Abstract
High-Intensity Functional Training (HIFT) is a novel exercise intervention that may test body systems in a balanced and integrated fashion by challenging individuals’ abilities to complete mechanical work. However, research has not previously determined if physical work capacity is unique to traditional physiologic measures of fitness. Twenty-five healthy men and women completed a six-week HIFT intervention with physical work capacity and various physiologic measures of fitness assessed pre- and post-intervention. At baseline, these physiologic measures of fitness (e.g., aerobic capacity) were significantly associated with physical work capacity and this relationship was even stronger at post-intervention assessment. Further, there were significant improvements across these physiologic measures in response to the delivered intervention. However, the change in these physiologic measures failed to predict the change in physical work capacity induced via HIFT. These findings point to the potential utility of HIFT as a unique challenge to individuals’ physiology beyond traditional resistance or aerobic training. Elucidating the translational impact of increasing work capacity via HIFT may be of great interest to health and fitness practitioners ranging from strength/conditioning coaches to physical therapists.
Highlights
High-Intensity Functional Training (HIFT) is currently one of the fastest growing fitness trends in the world [1]
Despite these improvements and baseline association, we hypothesized that any improvement in physical work capacity from the HIFT intervention would be independent of changes in the associated physiologic measures of fitness
We hypothesized that the HIFT intervention would cause significant improvement across various physiologic measures of fitness and that pre-intervention values for these measures would be correlated to work capacity at baseline
Summary
High-Intensity Functional Training (HIFT) is currently one of the fastest growing fitness trends in the world [1]. Recent work shows that the magnitude of these effects on body structures and functions may be rather modest in nature with potentially differing directions [7]. Despite modest and potentially inconsistent effects on fitness components, HIFT appears to have a large impact on an individual’s ability to perform physical work [7]. Physical work capacity represents an individual’s ability to complete a maximal amount (e.g., volume) of mechanical work across differing modalities, intensities, and time domains using the appropriate bioenergetic pathways (i.e., phosphocreatine, glycolytic, and oxidative) [8]. HIFT challenges physical work capacity through four mechanisms: (1) by addressing multiple fitness domains (e.g., aerobic and resistance training) [9], (2) in emphasizing functional exercises that require universal motor patterns (e.g., pushing and squatting) [10], (3) by temporally combining aerobic and resistance training elements within exercise sessions [11,12], and (4) with consistent focus on high
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