High Intensity Interval Foreplay

- How to get yourself excited for the main event.

MariAnne Anderson, BSc, MSc(B),
with thanks to Tyron Piteau, B.H.K., R.K., C.H.E.K. Practitioner Level 2
http://www.makersbody.com

Have you ever stood by the microwave, watching a trickle of electronic seconds count down the arrival of improperly warmed food; wondering how much time you’ve wasted watching timers steal individual seconds from your life? Well, I feel the same way about the timer on the treadmill.

In the world of physique enhancement, high intensity interval training (HIIT) is gaining popularity over the old-school “twice-a-day, steady-state” cardio sessions that once dominated pre-contest prep.

Not only is HIIT less boring than watching your life being stolen from you one unpleasant second at a time, interval training is more effective at targeting subcutaneous fat stores while sparing lean mass – something that gains significance the deeper you are into your cut.

Although many athletes use sprint intervals as part of our conditioning, it’s a relative newcomer to “mainstream” fitness; outside of bodybuilding or athletics, not THAT many people do it, and fewer still really know how to prepare for an activity that switches rapidly from eccentric to concentric contraction. Perhaps more for this than for any other type of activity, proper warmup and stretching is key to both optimal performance and injury prevention.

HIIT doesn’t necessarily mean “running” (sprints may be performed on a bicycle, for example), but running super-fast is an extremely effective (and fun!) way to perform HIIT. Unfortunately, the very thing that makes sprinting so effective also makes it more likely to cause you injuries: simply put, this is an extremely intense form of training.

To avoid injuries, you need to warm the muscles, and you need to stretch them. But on the reduced calories of a cut, you don’t want to do so much warmup that you’re drained, and you need to target the right kind of stretching to these dynamic bursts. And let’s face it – none of us wants to spend 20 minutes warming up for a workout that may take us less than 10 minutes to complete: jogging for twenty minutes followed by 10 minutes of static stretching is not only overly time-consuming, but not particularly effective: not only do passive stretches affect the ability of a stretched working muscle to store elastic energy ¹, but by the time you’ve finished ten minutes of stretches, most of the warmup accomplished by the jogging has been lost. Contrast this with dynamic warmup and stretches – movements that excite the muscle, preparing it for the intense bursts of work.

While static stretching can do much to improve that muscle’s range of motion,² you’re generally better off leaving these longer holds for post-workout: preceding your sprints with this type of stretching can not only slow you down, it may even tear you up.

Fortunately, there’s a faster and better way to prepare for HIIT. In fact, just a few minutes of appropriate preparation can prevent weeks of down-time due to injury – and help you get the most out of your training. Here’s a simple protocol you can try before attacking your next HIIT session – or even before your next lifting session.

Dynamic warmup

Do this part before you do the dynamic stretches if HIIT is done cold – i.e. not after a leg workout. 2-4 minutes should suffice ²

Cycle through as many of these movements as you like until you are sufficiently warm – then move on to Dynamic Stretching (below).

 

Lower body warmup

• Prisoner squats OR Y-squats – 10 reps
• Walking lunges – 10 per leg
• Reverse walking lunges – 10 per leg

(Optional) upper-body warmup:

• Pushups
• Spiderman pushups
• Fat-man pullups
• Decline pushups

 

Dynamic stretching

Start here if HIIT is to be performed after a leg workout, where the lower body is already warm. If you don’t feel warm enough, do a few minutes of Dynamic Warmup (above) first.

 

Calves

Inchworms – 6 “worms”

Hamstrings:

Frankensteins – 10 per leg

“Begin in a standing position with both arms extended straight in front of you like Frankenstein’s monster. Begin walking slowly by kicking each leg forward as high as possible, aiming to touch your right toe to your right palm and your left toe to your left palm. Keep your legs as straight as possible, and don’t let your trunk flex forward.”³
Tyron’s note: touch the right toe to the left palm, and the left toe to the right palm for a deeper stretch.

Glutes

Walking half-lotus overhand shin-tugs
– 6 per leg

While “marching” (lift those knees!), at each step, grab and pull the shin of your front leg toward your chest while rotating your knee outward and down. Use an overhand grip to snug the lower leg toward your body. To me, this looks like a “walking half lotus”, and you should feel a nice glute stretch from it.

Groin

Gate-door swings – 10 per leg

These also start out as if you’re marching, except for these, with each step, the knee comes up toward the chest and then swings the pelvis open like a gate before taking the next step. Here, the foot and shin travel with the knee but hang straight down.

Quad

Walking quad tugs – 6-8 per leg

These look just like standing quad stretches – standing on one leg, grab the ankle of the free leg so that the knee is pointing down and the quad is stretched – but tug, rather than holding. Take a step and repeat with the other leg. Tyron suggests a slightly quicker little “tug” than this video suggests.

Hip flexors

Pulsing stationary lunges (focus is on the quad being stretched behind you)
– 10 per leg

Just as this sounds, get into a stationary lunge position on the floor, with one knee on the ground. Pulse 10 times, stretching the hip through the quad of the leg behind you, then switch and pulse on the other side.

1. Jones IMFB. The Effect of Different Warm up Stretch Protocols on 20m-Sprint Performance in Trained Rugby Union Players. Exercise Physiology Laboratory, University of Luton. Available at: http://www.rfu.com/pdfs/technical_journal/sprintperformance.pdf. Accessed June 29, 2007.

2. Faccioni A. Dynamic Warmup Routines for Sports. Available at: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:RLQGLFtxLsQJ:faccioni.com/Reviews/ Warmup.htm+dynamic+stretches+for+sprinting&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=ca. Accessed June 29, 2007.

3. Fitzgerald M. Loosening Tight Strings. Available at: http://www.lifetimefitness.com/magazine/index.cfm?strWebAction=article _detail&intArticleId=625. Accessed June 29, 2007.