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| me on Thursday... |
There has been a lot of research done on intervals in Dr Jake Wilson's lab where they seem to have a particular interest in bodybuilders looking to gain muscle and lose fat.
Anyway in their experiments they tend to use what they describe as a Wingate bike - a stationary cycle set up for the Wingate test. You pedal to reach a peak revs per minute and then a load is added to the bike to make it harder....then you go as hard as you can for 30 seconds. This is not just pdalling hard....this is hitting a hard resistance that gets so hard you struggle to pedal. Their intervals are not just a few sprints....they are all out to failure efforts.
There is a video of the standard test here - you can see her hit a peak rpm and then the weight falls and she goes as hard as possible for 30 seconds basically just about failing at the end.
Here is another which explains it a bit
What is striking is that this is not your average sprint....this is tough to failure... hard work. It may be that this sort of intensity is not strictly needed, but it does make you question just how hard you are actually working!
The podcast gave an idea for how to do this on a normal stationary bike
- warm up
- start to cycle going faster and faster
- when you are at a max rpm, pump up the resistance level as high as possible
- keep going as long as you can until you fail
It is not a perfect substitute but it works well enough. I tried it yesterday for a series of sprints and it gave a massive leg pump.....
Interesting how hard this is...and how similar - in the to failure aspect - to that other HIT.
Also check out Clarence Bass new piece on intervals with weights
Comments
It's one of my favourite podcasts out there.
Then I tried it while commuting to work on my bike. Normally I just go over a bridge, but there is a road that drops under it as well. When I get to the bottom of that road I spin until I hit the up slope and then go full tilt in that gear, basically resulting in my inability to pedal right before I reach the top. And then I turn around and do it again. This way is very effective.
30 seconds feels like a long time doing a wingate. There are protocols too (where the relative resistance differs) for 60 second wingates and they are just as nasty.
I'm 63. I do intervals but you don't have to make it a near death experience. Richard Winnett has an article on his "master trainer" website that addresses this. they used BW exercises for intervals with a bit slower ramp up, and it worked as well as 4X/wk 45 min. endurance training.
And you don't need to use heavy (for you) weights to maintain or even build muscle.
Clarence bass is a great source for this info.
Finally, if it hurts, esp. past 50 or so, you won't maintain it very long.
I think the short answer to your question is that as you age your body becomes less resilient. So you must reduce volume/intensity/frequency and increase recovery to match your body's physical capability. It is a balancing act that no one can tell you for sure how it looks. You are your own best expert. Through experimentation you will learn what is best for you. And it will include recalibrating the amount of energy you give to the individual components, as well, in order to best suit your goals.
What keeps me in the game at a high level of fitness is a specific resistance program design: Push day, pull day and leg day. 30-40 minutes each session and one of each session per week for a total of 1 1/2 to 2 hours per week with days off in between each session. Leg day can include sprinting or brisk hiking up a steep grade. What is really working though is that all exercises are full body done from the feet. This means, in effect, that each of my muscles have a target day and two light days where they are in a support role. The increase in blood flow on the light days increases recovery while decreasing recovery time. And with that I am still giving each set of target muscles a full week between the hard workouts. This allows me to do a greater amount of work and maintain a higher level of fitness. The other detail is that doing full body exercises allows the body to distribute forces which diminishes stress on the joints. I accent the joint benefit by doing a lot of stabilization oriented exercises which increase joint integrity. Joints are held together functionally by muscles. Add to this a lot of good old fashioned walking and moving around and you have the complete picture. Hope this helps.
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