High Intensity Training (HIT’s) – the pros and the cons

By Jasmine Wing

If you have a short attention span and prefer an ‘in and out’ approach when it comes to your workout, then high intensity training may be perfect for you. However, besides the masses of great benefits, it also has its shortfalls.

When participating in moderate-extreme exercise, your body somewhat panics. It has a survival mechanism, which I am sure you are familiar with called fight or flight. This means your body releases cortisol and adrenaline that supplies your body with energy and strength to either fight off the enemy or run away from adversary. Either way your body, when FORCED, will find the energy from the back burner to avoid danger.

…the benefits;

·         Afterburn:

One great benefit to this type of workout is called the ‘afterburn’. Research suggests that you will have a much greater afterburn effect when you do 5 rounds of 30 second sprints than if you were to jog for 30 minutes. This all sounds great right? Cortisol that is released when training intensely aids the metabolism of fat in the body and increases your resting metabolic rate. This means your ‘fat burning machine’ is working faster than it usually would.

“When your body is pushed during exercise, it can take up to three days for your metabolism to return to ‘normal’,” says Victor Zammit, professor of metabolic biochemistry at Warwick University.

·         For a healthier heart:

Interestingly after either a HEAVY lifting session or HIGH INTENSITY workout, your body requires more oxygen afterwards to recover. This improves your cardiorespiratory endurance (heart and respiratory system).  It also helps your heart to become stronger by promoting faster cardiac output. Both workouts help to activate your fast twitch muscle fibres, which cause muscle growth and weight loss.

·         Quick and simple:

High-intensity interval training can be really beneficial for those with limited time such as lunch breaks or morning sessions before work. Ticking all the boxes for convenience and are successful at increasing fitness, rapid weight loss and muscle building. What’s not to love?

·         Supress that hungry feeling:

For some, the bonuses of sprints, circuits and so on, far outweigh the bad. For example the fact that HITs supress your appetite can be very appealing for those of us trying to lose weight. If your drawback is that insatiable appetite then look no further, research has shown that HIIT reduces appetite unlike those hour long spin classes that leave you feeling starving. A study in Western Australia showed that those who performed high intensity exercise consumed fewer calories. They were simply less hungry after doing HITT. This is because it reduces the amount of hunger hormone, ghrelin.

…the downside;

·         Or is it just a myth?

On the contrary, many believe that the after burn idea is just a myth and real weight loss can simply be achieved when your energy expenditure is greater than your energy intake. Unlike in financial terms, weight loss is merely achieved when your outgoings (calories burnt) are higher than you ingoings’ (your food).

·         Feel the burn:

As part of your body’s response to stress, inflammation is reduced by suppressing the immune system. Then when you relax and your stress hormone levels normalise, the pain will come on strong! This can be dangerous, if you are someone who likes to hit the gym hard until you feel the ‘burn’, with a ‘no pain-no gain’, attitude then you are at risk of overdoing it. You may go a lot harder because you don’t feel anything in the moment. Let me assure you, from personal experience, the day after you may be feeling a bit regretful.

·         Tiring stuff:

When carrying out HIT’s it important to know that interval training can be really tough on your body. If you perform high intensity training too often and consecutively without allowing your body enough time to recovery and the correct diet then you will most certainly feel drained and at are risk of overtraining. One snag is although fast twitch muscle fibres produce better burst of speed, they also tire more quickly. High intensity workouts really can cause fatigue - not great for those long days at work or studying.

·         Correct form is crucial:

Popularity of box jumps and exercises such as burpees has been increasing and I am most certainly included in the love, hate relationship with those intense exercises however if performed without proper technique I am well aware of their potential danger. They cause damage to joints, hips, knees and ankles. They also increase the likelihood of injuries. Jumping down from a box jump causes unwanted strain on joints and muscles. If you are ever unsure about your form or technique never hesitate to ask a personal trainer, it is much better to feel a fool for asking than laying on the gym floor tears after hurting yourself.

·         Warning:

My final point; it is not well advertised but this type of training it is not something advised for beginners. Sprinting requires the highest rate of energy supply and demands a lot from your body. So don’t go throwing yourself into something too hard, too quickly! 

