Kinesiology is made up of five sub disciplines, which are biomechanics, exercise physiology, motor learning, psychology, and sociology. Biomechanics is the study of forces and their effects on living systems or in other words the study of movement and their effects on human beings. For example, a bio mechanist might look at Olympic weight lifting and look at the form when lifting and look at a way to make it less stressful on a lifter to lift weights. One of the goals of Bio Mechanists was to increase physical fitness with the correct biomechanics. Moreover, an exercise physiologist would look at physical activity monitors to “help athletes achieve their peak performance, help people safely participate in physical activity, conduct research to help prevent and treat disease through physical activity and exercise” (Hoffman, 2013). An Exercise Physiologist would question how a physical activity monitor help improve a person’s physical health and well-being. For example, exercise physiologist would also look at the efficiency of a fitness tracker and how effective it is. Motor Behaviorist look at understanding how motor skills are learned and understand how motor skills are controlled. For example, a motor behaviorist might look at how a baby would learn how to crawl then to walking.
Sociology is the focus on sports, exercise and the way in which people in society perceive the human body. For example, a sociologist might look at how people perceive a personal trainer should look like. Psychology is the science of studying human movement as it relates to psychological factors. For example, a psychologist might look at how people feel when they go to a gym for the first time. For the sub discipline, I will be looking furthermore into is exercise physiology because exercise physiology is something I am more interested than any of the others.
The topic I chose is High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) or High Intensity Interval Exercise (HIIE). HIIT is a different take on exercise it is a high intensity short burst of intensive exercise with a short break. With this type of workout, you bring up your heart rate and burn more fat in less time of a regular workout. “A high-intensity workout increases the body’s need for oxygen during the effort and creates an oxygen shortage, causing your body to ask for more oxygen during recovery,” says Eric Salvador, NASM, NSCA, head instructor at The Fhitting Room in New York City. “This afterburn effect is referred to as Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) and is the reason why intense exercise will help burn more fat and calories than regular aerobic and steady-state workouts.” (Schlinger, 2013) I chose this topic because it is something different and it was somewhat like Cross Fit which we did early in the semester. With any workout or exercise training there is going to be some skepticism surrounding it but with HIIT the only problems I could find was per Anthony Mychal, “After a few weeks, the initial adaptations associated HIIT (and other forms of lactic training) level off. This is like lifting weights and hitting a wall on your program.” (Mychal, 2011) The purpose of my report is to see the effects of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on health, physical fitness, and heart rates.
When I started to look at High-Intensity Interval Training and thinking of what questions I could ask and do research I looked at maybe I could do a difference between HIIT and Cross Fit. Furthermore, some issues came up with HIIT was the effectiveness of the exercise and the effects on our bodies but I eventually decided to make my main question for my research is “Effects of High-Intensity Interval Training on a person’s heart rate?”
Moreover, while researching my question I did find three journals on the effects of HIIT on heart rate. First, the study done by Westfield State University students, Dana Kilby, Melissa W. Roti, and Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (FACSM). They did their study on “Chronic Tachycardia Case Study: High Intensity Interval Training Effects on Heart Rate and Exercise Tolerance”. In their study, they state, “The American Heart Association defines chronic atrial tachycardia, as a resting heart rate ≥100 bpm, which predisposes for heart attack or mitral disease.” (Kilby et al. 2016), for the study they had one test subject, “Sonya a 47-year-old female with chronic tachycardia and a family history of tachycardia” (Kilby et al. 2016), who would participate in a 8 week fitness program. The purpose of the study as the authors stated, “To determine the effectiveness of including HIIT to decrease resting heart rate in this special population, as HITT has been shown to improve overall cardiac health in healthy populations.” (Kilby et al. 2016) Furthermore, the methods of the study were “8-week training program included HIIT 2 d/wk. and strength training on machines 1 d/wk. Pre-exercise measures of resting heart rate (HRrest) and blood pressure (BPrest) were taken pre-and post the 8-week training program.” (Kilby et al. 2016) The results at the end of the study were, the effects from HIIT were positive and Sonya was able to decrease here resting heart rate from 100 bpm to 90 bpm. In the end HIIT was able to improve health and physical fitness.
Next, two other separate but very similar studies done by, Nuno and colleagues and Branco and colleagues. The first study is called “Comparison of Heart Rate Variability After Constant and High Intensity Interval Training Exercise Sessions”, and the second is called, “Effects Of 4-week High-intensity Interval Training Protocols On The Heart Rate Variability In Judo Athletes” Heart rate variability (HRV) is the physiological phenomenon of variation in the time interval between heartbeats. It is measured by the variation in the beat-to-beat interval. The two studies purpose of their studies are very similar to evaluate the effects of HIIT on heart rate variability with athletes. The end results of the two ended in a similar way with each stating that there were no significant differences. Both stated conclusions, first the study did by Branco and colleagues stated, “The results showed increases in parasympathetic activation in fourth week of training and higher values from sympathetic activity in UT when compared to LB and CG. Finally, HRV has proven to be sensitive to high intensity interval training can be used for monitoring and control of the training process.” (Branco et al. 2016), second the study done by Nuno and colleagues stated, “The short-term HRV recovery seemed depended on the type of exercise. The depressed parasympathetic and enhanced sympathetic activity observed during 1 h after exercise seems to be greater after HIIT exercise.” (Nuno et al. 2015) With these two studies having a different result with the first study is very interesting because with the information I have obtained it is showing that HIIT is varying between each person.
In Conclusion, what I learned new is High Intensity Interval Training is very selective in working for different people for people’s heart rate. What I suggest to extending this inquiry for the future is include another sub discipline to compare. I believe that psychology would answer one of the main questions I had during my research was the thoughts people had while doing High Intensity Interval Training because personally I would probably would want to quit.