More about Quality, Less about Quantity
It has been a traditional belief in exercising circles that the more time you train, the more fit you will become. This is true to an extent. If you run for 1 hour, seven days a week, you will be expending energy sourced from stores within your body, and as the second law of thermodynamics ensures, if your energy output is greater than your input the net equilibrium of the system will shift to compensate the overall loss, you will store less energy, and inevitably lose weight and increase your level of fitness. Sweet, done deal.
But, is there a more efficient way to achieve the same results, especially for time poor people? A recent study undertaken by researchers from the Department of Human Sciences, Ohio State University, examining the effects of CrossFit-based high intensity power training (HIPT) over a 10 week period on aerobic fitness and body composition found some interesting things in this space. The 10 week program consisted of testing healthy subjects of both genders (23 males, 20 females) spanning all levels of aerobic fitness and body composition utilising lifts such as the squat, deadlift, clean, snatch and overhead press (Olympic and power lifts) and basic gymnastic skills (handstands, rings and bar exercises), performed as quickly as possible at a high intensity in varying time domains ranging from 10 to 20 minutes long per workout (Smith et al).
The study found that by following the CrossFit training program, a significant increase in relative VO2max (amount of O2 that an individual can use) and decrease in body fat percentage were observed directly from HIPT in the subjects tested (Smith et al). The collated results are represented as follows, with VO2max on the left-hand axis and body fat percentage on the right-hand axis.
Source: Smith et al.
The results are pretty clear – using a CrossFit-based high intensity power training program produced quite dramatic improvements in commonly used measures of fitness…and what’s more it was achieved in only a 10 week period and utilising only 10 – 20min workouts per day! Sure beats a 1 – 2 hour workout at a low or even steady-state intensity to achieve the same outcomes, especially for busy and/or time poor people.
As a reference, below is a sample of a few weeks of the program used in the study, all movements commonly seen in a typical CrossFit gym, mixing up Olympic lifting movements, powerlifting movements, basic gymnastics movements and metabolic conditioning (cardio).
Source: Smith et al.
- Adam
References:
Smith, M.M., Allan, J.S., Staroff, B.E., Devor, S.T., Crossfit-based high intensity power training improves maximal aerobic fitness and body composition, The Ohio State University, Department of Human Sciences – Kinesiology Program, Columbus, Ohio, viewed 3 April 2016, <http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_Devor_CrossFit_Publication_1.pdf>