   This Girl Can fits SportsDock agenda

Jasmine Wing sees two sporting organisations collaborating on behalf of women…

SportsDock, the University of East London sports facility, has signed up to This Girl Can, the Sport England campaign designed to encourage women to take part in sport-related activities. This will result in women-only classes and special trial martial arts programmes taking place at SportsDock in February.

The objectives of This Girl Can matches the East London gym’s, with the aim to encourage others to celebrate being active no matter your size or ability and prove that sport can be fun and an enjoyable fragment of our daily lives.

David Cosford, director of sport at UEL, explained they had already identified a shortfall in women participating in their programmes. “There was a sense of frustration with the lack of women partaking in sport at the here,” he said.

Similarly to Sport England, SportsDock discovered through their surveys that women wanted more privacy when working out: a fear of judgment and worries about appearance far outweighed women’s confidence to exercise.

Like Sport England, the East London gym held focused discussions with women late last year to try tackle the way in which they deliver sport to women, with the hope to encourage more women to get involved.

The primary focus of This Girl Can is a leap away from the usual sporting campaigns. It was found that elite sportswomen and celebrities were seen as off-putting and unattainable by the majority of women.  Women at SportsDock expressed similar attitudes.
SportsDock’s advertisement techniques want to mimic those of Sport England, and hope to have photo-led posters featuring real women exercising.

Mary Carr, a second year student and one of the leads of the project, emphasised that “the campaign doesn’t pin women against women, it’s not a competition”, and added that she believes “the campaign will encourage women to see themselves doing those exercises.”

Is Detox only a myth?

January; the season for detoxing, fasting, and dieting. Whether it is trying to give up that ‘unhealthy habit’ or joining the gym, the New Year always welcomes in healthy lifestyle changes...(or attempts at least).

It is always encouraging to see new, exhausted, sweaty faces working hard in the gym in the New Year. It’s certainly great to see friends and family have a shot at healthy eating. I hope that all the healthy New Year’s resolutions have manage to sustain themselves into February! Keep up that good work!

Personally, I always saw detoxing as a good concept, ‘flushing out the system’ or ‘cleaning out your body’ type of thing but I recently discovered….is all a myth. In fact it is impossible to detox your body when it already successfully does it by itself.

This dieting stuff gets more and more scientific, the more you get into it. And the more you realise how much of what you always thought was true is just hearsay.

However, come to think about, if toxins were able to ‘build up’ in a way your body could not eradicate them without detoxing every so often, surely we would be in serious need of medical attention. Our bodies wouldn’t be very sufficient would they?

Edzard Ernst, emeritus professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University said “the healthy body has kidneys, a liver, skin, even lungs that are detoxifying as we speak”. 

In short it is all just a marketing swindle. Much of the detox sales orbit the idea of “toxins”. Those people, myself included, that are silly enough to believe that you can cleanse your system of any impurities is a concept to sell you things. Nevertheless, let this myth be encouraging to maintaining other truthful healthy choices you have made…and be sure to research before embarking on diet fads! 

By Jasmine Wing,

Journalism student and SportsDock member

Phone a friend

There’s nothing worse than a demotivated morning gym session…. alone. You wander aimlessly around the weights area, hop from machine to machine hoping to find your motivation somewhere among the cross trainers but it doesn’t seem to show up. You try a bit of kettlebells then do some abs but really you just can’t seem to find the fun in gym today.

Excuses, excuses: Trust me I know the feeling. Happens all the time. Stop making those lousy excuses, like your too tired…. or it’s been a long day… or you’ll go tomorrow. 

Like your mother would say when you were younger, “you’ll feel better once you get there I promise you” when you’re trying to get out of going to a party or the school dance. (Plus, Mothers are always right, you will feel better once you get there).

What can help to boost your gym time enjoyment? One of your girlfriends I say. So here’s three reasons why you should try training with a friend if you’re not feeling excited to put on your gym clothes and get in the gym.

1.  

      Accountability – If you don’t feel like going one day and end up having a lay in or a chilled evening on the sofa with some ice-cream, your gym partner is there on the other end of your phone to remind you to get back on it and train together soon. You organise a gym date and ’woohoo’ you can’t wriggle your way out of it so easily.

