills: After a good warm-up, ride 10 minutes at a steady effort (85 per cent of max heart rate, or exertion level 6 to 7, where you can speak just a few words at a time). Recover for five to 10 minutes, aiming for adequate recovery so you can maintain your target intensity for the next effort. Then repeat two more times. Once those feel easy, go longer, building up to two to three 20-minute steady-state efforts, recovering for 10 to 20 minutes between each.

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INTERVALS BUILD YOUR BRAIN // Research shows high-intensity workouts may also improve cognitive function, and increase levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDN▶), more than easier exercise.

BDN▶ is essential for learning, memory, and mood regulation, and your brain uses it to repair and maintain cells.

hiit to boost brainpower: You can follow the same programme they did in the HIIT/brain research: After a good warm-up, crank up your intensity to 90 per cent of your max HR for one minute. Recover at an easy pace for one minute. Alternate for 20 minutes. Cool down.