Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Jul 26, 2019; 11(7): 171-188
Published online Jul 26, 2019. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v11.i7.171
High-intensity interval training for health benefits and care of cardiac diseases - The key to an efficient exercise protocol
Shigenori Ito
Shigenori Ito, Division of Cardiology, Sankuro Hospital, Aichi-ken, Toyota 4710035, Japan
Author contributions: Ito S performed all of the followings by himself: experimental design, research, data analysis, and writing and revision the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shigenori Ito, MD, PhD, Doctor, Division of Cardiology, Sankuro Hospital, 7-80 Kosaka-cho, Aichi-ken, Toyota 4710035, Japan. shigeito918@gmail.com
Telephone: +81-565-320282 Fax: +81-565-352570
Received: February 10, 2019
Peer-review started: February 12, 2019
First decision: March 15, 2019
Revised: April 18, 2019
Accepted: July 16, 2019
Article in press: July 17, 2019
Published online: July 26, 2019
Processing time: 166 Days and 2.2 Hours
Abstract

Aerobic capacity, which is expressed as peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak), is well-known to be an independent predictor of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular prognosis. This is true even for people with various coronary risk factors and cardiovascular diseases. Although exercise training is the best method to improve VO2peak, the guidelines of most academic societies recommend 150 or 75 min of moderate- or vigorous- intensity physical activities, respectively, every week to gain health benefits. For general health and primary and secondary cardiovascular prevention, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been recognized as an efficient exercise protocol with short exercise sessions. Given the availability of the numerous HIIT protocols, which can be classified into aerobic HIIT and anaerobic HIIT [usually called sprint interval training (SIT)], professionals in health-related fields, including primary physicians and cardiologists, may find it confusing when trying to select an appropriate protocol for their patients. This review describes the classifications of aerobic HIIT and SIT, and their differences in terms of effects, target subjects, adaptability, working mechanisms, and safety. Understanding the HIIT protocols and adopting the correct type for each subject would lead to better improvements in VO2peak with higher adherence and less risk.

Keywords: High-intensity interval training; Exercise; Training; Coronary artery disease; Chronic heart failure; Prevention; Lifestyle; Health; Peak O2 consumption; Aerobic capacity

Core tip: There are numerous of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) protocols, which can be classified into aerobic HIIT and anaerobic HIIT [usually called sprint interval training (SIT)]. Professionals in health-related fields, including primary physicians and cardiologists, may find it confusing when selecting an appropriate protocol for their patients. This review describes the classifications of aerobic HIIT and SIT, and their differences in terms of effects, target subjects, adaptability, working mechanisms, and safety. Understanding the HIIT protocols and adopting the correct type for each patient would lead to better improvements in VO2peak with higher adherence and less risk.