Sprint Interval Training - “It's a HIIT - Strength Coach.com

groups of athletes can be considered very lean, the sprinters have a higher lean body mass despite burning far
fewer calories while engaging in their athletic event 54,55 . Sprinters also possess a physique that I am confident the
majority of people would be happier to develop. The picture on the cover page of this article perhaps conveys this
better than words. Also, when looking at that picture, ask yourself intuitively which body would be the healthiest
and most successful for overall human performance?
Now to me, it almost seems like an insult to one’s intelligence to have to address the research on fat loss
when the sporting world is full of examples such as the marathon runner and sprinter. However, as health care
professionals, we need research examples at our fingertips to combat the objections that will undoubtedly come
your way because of, again, the indoctrinated dogma that the best way to burn fat is LMICT. First, it is, again,
irrelevant as to how much research has demonstrated that LMICT can lead to a positive benefit – in this case, the
benefit being fat loss. So, I will concede, as you should to your clients, that there is a significant body of research
showing that one can lose fat by partaking in LMICT; however, there is also a significant amount showing it to be
unsuccessful. The most relevant research at this point is to assess studies that compare SIT and HIIT to LMICT and
determine the most effective fat loss method factoring in, again, the issue of time commitment.
In 1990, Tremblay et al., published the findings of a study that showed, for a given level of energy
expenditure, individuals engaging in vigorous activities are leaner than those participating in less intense
activities 56 . To help understand this finding, they followed the report with a study that compared the effect of a
20‐week LMICT program upon body fatness and muscle metabolism with a 15‐week HIIT program 57 . Despite the
fact that the energy expenditure of exercise was twice as high in the LMICT (with a mean estimated energy cost of
120.4 MJ) as in the HIIT program (with a mean estimated energy cost of 57.9 MJ), there was a more pronounced
reduction in subcutaneous fat (measured as the sum of six skinfolds) with the HIIT program compared with the
LMICT program. When the difference in the total energy cost of the two training programs was taken into account,
the reduction induced by the HIIT program was actually ninefold greater than the LMICT program. Muscle biopsies
were also taken before and after the training programs to examine the effect of the two training programs upon
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