The Pitfalls Of High Intensity Training
There is a lot of talk these days about high intensity training and it’s direct correlation to getting results
The pitfalls of high intensity training
There is a lot of talk these days about high intensity training and it’s direct correlation to getting results. Whether you are looking to lose weight, gain strength, get faster, or anything else you may desire from a fitness program, the trends are saying that intensity is what will get you there faster and more efficiently than anything else (assuming your nutrition is in place). The stresses placed on your system when pushing to and beyond your true physiological and psychological limits will force adaptations within your system. When doing this consistently, your body will adapt as quickly as possible to keep up with the imposed demands being placed on the system. The down side to training with high intensity is that it hurts and it must be managed appropriately to avoid over training and injuries. While the results are great, it will still leave holes in your overall fitness. This means that you are not actually maximizing your potential and adaptations when only training at high intensities.
To keep things really simple,there are really two zones that are most beneficial to train in. High intensity, pushing at 90% plus of your true capacity and low intensity, working at 60% of your capacity for 30 minutes or longer. Anything in between these zones is like working in a black hole, too high to get the fat burning and aerobic benefits and too low to get the hormonal and stress responses that cause the physiological, psychological, and aesthetic adaptations you are after.By adding in 60% effort or “cardio” days to your training one to two days a week and staying disciplined to actually work at the appropriate pace, you will begin to increase your overall fitness. This will come from exposing your body to a different demand and you will allow your body to recover from the constant high intensity work that is most likely not as high as you may think. The lower intensity efforts will allow you to hit the next high intensity day with a full effort. Where if you are constantly trying to push everyday to your max effort it starts to look like this:Monday- 100% of your true intensityTuesday- 100%Wednesday-85%Thursday-75% (Supposed to be a 60% day but you tried to go hard anyway)Friday -70%Saturday- 70%By working like this you will really limit your training potential which in turn stunts the adaptations you are after. This is a very common fault in any type of high intensity training or workout and will quickly lead to burn out. Which is understandable when you are coming in feeling that you are working as hard as you can everyday and not getting the results you are after. What the truth really is, is that you are putting the majority of your effort into the black hole and the black hole is where all of your effort is lost. You are better off to set up a schedule that allows you to go really hard a few days a week with some lower intensity days mixed in. When high intensity training is done well the results are phenomenal, when it is done incorrectly the results are overtraining, burnout, and injury. So really you can have an easier training schedule and get better results. This may be one of the few cases where working harder is not the answer.
