Why Do and How to High Intensity Interval Training

Paul Laursen, PhD, is an adjunct professor, performance physiologist and coach. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers in exercise and sports science journals, and this work has been cited more than 3000 times.

Paul is coach and support to numerous elite and professional athletes across multiple endurance-based sports and is himself lightning-fast triathlete with performances across Olympic to Ironman distance events. Paul is an early adopter and technology-savvy geeks at the pointy end of discovery.

In this interview, I’m joined by Tommy Wood, MD, PhD, to discuss high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Earlier this year, I went straight into some 3-8 hour races having done no long (20 min work period) intervals at all, a first for me as a competitive mountain biker. Almost all of my training consisted of MAF paced work and so I wondered why I ever did HIIT and that lead to this show.

You can find Paul at his new home over at plewsandprof.com

Here’s the outline of this interview with Paul Laursen:

[00:00:24] High Performance Sport New Zealand.

[00:00:34] Professor Paul Laursen on PubMed.

[00:03:19] Endurance athlete definition.

[00:05:00] Intensity definition.

[00:05:44] Critical Power.

[00:07:38] Aerobic threshold: 1 mmol increase in blood lactate above baseline (MAF).

[00:08:52] Critical Power: maximal lactate steady state (30-60 min).

[00:09:40] VO2 Max (2.5 min up to 8 min).

[00:10:38] Anaerobic Speed Reserve Project by Gareth Sandford.

[00:10:50] Maximal Power.

[00:12:53] 2K rowing test.

[00:17:43] More than one way to skin a cat.

[00:19:51] Continuous blood glucose monitoring.

[00:20:20] Polarised training model.

[00:21:49] Does grey zone training provide some benefit you can't get from polarised?

[00:23:13] Stress fractures.

[00:25:09] Mindfulness.

[00:26:35] Dr Daniel Plews.

[00:28:17] Training for IRONMAN.

[00:28:51] 80/20 aerobic/intensity.

[00:31:47] TrainingPeaks TSS.

[00:32:17] BANISTER, E. W. (1991). Modelling elite athletic performance. In: MacDougall, J.D.; Wenger, H.A. & Green, H.J. eds. Physiological testing of the high performance athlete. Champaign, IL, Human Kinetics Publishers Ltd., pp 403–424.

[00:32:57] TrainingPeaks Performance Management chart.

[00:34:28] Blog: Marco Altini on Heart Rate Variability (HRV).

[00:35:05] Paper: Comparison of Heart Rate Variability Recording With Smart Phone Photoplethysmographic, Polar H7 Chest Strap and Electrocardiogram Methods” by Plews DJ et al.

[00:36:41] Website: Brain.fm.

[00:37:50] Interview: The Migraine Miracle with Dr Josh Turknett, MD.

[00:39:09] Overall rise in HRV in a weekly block of training.

[00:40:32] Marco Altini tweet chart.

[00:41:15] Website: HRV for Training.

[00:41:51] Dr Daniel Plews.

[00:41:59] Mark Buchet?

[00:43:20] The format of the book.

[00:44:37] Artificial Intelligence (AI).

[00:46:17] Dr Ken Ford and his publications.

[00:46:45] Podcast: STEM-Talk.

[00:46:56] Website: Plews and Prof, Plews and Prof on Twitter.