3 ms·
Part of the problem with this study is the same as that seen in most studies in exercise science -- they only study untrained participants and last, say, 10 wee
by rquantz 12y ago
Part of the problem with this study is the same as that seen in most studies in exercise science -- they only study untrained participants and last, say, 10 weeks (or 8, in this case) And then there are the tiny tiny sample sizes (14 individuals??). The fact is, doing almost anything is better than doing nothing. That's good news for the people who do nothing, I guess, because you can literally start parking two blocks from work every day and start seeing improvement.
But because of this novice effect, we don't really get a sense from the studies what the actual optimal ways of exercising are. It's after that initial period (say, 10 weeks) of going from doing nothing to doing something that you start to hit plateaus and have difficulty improving. This is the point where the difference between various forms of exercise would start to become clear, and yet that's when studies always stop.
Is doing 3 sets of 5 better than 5 sets of 5? Is HIIT better than long, slow distance for cardiovascular conditioning? We have lots of anecdotal evidence of how to improve physical conditioning past the initial novice period, but very little in the way of rigorous studies. So for now and the foreseeable future, if we are to decide what to do once doing literally anything is no longer enough to make improvements, we'll just have to rely on "bro science" and the experience of various coaches who see a lot of trainees to decide how best to exercise.
- jdnier 12y agoYou seem to be missing the practical upshot: If you are middle aged, not exercising, and moderately overweight, HIT twice a week is an effective way to "significantly" improve your aerobic capacity, physical function, and reduce your blood glucose levels. Whether HIT is the optimal way to accomplish that is not the question they were investigating. It's a small sample size but was effective for all eight participants. It works in practice, whether or not you understand why it works theory. There are lots more interesting questions around the edges that can be explored now.
- bcbrown 12y agoEverything works. HIT works. Riding your bike once a week works. Walking every day works. Taking up tennis, or soccer, or frisbee works. The point is, short-duration studies on the untrained provide little to no information. It would have been much more interesting to test and compare 3-5 different exercise modalities.
- rquantz 12y agobcbrown covered this pretty well in their response to your comment, but I just wanted to reinforce: it's well established that doing almost anything will show improvements for untrained people. So this study, like most studies, doesn't really tell us anything. On the other hand, many people start exercising, feel great for a few weeks, and then start to not feel so great, and stop seeing improvements. This is the point where we need to start focusing research. There is good anecdotal evidence for what to do next, but it needs to be backed up by studies. Also, you can hardly claim to know anything quantitatively when your sample size is 14.
- jdnier 12y agoThe Conclusions section does a good job of outlining the merits and limitations of the study. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4085611/#__sec18title http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4085611/#__sec18...
- thesz 12y agoIf you hit plateau, you can make yourself into novice again. It is explained in Hypertrophy-Specific Training: http://hypertrophyspecific.com/hst_index.html http://hypertrophyspecific.com/hst_index.html I also think that you will find some more answers to your questions there.
- rquantz 12y agoThis is a great example of what I'm talking about. He even claims to be based on science! But where are the studies this program is based on? I'm betting they are mostly studying untrained individuals for about 10 weeks with low sample size. To be clear, I didn't write my previous comment because I'm looking for workout advice.