Increases Metabolic Rate More Than Continuous Training
Coaches and athletes use continuous, over-distance training and interval training to build aerobic capacity– the ability to transport and use oxygen. Continuous over-distance training is running a specific distance without stopping, while interval training is repeated bouts of high-intensity exercise interrupted by short rest periods. Australian scientists, in a study comparing interval and over-distance workouts with the same average metabolic load, found that interval training produced the highest levels of peak oxygen consumption. They concluded that interval training was a more powerful stimulus for increasing aerobic fitness. Canadian studies found that short bouts of maximalintensity exercise built high levels of fitness quickly. Six sessions of high intensity interval training on a stationary bike increased muscle oxidative capacity (citrate synthase) by almost 50 percent, muscle glycogen by 20 percent and cycling endurance capacity by 100 percent. The subjects made these amazing improvements exercising a mere 15 minutes in two weeks. Interval training will improve fitness quickly, but it isn’t pleasant. (Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 11: 287-290, 2008; Journal of Applied Physiology 98:1985-1990, 2005)
