This is why Interval Training/Crossfit works

kdiamond

I am a big believer in interval training and Crossfit type workouts. I "preach" a lot on these boards. I wanted to share a little experience we had today in our class.

Here was our workout from start to finish:

Warmup: 400 meter run, 20 shoulder dislocates with pvc pipe, 20 walking lunges, 10 squats, 10 handstand pushups, 15 situps, and 15 back extensions.

Then we did a cycle of

21 reps - 15 reps - 9 reps (no resting between rounds) of squat cleans (65 pounds) and ring dips. Most people finished in the 7 minute area.

Then we did a Tabata workout, which is 8 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest of jump roping and situps. That was 8 minutes.

Total time working = 15 minutes plus ~8 minute warmup.

A lady who is in my class wears a Body Bugg, she's around my size, 5'4" and 110 pounds, give or take a couple pounds.

She burned 390 calories...yes you read that right. From the time we started to the time we finished (the class is one hour but we have a lot of down time), she burned 390 calories. That comes out to about 19 calories per minute.

Interval training WORKS.

Grimmerick

I just started interval training, I love how many calories you can burn in such a short amount of time as long as you give it your all. No slacking with this kind of training.

thkelly

I am a big believer in interval training and Crossfit type workouts. I "preach" a lot on these boards. I wanted to share a little experience we had today in our class.

Here was our workout from start to finish:

Warmup: 400 meter run, 20 shoulder dislocates with pvc pipe, 20 walking lunges, 10 squats, 10 handstand pushups, 15 situps, and 15 back extensions.

Then we did a cycle of

21 reps - 15 reps - 9 reps (no resting between rounds) of squat cleans (65 pounds) and ring dips. Most people finished in the 7 minute area.

Then we did a Tabata workout, which is 8 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest of jump roping and situps. That was 8 minutes.

Total time working = 15 minutes plus ~8 minute warmup.

A lady who is in my class wears a Body Bugg, she's around my size, 5'4" and 110 pounds, give or take a couple pounds.

She burned 390 calories...yes you read that right. From the time we started to the time we finished (the class is one hour but we have a lot of down time), she burned 390 calories. That comes out to about 19 calories per minute.

Interval training WORKS.

so she basically burned 390 calories in an hour. that's decent, but you're totally twisting the numbers by saying she's burning 19 calories/minute

Scott613

It does work but, You gotta push yourself. Some people don't and then assume it doesnt work for them when in reality they're just lazy.

mattellis2

I am a big believer in interval training and Crossfit type workouts. I "preach" a lot on these boards. I wanted to share a little experience we had today in our class.

Here was our workout from start to finish:

Warmup: 400 meter run, 20 shoulder dislocates with pvc pipe, 20 walking lunges, 10 squats, 10 handstand pushups, 15 situps, and 15 back extensions.

Then we did a cycle of

21 reps - 15 reps - 9 reps (no resting between rounds) of squat cleans (65 pounds) and ring dips. Most people finished in the 7 minute area.

Then we did a Tabata workout, which is 8 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest of jump roping and situps. That was 8 minutes.

Total time working = 15 minutes plus ~8 minute warmup.

A lady who is in my class wears a Body Bugg, she's around my size, 5'4" and 110 pounds, give or take a couple pounds.

She burned 390 calories...yes you read that right. From the time we started to the time we finished (the class is one hour but we have a lot of down time), she burned 390 calories. That comes out to about 19 calories per minute.

Interval training WORKS.

so she basically burned 390 calories in an hour. that's decent, but you're totally twisting the numbers by saying she's burning 19 calories/minute

agree.

that being said, i am pondering checking out the crossfit thing. local gym has a beginner's meet and great this saturday.

johnwhitent

Removed post as this is really the wrong place to post it!

kdiamond

I am a big believer in interval training and Crossfit type workouts. I "preach" a lot on these boards. I wanted to share a little experience we had today in our class.

Here was our workout from start to finish:

Warmup: 400 meter run, 20 shoulder dislocates with pvc pipe, 20 walking lunges, 10 squats, 10 handstand pushups, 15 situps, and 15 back extensions.

Then we did a cycle of

21 reps - 15 reps - 9 reps (no resting between rounds) of squat cleans (65 pounds) and ring dips. Most people finished in the 7 minute area.

Then we did a Tabata workout, which is 8 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest of jump roping and situps. That was 8 minutes.

Total time working = 15 minutes plus ~8 minute warmup.

A lady who is in my class wears a Body Bugg, she's around my size, 5'4" and 110 pounds, give or take a couple pounds.

