Older Bolder Life

Stronger | Leaner | Sharper | Longer - From Older Bolder Fitness

sprints

Sprinting: A Definitive and Easy Read

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Mark Sisson and his team over on Mark’s Daily Apple have recently posted a nifty two-part series on sprinting, something just about all of us should be doing in one form or another. Read Part One here and then Part Two here (includes a short video of Mark sprinting on the beach).

I was a competitive sprinter in my youth, and sprinted in the context of other sports in college and grad school (even playing the occasional flag football and Ultimate match in later years), though as my weight blossomed sprinting became a distant memory for over two decades.

Several years ago when beginning my own health reclamation I knew that I needed to add some form of sprinting back into the mix, though when I first starting my journey back, weighing over 400 pounds made that almost impossible. I eventually added hill sprints and cycling sprints into the mix, but have been enjoying the heck out of all out running sprints on a well-maintained soccer/football field most of all for the past several months.

There is something about running at (more or less) all-out effort that feels incredibly invigorating and plain youthful (something this 60 year old hasn’t necessarily felt in a while). As I’ve shared before, I do my main workouts every day fasted, my weekly sprints included, and I’ll swear my energy levels are even better on sprint days (and for a few days thereafter). More on sprinting, including some interesting research data, to come.

Best for Fat Loss: HIIT, SIT, or MOD?

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One the most common questions I hear, as do fitness trainers across the fruited plain, is this:

What exercise will make me lose weight fastest?

First Caveat: That’s Sorta’ve a Trick Question

Before looking at some interesting data recently published in the British Medical Journal, it’s worth stating one more time that in my opinion, for most of us, our body composition is by far and away largely a result of what we eat, not how much we exercise.

You can split hairs as to how much diet and exercise each play a role in determining your body composition, and as always, your specifics depend on a host of factors unique to you and you only. From where I sit these days, it’s reasonable to argue (again for most of us) as does Sisson that roughly 80% of your body composition is related to what you eat, roughly 10% to exercise, and 10% to managing stress and sleeping well. Do those exact numbers apply to everyone? Of course not, but it’s a decent conceptual starting point to launch from…

The trick question issue has to do with the fact that exercise is in no way the biggest determinant in “losing weight”; no matter how hard you try to burn calories, you still can’t outrun your fork, particularly if you’re eating along the lines of a standard American diet. Another way to look at it, and one that’s particularly damning to the traditional medicine and nutrition way of thinking, is that in no way does the simple adage of calories in, calories out ring true.

That said, here’s an interesting spin on the issue from the BMJ, first published in Feb 19.

HIIT, Particularly SIT, Beat MOD for Absolute Fat Loss

From the abstract –

Objectives To compare the effects of interval training and moderate-intensity continuous training (MOD) on body adiposity in humans, and to perform subgroup analyses that consider the type and duration of interval training in different groups.

Design Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data sources English-language, Spanish-language and Portuguese-language searches of the electronic databases PubMed and Scopus were conducted from inception to 11 December 2017.

Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Studies that met the following criteria were included: (1) original articles, (2) human trials, (3) minimum exercise training duration of 4 weeks, and (4) directly or indirectly compared interval training with MOD as the primary or secondary aim.

The Summarized Results: Interestingly, they found that both MOD and HIIT reduced participants’ body fat percentage, with no statistically meaningful difference noted between the groups.

The kicker was this, when looking at loss of total absolute fat mass (the magical “weight loss”), HIIT groups, particularly those engaging in SIT (sprint interval training) dropped 28.5% more total fat mass than the MOD groups.

The Take Home: Adding sprinting to your routine offers a host of benefits regardless if weight loss is an objective or not, but it is particularly beneficial if you have pounds to drop.

Granted, for some of us, adding HIIT and in particular SIT (Sprint Interval Training) might see like a long shot given current physical condition, joint or other orthopedic issues, or any number of other things. I get that, and it can be a real challenge to incorporate, but it’s doable with imagination, willingness to experiment a little, and some trial and error.

We’ll revisit the sprinting for the non-sprinter, older wannabe fitness jockey, and the rest of us in the next week or so.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, and More 2 March 2019

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Keto (Nutritional Ketosis) and Weight Loss

Nifty narrative review of keto-adaption and exercise tolerance, fatigue recovery, and organ damage prevention.
Tracking the food you eat helps in weight loss.
Another traditional medicine look at a 12-week ketogenic diet trial.
Canadian FP docs query if a ketogenic diet is effective for weight loss. It is.
Your cells thrive with fewer calories? For the most part, yes.

