4 minute workout

1 - For twenty seconds, do as many repetitions as possible.
2 - Rest for ten seconds.
3 - Repeat seven more times.

Supposedly anaerobic and aerobic. I think this is bs. Just because it gets your heart pumping and gasping for breath from bracing so much doesn't make it aerobic, right?


He recommends to do an exercise like the Front Squat.

"He", being; Dan John , an elite-level strength and weightlifting coach. He is also an All-American discus thrower, holds the American record in the Weight Pentathlon, and has competed at the highest levels of Olympic lifting and Highland Games.




In for hnf thoughts

That is an adaptation of the real tabata protocol. If I remember right, it was supposed to be done on a cycle ergometer, 20 seconds at maximal effort (anaerobic), 10 seconds at reduced rate (aerobic), for a total of 4 minutes.

This is the original HIIT. It's benefit, from my understanding, in that it increases mitochondrial density.

Either way, HIIT or metabolic circuits do work quite well for increased VO2 max, decreased fat mass, and increased fat free mass.

all I saw in this post was "GAINSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS"

That's the only part that matters!

Respiration and heart rate are under the influence of so many other factors than just vo2. Circuit training is NOT ideal at all for aerobic functional adaptation. If you want to do interval work for aerobic function you need to be doing a classical endurance activity or you won't likely be using enough muscle mass to drive up vo2. You just create co2 to blow off which drives up hr and respiratory rate but you never really see an aerobic challenge.

could you explain this?

HIIT has been shown to improve VO2 max, improve cardiac contractility, improve stroke volume, increased heart mass, and increased mitochondrial density/oxidative enzyme levels similarly to what is seen in steady state endurance training..in some of those measures it is both superior in it's effect and achieved in a shorter time frame

depending on goals, i have suggested to individuals that training programs using both HIIT and steady state would be a balanced way to train though as it is covers all of the basis and is less demanding than relying entirely on HIIT for cardio work

This post was edited by bnrhodes2 on May 4 2016 09:35am

once is not enough... tried tabata and needed to do it 4 times

Hiit and circuit training are two completely different things. Hiit implies endurance activity, so running cycling rowing etc. Circuit training is muscle endurance stuff, ie repeating discrete skills over and over. Hiit is great for certain aerobic parameters, and rivals continuous training in terms of its aerobic benefits (though slightly differently focussed). Circuit training typically won't involve enough muscle mass, or challenge aerobic parameters like oxygen uptake and blood flow kinetics, enough to be of big benefit to strictly aerobic performance. Muscular endurance is in this weird gray area between resistance training and aerobic training

O, I gotcha. I just assumed that circuits were lumped in to interval training, but shouldn't have. I have wondered if metabolic circuits would have any similar effects to HIIT, but it is such a broad definition that it would be hard to study. When I did the 'metabolic circuits' briefly in training, it involved complex movements that recruited a lot of muscle mass but utilized lower resistance (thrusters, lunge with shoulder press, squat jump into pull-up, med-ball jacknife with push-up, etc), and basically continues movement for long periods.

Now that I think about it, I never really did learn much about muscular endurance or cared to look in to it. There was a lot of discussion on muscular strength/power and in aerobic training, but lifting in higher rep spectrums were usually just mentioned on the rep continuum. HIIT is still sort of a weird example to though since the exertion period isn't really in an aerobic margin from the intensity of the exertion, but the brief rest between bouts allows for small amounts of ATP production to continue the anaerobic bouts without becoming aerobic (at least I assume).