Hypertrophy & Intense Interval Training: Can they co-exist?
My client is really a 50 year old male insurance professional, in excellent shape, tall and slender, a runner, who would like to bulk up his torso, especially his arms. The majority and arms part is a typical request most males, but with the obesity rate excessive I didn’t expect one of my first baby boomer client to be in such good shape.
We discussed ramping down his running regimen to a couple days a week of under 4 miles each run so that we could focus on resistance training and bulking him up with time. He agreed to the plan we created however it became evident during our workouts and conversations that he is intensity junky, having done Tough Mudders and other types of high intensity activities. So began my journey to help him reach his hypertrophy goal, yet still time keeping him interested and wanting more.
I wondered, especially knowing that cardio and resistance training don’t mix well when you’re goal is hypertrophy, how was I going to incorporate some kind of cardio intensity into his program. And so i started adding mountain climbers, bicycles, jump rope, burpees along with other cardio type exercises throughout the workout program in order to satisfy his requirement for some cardio intensity. These exercises did not seem to overly tax his ability to improve his resistance training volumes since he was pretty fit to begin with.
While researching the topic of high intensity training and intervals I found the Tabata and decided which i might have found the promised land for my client. I added a push-up Tabata at the outset of a course and that he was excited. Periodically I added a Tabata at the beginning or end of his program. It seemed to work well, but I was concerned that the Tabata might be too cardio intensive and affect his hypertrophy goal. This prompted further research into how to add intense training into a hypertrophy program and the subject of the paper.
Most high intensity programs for example High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) include as a primary goal to maximize fat loss.
The High Intensity (HI) part of the program provides muscle fatigue and maximum oxygen use in quick bursts, working your body close to its VO2 max with continued burning of calories as much as Two days after the workout. The Interval training workouts (IT) alternates periods of intensity with periods of moderate or low intensity and boosts metabolism, while burning more calories than a steady workout., even after the workout (“The Complete Help guide to Interval Training”, greatest.com).
An article on Livestrong.com, “Is Cardio Bad for Muscle building?” states that concurrent training with cardio and weight training can establish good results for the reason that the weight loss from the cardio enhances visibility of muscles by minimizing fat under the skin. For that average person a HIIT program makes some sense, however for already fit individuals there might no fat to loose.
A study done in the Human Research Center, Brigham Young University found:
? That after burn or energy output after you stop exercising was greatest when cardio ended before weight training.
? Going after fat loss session was physiologically harder than doing the work before lifting weights.
? Researchers recommended doing aerobic exercise before resistance exercise when combining them into one training session.
A some of the HIIT programs I discovered interesting in which the Tabata and Turbulence Training
The Tabata was developed by Dr. Izumi in 1996, a study using intense spurts at 170% of VO2 Max. (Tabata I, Nishimura K, Kouzaki M, et al. (1996). “Results of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max”. Med Sci Sports Exerc). The Tabata is a four minute workout, with 20 seconds of high intensity accompanied by Ten seconds of rest for eight cycles. I have tried personally burpees, pushups, mountain climbers and pull ups either single or mixed up among the eight cycles.
There is a few controversy about the Tabata method because the study used a bike or ergometer at 170% of VO2 Max, that is a level that can’t be sustained throughout a true Tabata.
Additionally the Tabata protocol was made for performance measuring aerobic and anaerobic fitness and never its impact on hypertrophy or weight reduction. (The Tabata Myth by Mark Young). Other similar regimes like Gibal (Little, Jonathan P; Adeel S. Safdar, Geoffrey P. Wilkin, Mark A. Tarnopolsky, and Martin J. Gibala (2009). “An operating type of low-volume high-intensity interval training workouts induces mitochondrial biogenesis in human skeletal muscle: potential mechanisms”. Journal of Physiology 588 (Pt 6): 1011 -22) and Timmons (“Ways to get Match 3 Minutes Of Exercise Per week: BBC Doc Tries HIT”. Medical News Today. 6 March 2012.) have shown performance and aerobic advantages of lesser VO2 max intensities and is sensible to incorporate these types of regimes inside a weightloss routine for certain individuals. Regardless of the controversy, HIIT methods like Tabata have shown in studies improvement in aerobic performance, metabolic benefits and improvement in CAD risk factors
The “Turbulence Training” method, developed by Craig Ballantyne, involves 8 weight training sets alternated with 1-2 minute cardio sets by alternating high weight/low rep strength training rich in intensity cardio. (“Typical Turbulence training workout Workout”, by Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS) Virtually the technique I have been using with my client utilizing Mountain Climbers and Burpee’s between weight training sets. A typical Turbulence session would be:
Warm-up of 2 teams of 8-12 reps like Y-Squat, close-grip push up, bodyweight row.
Strength Training;
Circuit 1: lower body, dumbbell split squats, upper body push exercises like a dumbbell chest press
Circuit 2: lower body, stability ball Hamstring curls, upper body pulling exercises like dumbbell rows
Do 8 reps per set with One minute rest between supersets.
Finally do Twenty minutes of interval training. Additionally additional circuits could be added to go ahead and take session to 30 minutes approximately.
The Turbulence method looks ideal for fat loss and that i such as the proven fact that weights are employed, however the methods main purpose is fat loss and it is advertised accordingly.
Some further web surfing took me for an exercise website www.projectswole.com as well as an article “What is HIRT (Intense Resistance Training) and How The use of It?” (December 11, 2009) This method focuses on resistance training for fat loss, increasing Basal Metabolism, Exercise Post Oxygen
Consumption and burn calories
The method supersets several exercises together for reps and time and no rest. A few of the features and benefits listed on the website of HIRT are:
? HIRT workouts maintain muscle mass when carrying out a low-calorie diet
? HIRT workouts outperform diet and aerobic exercise in weight loss studies
? HIRT workouts increase metabolism for up to 36 hours
The principles of HIRT are:
? Full body workouts using sets of 5 to fifteen reps
? Pushing with the lactic acid burn
? Utilizing a variety of combo-sets (super-sets, tri-sets, giant-sets, etc-)
? Utilizing compound exercises
? Focusing on the biggest muscle groups
The method employs different exercise routines according to your goal and the one I found most interesting was the next for muscle gain; First day: 45 minutes of full resistance training
goal – maximal strength resistance training; Day 2: 30 minutes of HIRT goal – maximal intensity cardiovascular training; Day 3: 45 minutes of full body resistance training
goal – maximal strength strength training; Day 4: Half an hour of HIRT goal – maximal intensity interval training; Day 5: 45 minutes of full strength training goal – maximal strength resistance training; Day 6 & 7: Off
The routine fits nicely with my clients hypertrophy goal as well as his have to maintain some cardio intensity since he doesn’t run as often because he did previously.
I found some investigation around the HIRT method published this year in the Journal of Translational Medicine, “High-Intensity Interval Resistance Training (HIRT) influences resting energy expenditure and respiratory ration in non-dieting individuals”. The study tested HIRT against traditional resistance training on resting energy expenditure (REE) and respiratory ratio (RR). In both cases the shorter HIRT method showed improvements over traditional resistance training.
The study additional figured this exercise methodology allows subjects to improve metabolism and, at the same time, muscle tissue and strength all of which are prompted as beneficial by many guidelines