23 Aug 2012

Interval training guru reveals his secrets

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Energy & exercise

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Stephen Boutcher is one of Australia’s leading researchers into exercise and health. His revolutionary studies on interval training have demonstrated how you can still achieve great results without investing significant amounts of time. I recently asked him for some tips on how best to use interval training to maximise fitness and fat loss

Q. The results from your studies are very positive. Do you think this has much to do with the 8:12 ratio used in your research (the subjects alternated between pedaling very fast for 8 seconds, and then very slowly for 12 seconds for 20 minutes). Would you recommend a different ratio (say 15:15) for fitter, or less overweight individuals?
Steve - No. The 8:12 ratio allows both fit and unfit people to complete 60 sprints in 20 minutes. Increasing the interval duration makes it a much harder workout and more difficult to complete the session with no major extra benefit. You’d be better off increasing the duration (e.g., 30 minutes of interval sprinting instead of 20).

Q. Would you recommend rest days between interval training, or lighter, steady state training days (such as a slow jog).
Steve - There does not appear much after effects (e.g., muscle stiffness) after interval training, thus exercising the day after should be OK. Resistance exercise for the upper body would be beneficial on rest days as interval cycling or running doesn’t do much for the arms. However, rowing, rope skipping and boxing, can all be done using the 8:12 protocol and could also be done between leg based interval sessions.

Q. Were you surprised / excited by the way interval training seems to target abdominal fat?
Steve - Dieting does not have great effects on visceral fat (fat stored in your stomach around the internal organs) and to lose it by doing steady state exercise requires a lot of exercise (one hour per day). So currently this seems to be the most promising way to lose visceral fat, especially for men and postmenopausal women.

Q. Your research has really helped to change mainstream thinking in terms of the way we exercise for weight control? Is there any other mainstream approaches to weight control that you think need challenging?
Steve - From an exercise perspective we need to emphasise that more vigorous exercise is far more beneficial for health than light exercise (e.g., walking). However, walking is still important. Provided people are medically screened interval sprinting has shown to be safe and effective in a range of clinical groups such as stent patients, metabolic syndrome patients, diabetic patients, older adults, and young and old overweight people.

Q. Are there any dietary strategies you recommend for health and fitness?
Firstly, strict dieting doesn’t work for the majority of people. The Mediterranean style of eating appears to be the only diet that people can stick to as it is enjoyable and contains lots of anti-oxidants. There is also some interesting findings coming out about bioactive nutrients (e.g., green tea) that can enhance fat oxidation and may interact positively with exercise.

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