Research Digest

The Research Digest Column summarizes a key

research article in the field of strength and conditioning
and provides practical applications for the strength and
conditioning practitioner.

COLUMN EDITOR: Lymperis (Perry) Koziris, PhD,

CSCS*D, NSCA-CPT*D, FNSCA

Sprint Interval Exercise

for Fat Loss: Good Return
on Investment
Lymperis P. Koziris, PhD, CSCS*D, NSCA-CPT*D
Institut National du Sport du Québec, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

ABSTRACT
THIS STUDY SHOWED THAT AN
ALL-OUT INTERVAL EXERCISE PRO-
TOCOL RESULTED IN 24-HOUR
OXYGEN USE AND, THEREFORE,
CALORIC EXPENDITURE EQUAL TO
THAT OF CONTINUOUS EXERCISE.
THE RESULTS SUPPORT REPEAT
SPRINT EXERCISE AS A VIABLE FAT
LOSS OPTION, ESPECIALLY FITTING
FOR "POWER ENDURANCE" TRAIN-
ING NEEDS. SHORTER IN DURA-
TION, IT CAN ALSO SAVE TRAINING
TIME FOR FITNESS CLIENTS.
INTRODUCTION
significant challenge for the fit-
specialist may have the full toolbox of
exercise variables available for pro-
gramming, guided primarily by the
client’s preferences and, of course, by
any medical restrictions. For athletes,
though, especially when leading into
important sport-specific training pha-
ses, such a situation may present
potentially conflicting training pro-
gram needs. Should there be exercise
incorporated specifically for body fat
loss? Could such exercising be detri-
mental to the athlete’s recovery and
adaptation to the training stimuli tar-
geted by the fitness professional or
could it be designed to avoid any neg-
ative impact or even contribute posi-
a kinesiology department performed
the sprint protocol on one occasion,
consisting of four 30-second bouts on
a stationary cycle with a resistance of
100 g/kg of body mass. Each interval
was followed by 4 minutes of light
cycling. On another day, they per-
formed a session of continuous endur-
ance exercise at approximately 70%
V̇ O2max, lasting 30 minutes. Both pro-
tocols were initiated with a 7-minute
warm up.
Regarding the debate on exercise
intensity and fat loss, the intensity of
sprint interval exercise itself does not
fit within a "fat burning" (lower) inten-
sity zone, which had gained some pop-

A ness professional occurs within

the area of weight manage-
ment of both personal training clients
and athletes because even athletes
sometimes allow their body composi-
tion to deteriorate from an optimal
range. For nonathletes or recreational
athletes, the improvement of body
composition can be made the sole pro-
gram goal, possibly with specific objec-
tives regarding body fat and/or lean
mass. For some clients, the fitness
tively in the athlete’s sport-specific
training for future competitions?
One particular question stemming from
all this pertains to the effect of maximal
effort (all-out sprint) interval training in
the context of fat loss. The issue brings
into consideration the longtime debate
regarding the effect of exercise intensity
on fat loss. A recent study (1) examined
the ability of an all-out sprint interval
exercise session to contribute to energy
expenditure. Male students from
ularity for fat loss. The study examined
respiratory exchange ratio (RER), pro-
viding a reflection of the proportion of
energy derived from carbohydrate
versus fat stores. With no differences
between protocols in RER measure-
ments after the acute RER rise of the
session, the authors concluded that
a shift in substrate use was unlikely.
Therefore, for the sprint protocol to
be as beneficial as the continuous
protocol, it must match its overall

