
High-intensity interval training for health benefits and care of cardiac diseases - The key to an efficient exercise protocol
Author(s) -
Shigenori Ito
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
world journal of cardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1949-8462
DOI - 10.4330/wjc.v11.i7.171
Subject(s) - medicine , high intensity interval training , interval training , sprint , anaerobic exercise , physical therapy , aerobic exercise , protocol (science) , vo2 max , aerobic capacity , heart rate , alternative medicine , blood pressure , pathology
Aerobic capacity, which is expressed as peak oxygen consumption (VO 2peak ), is well-known to be an independent predictor of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular prognosis. This is true even for people with various coronary risk factors and cardiovascular diseases. Although exercise training is the best method to improve VO 2peak , the guidelines of most academic societies recommend 150 or 75 min of moderate- or vigorous- intensity physical activities, respectively, every week to gain health benefits. For general health and primary and secondary cardiovascular prevention, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been recognized as an efficient exercise protocol with short exercise sessions. Given the availability of the numerous HIIT protocols, which can be classified into aerobic HIIT and anaerobic HIIT [usually called sprint interval training (SIT)], professionals in health-related fields, including primary physicians and cardiologists, may find it confusing when trying to select an appropriate protocol for their patients. This review describes the classifications of aerobic HIIT and SIT, and their differences in terms of effects, target subjects, adaptability, working mechanisms, and safety. Understanding the HIIT protocols and adopting the correct type for each subject would lead to better improvements in VO 2peak with higher adherence and less risk.