This article looks at the effect of sprint interval training on running performance
What’s the deal?
HIIT training works, but it hurts. Sprint intervals of 30 seconds (in one direction) are effective for losing weight and improving fitness, but they really hurt. Shuttle runs are a slightly more palatable type of HIIT training, but are there any benefits?
What did they do?
16 participants completed 3 training sessions per week, consisting of 4-7 sets of 30-second “all-out” sprints. The sprints were in the form of incremental shuttle runs of 5m (i.e. 5m out, 5m back, 10m out, 10m back, 15m out, 15m back, etc). After 2 weeks of training, participants ran a 3km time trial and their times were compared to pre-training values.
What happened?
All 16 participants improved their 3km running time, with an average improvement of 50 seconds. In addition, participants improved their maximum running speed and also had a 42% improvement in their running time to exhaustion at 90% effort.
What can you tell me about the people?
There were 12 males and 4 females, aged 21 years on average. All participants were healthy and very well-trained trail runners, with weekly training distances of 50km+.
What else should I know?
There was a rest period of 4 minutes in between each 30 seconds of sprinting. It took participants between 10 and 20 minutes to complete the 3km time trial, therefore an average improvement of 50 seconds is fairly impressive, especially in just 2 weeks!
What will I do differently?
I tried the standard 30-second sprint session (in one direction) back in 2017 and hated it. I am much more inclined to try these shuttle runs. Something about going out and back feels easier than going for 30 seconds straight! It’s also much easier to find a 30m area, rather than a 400m track, so there’s no need to travel far.
Acknowledgements
This research was published in March 2018 by J Koral and colleagues from the Catholic University of Valencia, Spain and the University of Calgary, Canada.
This article highlights our personal take on their research, but there is so much more information available! Check it out here and see what you think!
Abstract Athlete 