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Research Digest
energy expenditure and hypothetically
include a similar amount of fat usage.
As might be expected, when compared
with the continuous protocol, the
sprint protocol caused a much lower
exercise V̇ O2, both in terms of the aver-
age consumption per minute, indica-
tive of metabolic rate, and of the total
oxygen consumption for the duration
of the exercise session. Therefore, dur-
ing exercise, the sprint protocol was
not as costly calorically as the contin-
uous protocol. When an 8-hour period
was compared, from pre-exercise base-
line to 6 hours postexercise, the sprint
protocol had raised its total oxygen
consumption by 37% over that of a con-
trol condition but the 8-hour oxygen
use of the continuous protocol was still
17% higher than that of the sprint pro-
tocol. However, when the V̇ O2 data
were compared for the full 24-hour
span, the sprint protocol resulted in
oxygen use equal to that of the contin-
uous exercise condition. Therefore,
these protocols contributed similarly
to the energy expenditure across
a day that was otherwise controlled
calorically in terms of physical activity
and food intake. Consequently, the
effectiveness of the sprint protocol
must come from an elevated metabo-
lism during the hours after the exercise
session, in a sense making up for the
lower oxygen use during exercise, to
reach a similar 24-hour energy cost.
Although the differences were not sta-
tistically significant at any single post-
exercise time point (right after exercise;
at 2, 3, and 6 hours postexercise; and
the following morning), the combined
total excess V̇ O2 of the continuous pro-
tocol over this time period was only
19% of that of the sprint protocol.
Previous studies have shown high-
intensity interval sessions, equivalent
to only 105–108% V̇ O2max, to be
42 VOLUME 35 | NUMBER 5 | OCTOBER 2013
effective in increasing excess postexer-
cise oxygen consumption (EPOC).
However, the thinking has been that
such elevations and the accompanying
rise in energy use may not have been
substantial compared with the much
larger energy cost associated with the
exercise session itself (3). The most
recent study, though, provides evidence
that if the repeated effort is an all-out
sprint, it can offer an EPOC that is sig-
nificant to the practitioner. Whereas,
during the session, the continuous pro-
tocol cost approximately 440 kcal, the
sprint session cost only 175 kcal. During
the remainder of the day, though, the
sprint protocol cost approximately 250
kcal extra outside the session, bringing
the 2 types of session to a 24-hour
energy cost tie and adding further cre-
dence to the viability of sprint interval
training for fat loss. This is not surpris-
ing in light of previous findings from the
same laboratory; a 6-week training pro-
gram using a running sprint interval
protocol was at least as effective as
a continuous endurance protocol in fat
loss (2).
For the personal fitness trainer whose
client’s only issue is an overly pressed
agenda on certain days, the sprint pro-
tocol may save time. The endurance
protocol in the current study lasted
37 minutes, whereas the sprint protocol
can be done in 21–25 minutes, depend-
ing on how long one chooses to pedal
for the final active recovery interval.
Therefore, if overall 24-hour caloric
expenditure is important but training
time is lacking for the client, this type
of training protocol can be just as effec-
tive as one of longer duration and lower
intensity, issues of intensity intolerance
notwithstanding. For the strength and
conditioning professional and the sport
coach, these results add physiological
support to the notion that overall fat
loss does not necessitate a lower exer-
cise intensity. It means that in addition
to continuous endurance training, sprint
interval training is a viable option when
it makes better sense in the overall pro-
gram of a particular athlete who needs
to decrease body fat.
Strength and conditioning specialists can
look to future research reports to confirm
this effect in trained athletes. Hopefully,
there will also be additional research to
show if it is necessary to use maximal
intensity or if a near-maximal intensity
might suffice and if it is necessary to
use 4 intervals with 4-minute rest periods
or if a shorter session (fewer intervals
and/or shorter recovery breaks) might
suffice. In the mean time, although this
study’s results are specific to physically
active young men, they lend further
support to strength and conditioning spe-
cialists who are leaning toward this
approach for their "power endurance"
athletes who may need to lose body fat
during a low-volume training phase.
Conflicts of Interest and Source of Funding:
The author reports no conflicts of interest
and no source of funding.
REFERENCES
1. Hazell TJ, Olver TD, Hamilton CD, and
Lemon PWR. Two minutes of sprint-interval
exercise elicits 24-hr oxygen consumption
similar to that of 30 min of continuous
endurance exercise. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc
Metab 22: 276–283, 2012.
2. Macpherson RE, Hazell TJ, Olver TD,
Paterson DH, and Lemon PW. Run sprint
interval training improves aerobic
performance but not maximal cardiac output.
Med Sci Sports Exerc 43: 115–122, 2011.
3. McNeely E. The role of EPOC in weight loss
programs. National Strength and
Conditioning Association Hot Topic Series.
May 2001. Available at: http://www.nsca.
com/Education/E-learning/The-Role-of-
EPOC-in-Weight-Loss-Programs.
Accessed: November 29, 2012.