She burned 390 calories...yes you read that right. From the time we started to the time we finished (the class is one hour but we have a lot of down time), she burned 390 calories. That comes out to about 19 calories per minute.

Interval training WORKS.

so she basically burned 390 calories in an hour. that's decent, but you're totally twisting the numbers by saying she's burning 19 calories/minute

agree.

that being said, i am pondering checking out the crossfit thing. local gym has a beginner's meet and great this saturday.

Not really, because there was only really 20 minutes of WORK. We were physically present for one hour, but the rest of it was resting, putting our bars together, putting stuff away, waiting for the next round, etc..

kdiamond

I agree with you on the value of HIIT type training, there is no other way to get such a great calorie burn in a short time, and the program you laid out sounds great. But for me high intensity can only be part of the story.

Some HIIT fans come across as near nazis for the program to the exclusion of all else and it drives me crazy! (Not addressing the OP here!) I love long runs and longer bike rides and there is a place for such activities in everyone’s regimen. It’s so easy for folks to become so enamored with one regimen and ignore the value of others. I try to continually mix it up. I strength train, trail run, and cycle. I engage in variety within each of those disciplines. P90X, hill repeats, speed work, long slow distance, etc. But my favorite of all is long bike rides. Sure I can burn as many calories in a fraction of the time by doing intervals, but I really LIKE long rides! Some HIIT fans write off lsd with unconcealed contempt and they just don't know what they are missing. Yeah, they are correct, it is not the optimum way to burn calories and specifically fat. But that is not the only criteria with which to evaluate an exercise.

I'm not here to disagree with the OP nor to rant (well, I just did that) but I'd love to see more people avail themselves of a broad variety of exercise. A two to four hour mountain bike or road bike ride is a glorious way to spend a Saturday afternoon. The calorie burn and cardiovascular improvement are just great extras that come with it! Sure, we should all do intervals, tabata, etc. but do other things too. I’m done, thanks!

I absolutely agree, and of course I love going for long swims and fun stuff. But I like to point out that we all have 20 minutes in our day to get exercise, and if you're a busy mom with kids, work, school, etc., there is a way to get 20 minutes of exercise that works and keeps you in shape!

OfficialPR

Added CrossFit to weekly routine and couldn't agree more! Definitely BURNS and strengthens CORE which is my target area at this time. In fact looking forward to my session tonight.

sweetheart03622

I am a big believer in interval training and Crossfit type workouts. I "preach" a lot on these boards. I wanted to share a little experience we had today in our class.

Here was our workout from start to finish:

Warmup: 400 meter run, 20 shoulder dislocates with pvc pipe, 20 walking lunges, 10 squats, 10 handstand pushups, 15 situps, and 15 back extensions.

Then we did a cycle of

21 reps - 15 reps - 9 reps (no resting between rounds) of squat cleans (65 pounds) and ring dips. Most people finished in the 7 minute area.

Then we did a Tabata workout, which is 8 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest of jump roping and situps. That was 8 minutes.

Total time working = 15 minutes plus ~8 minute warmup.

A lady who is in my class wears a Body Bugg, she's around my size, 5'4" and 110 pounds, give or take a couple pounds.

She burned 390 calories...yes you read that right. From the time we started to the time we finished (the class is one hour but we have a lot of down time), she burned 390 calories. That comes out to about 19 calories per minute.

Interval training WORKS.

so she basically burned 390 calories in an hour. that's decent, but you're totally twisting the numbers by saying she's burning 19 calories/minute

agree.

that being said, i am pondering checking out the crossfit thing. local gym has a beginner's meet and great this saturday.

Not really, because there was only really 20 minutes of WORK. We were physically present for one hour, but the rest of it was resting, putting our bars together, putting stuff away, waiting for the next round, etc..

The issue is that your heart rate is still elevated during this time, ie you're buring calories. If you just did 20 minutes of interval training you would not burn 390 calories. That's the bottom line.

I burn about 750 calories in an hour run. You burn 390 in an hour of cross fit. I'm sticking with running.

kdiamond

The issue is that your heart rate is still elevated during this time, ie you're buring calories. If you just did 20 minutes of interval training you would not burn 390 calories. That's the bottom line.

I burn about 750 calories in an hour run. You burn 390 in an hour of cross fit. I'm sticking with running.

I hear what you're saying, yes I am aware it is because your heart rate is elevated during the entire hour. Not many people can run for a full hour nonstop either...

As for high intensity training vs running, strength training keeps buring more calories throughout the day as well. Something to think about! I used to run a lot more than I do now (now I do intervals of running vs long running sessions) and I feel my body looks better now. To each his own! I'm not here to argue that it is better, I was simply saying it works.

