Scientists Have Finally Figured Out Why High Intensity Interval Training Is So Damn Good For Your Body

Ever since High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) was first invented the amazing health benefits have been self-evident, but up until now scientists have been baffled as to why this form of training has the same effect on the body as endurance training. Twenty minutes of balls to the walls exercise is ALWAYS going to be preferable over a two-hour-long run, assuming the health benefits of both remain the same.

In a study published in the journal ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States’ scientists claim to have pinpointed which physiological reactions are likely causing the largest benefits of all, and it’s heavily tied to how High Intensity Interval Training affects calcium channels in muscle cells.

TheLatestNews reports:

Researchers from Stockholm’s Karolinska Institutet discovered cellular mechanisms behind the positive benefits of HIIT and why endurance training is undermined by antioxidants.

Short bursts of just a few minutes of exhausting physical activity can prepare muscles to work harder, boosting the production of new mitochondria (the cell’s batteries), which culminates endurance enhancement much like more time consuming endurance training. High-intensity exercise triggers the breakdown of calcium channels as a result of an increased production of free radicals (highly receptive radicals which can act as oxidants for cellular metabolism). The muscle cells thus have anti-oxidative systems for trapping and nullifying the radicals.

The scientists also discovered that antioxidants like Vitamins C and E, very common ingredients of dietary supplements, remove the effect on the calcium channels, resulting in the weakening of the muscle response to endurance training.

The study can be read in full here if you’re still unclear on what’s going on here. If you’ve never given High Intensity Interval Training a shot you really, really should. A few years back I went to an event with some trainers from Gatorade where they had us doing HIIT. I was hungover and hadn’t been to the gym in quite some time. That workout kicked my ass beyond belief, and I nearly passed out while sprinting on the treadmill at one point (I shouldn’t have drank the night before), but good God did I feel great the next day. Give it a shot, bros.

For more on this study you can click on over to TheLatestNews.com and/or read the study in full on PNAS by clicking here.