32. HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING: SHORT VS LONG INTERVALS IN TRAINED CYCLISTS

Photo by Chris Kendall on Unsplash

High intensity Training (HIT) is a widely used strategy to stimulate positive physiological adaptations for endurance performance. It represents performing intervals at an intensity above the second threshold/critical power/FTP.

To get the best results from your HIT, the general recommendation is spending as much time as possible at an oxygen consumption rate >90% of the VO2max (maximum oxygen consumption).

While many different HIT typologies are being used in the field, there are few studies which tried to understand which is the best to improve performance.

Which high intensity training format is the best to improve performance?

Short Intervals or Long Intervals?

A study published in 2015 by Prof. Bent Rønnestad and Colleagues (Lillehammer University College, Norway) on Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports tried to answer this question.

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HOW DID THEY TRAIN?

• 20 trained but not professional cyclists (~33 years old and ~66 VO2max) were divided into two groups: SI (Short Intervals) and LI (Long Intervals).

• For the following 10 weeks the two groups performed the same training program:

  8-10 hrs of low intensity training + 2x week HIT sessions.

  The only difference between the two groups was about the HIT format they performed:

  • SI group performed Short intervals HIT sessions:

    3x13’ alternating 30’’ on/15’’ off with 3’ recovery in between.

  • LI group a Long Intervals HIT sessions:

    4x5’ on/2.5' off.

15-20min of warm-up and cool down were included in each session.

If you make some calculations, you can see as both SI and LI groups accumulated a similar time in the ‘on’ phase: 19min30s vs 20 min (3x13x30’’ vs 4x5’).

In both HIT’s formats, the ‘on’ phases were performed at the maximum sustainable effort to obtain the highest average power throughout all the intervals.

The ‘off’' phases were performed at 50% of the power output sustained during intervals, so it was active recovery (read high zone 1 or low zone 2).

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WHAT DID THEY FOUND?