Seanemcee

This is why I like to use a heart rate monitor. The body bug thing baffles me. I will admit I don't know much about it, but the way it was explained to me is that it measures your sweat? I'm not sure how this accurately measures calorie burn, but hey I am no exercise scientist! My heart rate monitor tells me exactly (supposedly) how many calories I burned in a workout. If I wanted to I could save it right afterward and restart it to see what I burned during the rest of the hour.

So on an average (1st month) Insanity workout I burn around 500 calories in 45 minutes. But my heart rate returns to normal within a relatively short amount of time. I'm not sure what everyone means by an elevated heart rate for the rest of the hour. Mine usually drops back down pretty quick.

I was thinking about trying Crossfit after this round of Insanity and perhaps another round of P90X/Insanity hybrid.

msblueyes5

I like how the exercises are broken down. It keeps you from getting bored and makes that hr fly by!

crisanderson27

When I was doing bodyweight only workouts, I was burning between 350-400 calories in 30 minutes. I do not take breaks. I pause only long enough for my heart rate to drop 5ish points. Now that I'm wright training, I do the same thing. I'm burning over 400 in 30 minutes. This is via a Polar FT7, properly adjusted.

In addition to calories burned, I'm promoting fat loss VIA hormonal response, along with the additional calories burned in muscle repair etc.

I'll take strength training...tyvm.

By the way, this was directed at the running comment, not the Crossfit...Crossfit and intervals rock .

thkelly

When I was doing bodyweight only workouts, I was burning between 350-400 calories in 30 minutes. I do not take breaks. I pause only long enough for my heart rate to drop 5ish points. Now that I'm wright training, I do the same thing. I'm burning over 400 in 30 minutes. This is via a Polar FT7, properly adjusted.

In addition to calories burned, I'm promoting fat loss VIA hormonal response, along with the additional calories burned in muscle repair etc.

I'll take strength training...tyvm.

By the way, this was directed at the running comment, not the Crossfit...Crossfit and intervals rock .

HRM aren't really accurate for weight training

crisanderson27

When I was doing bodyweight only workouts, I was burning between 350-400 calories in 30 minutes. I do not take breaks. I pause only long enough for my heart rate to drop 5ish points. Now that I'm wright training, I do the same thing. I'm burning over 400 in 30 minutes. This is via a Polar FT7, properly adjusted.

In addition to calories burned, I'm promoting fat loss VIA hormonal response, along with the additional calories burned in muscle repair etc.

I'll take strength training...tyvm.

By the way, this was directed at the running comment, not the Crossfit...Crossfit and intervals rock .

HRM aren't really accurate for weight training

So I hear...the results speak for themselves. Additionally, it depends on how you perform your workout.

Regardless...there's a LOT more to fat loss than calories out versus calories in. You may lose weight that way...but a lot of it will be muscle. No thanks...I'd rather have a short, intense as all hells workout that spikes growth hormone, promotes fat burning, and keeps burning calories at an elevated rate for the next day or so...than have to grind away at a numbingly boring exercise for an hour, that eats muscle in equal portions to fat...just for some huge calorie burned number. .

chrisdavey

When I was doing bodyweight only workouts, I was burning between 350-400 calories in 30 minutes. I do not take breaks. I pause only long enough for my heart rate to drop 5ish points. Now that I'm wright training, I do the same thing. I'm burning over 400 in 30 minutes. This is via a Polar FT7, properly adjusted.

In addition to calories burned, I'm promoting fat loss VIA hormonal response, along with the additional calories burned in muscle repair etc.

I'll take strength training...tyvm.

By the way, this was directed at the running comment, not the Crossfit...Crossfit and intervals rock .

HRM aren't really accurate for weight training

or interval training.

I like to throw in crossfit type stuff all the time. I do traditional resistance training most days, then chuck in some metabolic finishers. Do love my KB's for this as well as olympic lifts and barbell complexes.

ActiveTami

Kdiamond, thanks for the motivation to get moving! I can do 20 mins or so until I am ready to do longer exercises. I appreciate the intention of your post to inspire others.

BrockDoe

HIIT may be a good quick way to burn calories but without a good cardiovascular base from LSD training you'll be doing more good than bad for your cardiovascular system. The quick rise in BP and Heart Rate will be similar to lifting weights but for the heart. The heart muscle will hypertrophy and put unnecessary stress on the heart and can cause complications later in life.

Bottom line HIIT is great!! but, need to mix it in with LSD training too.

Azdak

This thread just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

As someone who incorporates both LSD and HIIT in my routine, It's a wonder I have any muscle and heart left.

martinh78

I'm confused!

