Karly Colenzo

Article Review
“NEUROMUSCULAR AND CARDIOVASCULAR ADAPTATIONS IN RESPONSE TO
HIGH-INTENSITY INTERVAL POWER TRAINING”

Summary of the Methods

Methods that revolved around a quasi-experimental approach that measured different

muscle adaptations.The methods had taken place over a six week course with two training
groups and one control group. Training groups consisted of high-intensity power training and
traditional power training. All groups were familized with the testing sessions and were recorded
for height, weight, and 1RM bench press. Twenty-nine subjects were male around the ages of
23.1 years old and had an average body mass of 75.5kg and height of 176.4cm. Notability all
subjects had at least six months of experience with resistance training with at least two sessions
per week. Subjects were informed of the risk and signed consent forms. Each subject was
randomized into different groups. As for the testing design, the study used the same investigator,
protocol, time of testing, and temperature. Also, the subjects were asked not to consume alcohol
or caffeine within 12 hours of the test, and fasted three hours before. Nor were they allowed to
do any strenuous activity the day before a session. Were given instructions to continue with their
normal routine.

For the procedure the subject's abilities would be tested twice, before and after the six
week training. All tests were given under the same conditions and were double blind for integrity
of the test. To start the test there was a warm up session that had eight minutes of jogging and ten
minutes of dynamic stretching. The types of dynamic stretches were not noted. Testing had rest
intervals between 20-30 minutes. What was being tested was vertical jump, maximal strength
test, peak power test, maximal aerobic speed test, and wingate test.

The vertical jump was used to see lower limb explosive power. The technique would
begin with the subject standing straight then move into a semi squat before jumping. There were
a total of three trials with a recovery of 60 seconds. The best score out of three would be
recorded. Also the mechanisms used for the jump test were Kistler BA 9281 platform. Vertical
acceleration, height of jump, and peek power were all being measured throughout this test.

The maximal strength test was used to find the 1RM from bench press and high pulls
which were measured on separate days. A Multipower machine was used in which a barbell was
used to only allow vertical movement. The warm up had a 10 rep set of 50% of perceived max
weight. Then an 80% was used to determine the 1RPM max. All sets had a 3 minute rest
recovery. The peak power test was also very similar in using bench press and high pulls to find
data. An LPT was put onto the bar to measure velocity from the lift. The subjects were asked to
perform 4 sets of 3 repetitions of bench press using resistances of 30, 40, 60, and 70% of 1RM;
or 5 sets of 3 repetitions of high pull using resistances of 30, 40, 60, 70, and 80% of 1RM.

To test maximal aerobic speed a treadmill was used. The subjects had a 5 minute warm
up at 1% inclination. Every two minutes the treadmill run would get more difficult till the subject
gave up due to exhaustion. For the wingate test it was administered to determine anaerobic
power. The testing used a cycle ergometer that would give resistance for 30 seconds. Power
produced was calculated as the very highest value chosen for maximal power.

One of the most important methods to this study was the design for the workouts
themselves. Although there were two different training styles there were some similarities to
keep the equality of both groups. All subjects power trained 3 times a week for 6 weeks. There
was a rest period between one day. Every two weeks a set was added. All weight was determined
by the subject's body mass regardless of which group they were in. What did differ was the
training itself. The TPT required 3-5 sets of the same rep before continuing the next exercise.
Also there was a rest window before beginning the next set. As for the HIPT the workouts were
given by circuit training. Where each exercise would be done one after the other with only 15
seconds of rest. A significant difference was TPT would last 18-30 minutes while HIPT would
only last 5-8 minutes.

Summary of the Results

The results varied from different tests that were conducted. The overall conclusion was that
HIPT could be just as useful if not more useful (in certain aspects) compared to TPT. For the
vertical jump it was found that there was a significance in time effect for HIPT. But in turn
compared to the control group for peak power there was only significance found for TPT.
Comparing TPT to HIPT there was no significance in height for vertical jump. The data that had
come up for the maximal strength testing showed that TPT showed a significance of time. But no
change in the HIPT group. As for the high pulls in the two ways ANOVA HIPT and TPT showed
significance. The peak power test showed no significance in any group according to the bench
press. In turn the high pull exercise showed that both HIPT and TPT showed greater significance
than the control group. The maximal aerobic speed revealed that HIPT showed a big significance
in MAS while there was none in TPT and control. For the wingate test both HIPT and TPT had a
greater Pmax than the control group.

Summary of the Discussion

The study’s purpose was to compare HIPT and TPT aerobic and anaerobically in males.The
initial hypothesis was that HIPT would improve MAS. The overall result came back true but,
also, HIPT is just as effective as TPT in males. Respectively in some exercises including vertical
jump performance, power performance and anaerobic capacity. The significance shows that this
type of time effective workout can be utilized to see physiological adaptations.Such adaptations
can be seen in jumping ability. The study shows that HIPT did have a contributing factor to
jump. The study believes that, “ The main mechanism that enhances jump performance from
power training is the increase of the ability of individuals to use the neural and elastic
characteristics of the stretch shortening cycle,” (136). Being that the quick circuit leads to
acceleration. The neuromuscular adaptations with prolonged training could improve firing
frequency of the type II muscle fibers. Another comparison would be the bench press and high
pulls exercise. There was no significance found within the 1RM peak power; there was
improvement in bench press. The study claims according to the data that, “We can argue that the
training stimulus was more effective to gain muscle strength and power when higher loads were
used.” (136). As for the wingate test the study shows that this type of training can contribute to
greater muscular phosphocreatine increase activity performance. Overall what the data has
shown is that aerobic fitness levels can be improved from HIPT. This exercise could raise Vo2
max at 13.6% in 10 weeks.

Practical Applications
The practical applications area is only a paragraph long. Essentially what is being said is that this
study is the first of its kind. There have not been many studies on the aerobic benefit of HIPT.
The findings are that this training provides aerobic benefits, strength and power. This type of
workout can be used for athletes in a predominantly aerobic sport.
 Citation

Romero-Arenas, S., Ruiz, R., Vera-Ibáñez, A., Colomer-Poveda, D., Guadalupe-Grau, A.,
& Márquez, G. (2018). Neuromuscular and cardiovascular adaptations in response to
high-intensity interval power training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research,
32(1), 130–138. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000001778