2.   Helping hand – when you’ve got your friend to hold your feet for sit ups or throw the ball or even better count each others reps it just makes life easier and the motivation just seems to flow better you when you making a bit of a laugh out of the pathetic press ups or sweaty brow.

3.   Social time, time goes faster- although the gym is supposed to be the place that you burn off last weekend’s pizza and yesterday’s cheeky chocolate bar, completely in that focused ‘zone’. I find that by chatting whilst exercising the time seems to pass by faster and the calories drop off without you getting terribly bored and frustrated.

4.   Confidence- I sometimes feel more confident when I’m with a friend rather than alone. Especially if you don’t feel super comfortable going to the gym, by going with a friend you can push each other and laugh how silly you both look, red in the face and sweaty, great look!

If they aren’t good enough reason to get one of your friends to start coming with you on a regular basis or sign up to SportsDock then I don’t know what will. Heck I’m even motivating myself to text my friend now.

This month at SportsDock it’s refer a friend month so why not take this opportunity and give a friend a phone.

By Jasmine Wing

Phone a friend this November

There’s nothing worse than a demotivated morning gym session…. alone. You wander aimlessly around the weights area, hop from machine to machine hoping to find your motivation somewhere among the cross trainers but it doesn’t seem to show up. You try a bit of kettlebells then do some abs but really you just can’t seem to find the fun in gym today.

Excuses, excuses: Trust me I know the feeling. Happens all the time. Stop making those lousy excuses, like your too tired…. or it’s been a long day… or you’ll go tomorrow. Like your mother would say when you were younger, “you’ll feel better once you get there I promise you” when you’re trying to get out of going to a party or the school dance. (Plus, Mothers are always right, you will feel better once you get there).

What can help to boost your gym time enjoyment? One of your girlfriends I say. So here’s three reasons why you should try training with a friend if you’re not feeling excited to put on your gym clothes and get in the gym.

1.       Accountability – If you don’t feel like going one day and end up having a lay in or a chilled evening on the sofa with some ice-cream, your gym partner is there on the other end of your phone to remind you to get back on it and train together soon. You organise a gym date and ’woho’ you can’t wriggle your way out of it so easily.

2.       Helping hand – when you’ve got your friend to hold your feet for sit ups or throw the ball or even better count each other reps it just makes life easier and the motivation just seems to flow better you when you making a bit of a laugh out of the pathetic press ups or sweaty brow.

3.       Social time, time goes faster- although the gym is supposed to be the place that you burn off last weekend’s pizza and yesterday’s cheeky chocolate bar, completely in that focused ‘zone’. I find that by chatting whilst exercising the time seems to pass by faster and the calories rack up without you getting terribly bored and frustrated.

4.       Confidence, I sometimes feel more confident when I’m with a friend than alone especially if you don’t feel super comfortable going to the gym then by going with a friend you can push each other and laugh how silly you both look, red in the face and sweaty, great look!

If they aren’t good enough reason to get one of your friends to starting coming with you on a regular basis or sign up to SportsDock I don’t know what it. Heck I’m even motivating myself to text my friend now.This month at SportsDock it’s refer a friend month so why not take this opportunity and give a friend a phone.

By Jasmine Wing

Getting up close and personal

‘My journey’ sounds a bit cheesy right? But realistically it has been a bumpy journey, with SportsDock being a stable base for the ups and downs. I’m now in my final year and there is no way the workload will be stopping my gym attendance. I dread the day that I’m stacked up to my eye balls in work and the gym seems like a distance memory but until then you will catch me there six days a week!!

Training partner:  Before coming to University I battled with my weight. It was my first time away from home and now my eating habits were in my hands.  I was certain that I wanted to grab control of my weight issue and ‘transform’ myself. Luckily my housemate, Sarah, was of the same mind frame and we both set our minds on losing weight. Minus those movie nights with a tub of Ben and Jerry’s between us, oh and the late night chocolate trips to the corner shop. We went to the gym together and helped motivating each other, it was great.