I do like interval training though, relieves some boredem and I do feel like I've worked MUCH harder. I like pyramid training as an alternative to interval as well. Same idea.

I must admit, the more I read the more confused I get!

End6ame

The problem with Crossfit is that there is absolutely zero training specificity; they use the “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” method rather than providing a program with a specific goal in mind. Don’t get me wrong, that is fine for a while, but you can’t continue to get better at everything at the same time forever; at some point you will need to use a program that focuses on one or two areas of importance for you to keep progressing.

Some elements of Crossfit are great. It is all free weight and body weight which I would prefer to see anyone do over machine work and they perform olympic lifts which is fantastic. There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

There lack of training specificity is the primary reason why professional athletes with strength and conditioning coaches don’t do Crossfit. It is way to general to offer any benefits past a certain point. A marathon runner will have more endurance than a Crossdfitter and a powerlifter will have more strength; likewise someone who trains intelligently for both strength and endurance will also be superior in those areas.

Crossfit will work well in the short term, and if it is working for you then that is great. But it is not the holy grail of fitness that everyone makes it out to be.

thkelly

There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

watched a youtube video last night of a woman doing the holy grail of all workouts "The Fran" and her kipping pullups were basically her flailing around on the pullup bar. i don't think her collar bone even came close to touching the bar once. she was obviously in shape, but it was just another example of a CFer not caring at all about form in pursuit of a new PR time. i just don't get it. what's the point?!!?!

End6ame

There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

watched a youtube video last night of a woman doing the holy grail of all workouts "The Fran" and her kipping pullups were basically her flailing around on the pullup bar. i don't think her collar bone even came close to touching the bar once. she was obviously in shape, but it was just another example of a CFer not caring at all about form in pursuit of a new PR time. i just don't get it. what's the point?!!?!

Exactly!

snkeller24

Depending on what's RX'ed for Fran it may just be chin over the bar ... to make it harder it's chest to bar. To say that CF's don't have a goal in mind ... is bizarre. Like any work out program you follow you have a goal ... in order to reach your goal you must put in the hard work and dedication.

CrossFit alone isn't for everyone ... some are dedicated for everyday WOD's ... others use it as supplemental to their own workouts ... It's not easy to master every aspect of CF, much like it's not easy to master anything else ... but you scale it back and grow stronger and advance yourself to the harder moves.

Annie Thorisdottir. Christy Phillips. Kristin Clever. Annie Sakamoto .... there is no denying that these ladies don't kick *kitten*.

crisanderson27

There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

watched a youtube video last night of a woman doing the holy grail of all workouts "The Fran" and her kipping pullups were basically her flailing around on the pullup bar. i don't think her collar bone even came close to touching the bar once. she was obviously in shape, but it was just another example of a CFer not caring at all about form in pursuit of a new PR time. i just don't get it. what's the point?!!?!

If she was in shape...that's the point. Who cares if a pullup is perfect? So...you're telling me allll those negative pullups I did to get to the point that I could do enough regular pullups to make a worthwhile set...were useless? I mean, there wasn't any form there either tight?

As a matter of fact, who cares if any of the exercises performed on YouTube for PR's are? She clearly got to be in the shape she is somehow.

thkelly

There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

watched a youtube video last night of a woman doing the holy grail of all workouts "The Fran" and her kipping pullups were basically her flailing around on the pullup bar. i don't think her collar bone even came close to touching the bar once. she was obviously in shape, but it was just another example of a CFer not caring at all about form in pursuit of a new PR time. i just don't get it. what's the point?!!?!

If she was in shape...that's the point. Who cares if a pullup is perfect? So...you're telling me allll those negative pullups I did to get to the point that I could do enough regular pullups to make a worthwhile set...were useless? I mean, there wasn't any form there either tight?

As a matter of fact, who cares if any of the exercises performed on YouTube for PR's are? She clearly got to be in the shape she is somehow.

yes this girl is in shape, but tell me how this even remotely resembles a pullup. even a kipping one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTEJ-Ec9XOE

_Sally_

The problem with Crossfit is that there is absolutely zero training specificity; they use the “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” method rather than providing a program with a specific goal in mind. Don’t get me wrong, that is fine for a while, but you can’t continue to get better at everything at the same time forever; at some point you will need to use a program that focuses on one or two areas of importance for you to keep progressing.

Some elements of Crossfit are great. It is all free weight and body weight which I would prefer to see anyone do over machine work and they perform olympic lifts which is fantastic. There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

There lack of training specificity is the primary reason why professional athletes with strength and conditioning coaches don’t do Crossfit. It is way to general to offer any benefits past a certain point. A marathon runner will have more endurance than a Crossdfitter and a powerlifter will have more strength; likewise someone who trains intelligently for both strength and endurance will also be superior in those areas.