Exercise and Fitness

Interval training and sprints are good for you and your weight loss.
Fat cells release TGF-beta 2 post exercise – and it improves glucose tolerance.
Physical activity patterns and mortality.

Other Topics That Caught My Eye

Orthobiologics for knee osteoarthritis. (Need free Medscape account)
Another look at gut bacteria and dementia.
Gut microbiota varies by ethnicity.
Is yerba santa useful in dementia?

Food, Glorious Food

Short TED vid on the history of cheese.
How Benton’s, a famous Southern bacon purveyor, makes their famous bacon. (No nitrites)
Coconut Curry Braised Chicken Legs
Thai Inspired Celery Salad Update

Foundation Series: When It Comes to Exercise, There are Times When Less is More

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In the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual worldwide survey of current fitness trends (the 2018 edition), they ranked high-intensity interval training (HIIT) at the very top as per the image/list from the article to the right.

That’s of course no surprise to many, though it seems I run into people just about every day who aren’t sure what to think about HIIT, presume that it’s too extreme for those of us over 40, particularly if we’re significantly deconditioned and/or overweight. There’s another cadre of HIIT skeptics who fall into the “chronic cardio lifer” category.

Yet the pull of HIIT is inescapable.

HIIT offers for most identical – or greater – fitness benefits compared to much longer, historically traditional cardio-focused workouts. High-intensity interval training can be completed much more quickly, is damned efficient at producing its benefits, induces less physical (and quite possible biomechanical stress, pending your workout choices) stresses on your system, saves joint wear and tear, and provides a great change-up in your routine.

A Quick Glance at HIIT in the Literature

I know, I know, almost everybody you read these days reaches back to one of the first (landmark) studies published looking at HIIT vs moderate-intensity cardio – the 1996 study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. HIIT completed five days per week was clearly more effective than traditional cardio in measures of both aerobic and anaerobic fitness; of note, the workout program in the study was eventually described as the Tabata protocol (20 second sprints, 10 second rests, 7-8 reps).

But wait, five days of HIIT per week? This study from the International Journal of Obesity in 2008 showed impressive benefits from only three times per week HIIT over 15 weeks, with body changes impressively better than the moderate-intensity cardio group.

This study from 2007 showed low-volume HIIT (sprint training) physiologic improvements were basically the same as (for the day) typical endurance training regimens. Another study from 2006 again demonstrated similar benefits in a low-volume sprint group compared to a high-volume endurance group in exercise tolerance/capacity and a detailed skeletal muscle analysis.

And despite chronic cardio’s dominant position for decades as the purported cornerstone of improving cardiac function and health, this study (2008) clearly demonstrated that HIIT was as effective as traditional endurance training in measures of arterial stiffness and flow-mediated arterial dilation. Even my own specialty (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) has recently published a study on HIIT in cardiac patients, with a good review of workout intensity recommendations as well.

A Few Quick Thoughts on Starting Your Own HIIT Program

Without a doubt those with significant cardiopulmonary disease such ischemic or other heart disease, valvular disease, history of MI (heart attack), or cerebrovascular disease (stroke) should clear a HIIT program with their physician. For that matter, if you have any major medical or orthopaedic issue (T2 or T1 diabetes, hypertension, any arthropathy whether it’s degenerative/osteoarthritis, gout, or others, or perhaps osteoporosis), it’s worth clearing HIIT with your doc.

Don’t forget that you can accomplish a very effective HIIT workout with lower-impact exercise; the HIIT game is all about intensity, briefly pushing to 85 (up to 100) percent of your age-adjusted maximal target heart rate with short bursts of more intense effort, combined with/alternating with brief (yet still moving) recovery periods.

For the more mature among us, I often suggest starting with common-sense, fairly simple, whole-body/at least multi-joint movements/exercise for your HIIT program. Think of simple stuff like swimming, walking lunges, walking up an incline/hill, hill jogging/running, simple sprints (i.e., running, stationary bike, elliptical). Even squats, pushups, or jumping jacks will work.

Start slowly, listen to your body, and don’t push for more than one HIIT workout per week or even every ten days to start. You may need to experiment with several different specific workout versions to find what fits your capacity, tolerance, current level of overall fitness, and interests today (remember, this is supposed to be fun).

More on HIIT to come shortly.