Calorie counting control: Knowing little how to lose weight, I started to count calories and doing excessive amounts of cardio. The whole counting and control of my diet became a bit obsessive, oh and not to mention the cardio overload. I did manage to lose weight but I didn’t feel exactly healthier. I was tired all the time mainly due to not refuelling my body properly. My obsession with eating and going to the gym restricted my social life. Now this may seem a bit extreme and you probably feel as though you’d never become like that. One of the purposes for the women's wellbeing blog was to help raise awareness on subjects that are topical. I feel some women have a blurred vision on such wellbeing issues as calorie counting and weight lifting.

One of the lads: In my second year, my housemate had returned to Australia and I soon found myself among the lads in the gym and ended up training with them, hey it was better than training alone. Although I loved training with the boys in the gym I ended looking like one and my weights to cardio ratio has completely switched. I gained muscle but the weight around my mid drift was staring back at me in the mirror. I was unhappy with the way I looked, a re-occurring theme, when returning home for the summer, I ‘up-ed’ the anti and was determined to lose weight!

A ‘loner’: As my interests shifted towards weight lifting, I realised a real lack of women in the weights area. I started to become more and more curious as to why there wasn’t the same sense of community between the females as there was with the males. So here comes my sob story… the men at SportsDock would greet each other each morning, share fitness tips, chat and they would laugh together in-between sets…. and then there was me. Alone.

It was love at first sight: My adoration for the gym has grown and grown, some say I’m crazy, some say I’m obsessed but most I believe admire my dedication. I may not have the ‘celeb’ body but I’m a lot happier in my own skin than I was and continue to challenge myself from week to week. The love for the gym has helped me love my own body. Being a journalism student I wanted to be able to combine my two passions, health and writing. By creating the blog I was able to reach out to women like me or educate girls so they wouldn’t fall into the same traps as I did.

If you have similar interest or want to become more involved with UEL's women's wellbeing project then email me at jasminenatashawing@gmail.com. 

Quality and quantity

I often get bombarded by my friends and family for diet advice along with a bunch of nutritional questions. This is not to due to a wide range of degrees or some nutrition qualification but simply because I have made the same changes they all want to accomplish, I have tried most things and found which works and which doesn't..... And I'm continually researching.

Getting back to my point... I feel as though I tend to repeat myself explaining and answering the same things. So I've come to the conclusion it is about quality as well as the quantity.

It’s great that you've already made that decision for a grilled chicken salad over a McDonald's big Mac. BUT we are all aware that a big heap of fat free Greek yoghurt is a no-no even though it’s better than a bowl full of ice-cream.  Bear with me I’ll explain what I mean.

After watching the television series ‘Secret Eaters’ I realised that most people have this mindset that because it’s a lighter option they can indulge more however this is not always the case. ‘Just because a food packet contains the words 'lower fat' or 'reduced fat' doesn't necessarily mean it's a healthy choice’ stated the NHS. 

Making those initial swaps is great but remembering not to overdo it is the answer, keeping both quality and quantity in mind. Whilst keeping an eye on the balance on your plate and not getting to fixated on things such as ‘good fats’ and going protein bonkers.

‘But there good fats’, that statement alone is one I hear very often. Take an avocado for an example, they are great and do contain ‘good fats’ but they are still high in monosaturated fats.  It’s the quantity as well as the quality of the fats you are consuming.

Some tips and tools....

Shelf checker: 

I recently took a friend food shopping with me and explained what I buy and why. After she picked up something that seemed ‘healthy’ I showed her to always look at the labels and compare it with similar products and always go with the one lowest in everything. I compare and contrast products ALL the time and believe this is a vital skill in eating better.Most products have the ‘each serving contains’ label on the packet. Take a closer look next time you go to the shops and familiarise yourself with the colour codes. If it has RED it means high in that nutrient so unless you’re really under doing it in that area then I would say put down the packet and step away from the shelf. ‘But while choosing healthier fats is better for your heart, when it comes to your waistline, all fats have about the same number of calories’ said one online source.

Self assessment: 

Sitting down and look at your week’s food diary and assessing the areas YOU think could do with adjusting is a great tool. Too much sugar or not enough carbohydrates may be affecting you weight loss. Keeping a record of your food and reviewing is very important, I believe. 

So remember....the right things, the right amount, knowing right from wrong and swapping this for that.

By Jasmine Wing