Crossfit will work well in the short term, and if it is working for you then that is great. But it is not the holy grail of fitness that everyone makes it out to be.

I agree with this!

I did Crossfit a couple of years ago, 2 - 4x/week for about 8 months. I really enjoyed the variety, fun and camaraderie of the group classes. I did get stronger and more toned. I did overcome some deep fears (handstands). Strength training and high intensity internal work outs are a good thing to have in your repetoire. I think it might be a nice way to mix things up for folks who already have a decent level of fitness and who are injury free and not injury prone. I would say it could be fun for a period of time, but I would not recommend it as a long term way to adress your physical fitness needs for many of the above reasons.

HOWEVER, I happen to be a natural stickler for form and I paced myself and put a higher focus on doing as many reps as I can, with as heavy a weight as I can WHILE MAINTAINING PROPER FORM. The instructors/owners were always kind of annoyed at me that I didn't seem motivated to "push myself harder" to get a certain time or # reps etc. You need to be aware that the overwhelming culture and group pressure in Crossfit is that they sacrifice form and a healthy focus on injury prevention to feed a weird competitive frenzy, which goes way beyond what is needed for physical fitness and optimizing your body.

Also, puke buckets... really? It is not normal or healthy to push yourself to puking. That's just silly.

snkeller24

It's no different then puking in a sports practice ... which has happened to myself.

End6ame

Depending on what's RX'ed for Fran it may just be chin over the bar ... to make it harder it's chest to bar. To say that CF's don't have a goal in mind ... is bizarre. Like any work out program you follow you have a goal ... in order to reach your goal you must put in the hard work and dedication.

CrossFit alone isn't for everyone ... some are dedicated for everyday WOD's ... others use it as supplemental to their own workouts ... It's not easy to master every aspect of CF, much like it's not easy to master anything else ... but you scale it back and grow stronger and advance yourself to the harder moves.

Annie Thorisdottir. Christy Phillips. Kristin Clever. Annie Sakamoto .... there is no denying that these ladies don't kick *kitten*.

You missed the point.

No there actually is no specific fitness goal, Crossfit even admits to this, so you can’t argue it. Go ask you Crossfit coach what the goal of Crossfit is and you will be provided with an earful of wonderful sounding BS about “our specialty it not specializing” and that “Crossfit delivers fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive.” And if you read back on what I wrote, this is exactly what I said; it lacks training specificity.

If you read and study strength and conditioning programming, as I have, you would see that training specificity is a must for long term results, this is not something I am making up. Crossfit will work great to a point, but you can’t continue to get better at everything forever, you will need more focused goals if you want to keep progressing. You can’t keep training for both endurance and strength simultaneously because they are conflicting goals, so to achieve both results you need to intelligently cycle your training.

“Depending on what's RX'ed for Fran it may just be chin over the bar ... to make it harder it's chest to bar”

This is my point on poor coaching. The exercises need to be taught properly using proper form. It doesn’t matter how many incorrect pull-ups she can achieve it matter how many correct ones she can achieve. This is the only “sport” that I know of that will settle for mediocrity, in this way. These types of pull-ups would not pass for a military fitness test, nor would improper lifting form pass in olympic of powerlifing competitions; only in Crossfit is this acceptable.

End6ame

There are bad elements as well; kipping pull-ups for example, the bad coaches and resulting bad technique that is rampant through the community, and it is a programming atrocity.

watched a youtube video last night of a woman doing the holy grail of all workouts "The Fran" and her kipping pullups were basically her flailing around on the pullup bar. i don't think her collar bone even came close to touching the bar once. she was obviously in shape, but it was just another example of a CFer not caring at all about form in pursuit of a new PR time. i just don't get it. what's the point?!!?!

If she was in shape...that's the point. Who cares if a pullup is perfect? So...you're telling me allll those negative pullups I did to get to the point that I could do enough regular pullups to make a worthwhile set...were useless? I mean, there wasn't any form there either tight?

As a matter of fact, who cares if any of the exercises performed on YouTube for PR's are? She clearly got to be in the shape she is somehow.

If you are going to say I can do x number of pull-ups, then yes they should be perfect. I did negatives too when I first started doing pull-ups, but I didn’t film myself and run around saying that I just did 10 pull-ups. Because they were not pull-ups, neither are kippings. Range of motion is important in completing a lift. I am willing to bet that I could unrack 300lbs move it an inch then re-rack it, but when I am done, I am not going to say I just benched 300lbs.