Exercise intensity is associated with cardiometabolic health • Hacker News Board

Re: Exercise intensity is associated with cardiometabolic health

#31

Post by YZF » Fri, Sep 11, 2026, 6:00 AM UTC

lloeki wrote: post #27

jandrewrogers wrote: post #9

As an anecdote of one, I was doing moderate intensity endurance exercise for a couple years with only modest improvements in basic cardiovascular metrics that kind of flatlined over time. As an experiment, I switched to high-intensity interval type training for a couple months, which required about half the time to do. All of my cardiovascular metrics immediately changed in a strongly positive way. When I did the old…

That sounds exactly like what one should do for, say, couch to 10k: build a solid base in "zone 2" (low aerobic), which also serves not just as a cardio foundation but also builds the body's ability to withstand effort and impact. Then once the base is built, to make any progress one needs stronger, more focused stimulus, so you introduce interval training at high aerobic (tempo and threshold paces) as well as anaero…

There's a lot of noise and confusion about what exactly "zone 2" is and why. But definitely longer easier (you're not out of breath) runs build a foundation in more ways than just your cardiovascular system. It's those other components that take a longer time to build. The key is that you are not over-training (watch your sleep and joint pain as an indicator) and can recover and that you are progressively increasing your load by lessay ~10% distance a week. Easy system would be 2 shorter runs and one longer run a week.

There are plenty of online training program generators that are pretty good and will take you from zero to running 10k. I used an online program to run my first 10k somewhere circa 1990.

There a lot of more cutting edge science online (and I follow Nick as well) but if you're not a competitive athlete and are just trying to get in better shape then the answer is mostly just do it. Over some base of running you can throw in some interval training including HIIT.

Re: Exercise intensity is associated with cardiometabolic health

#32

Post by kazinator » Fri, Sep 11, 2026, 6:09 AM UTC

asdfman123 wrote: post #12

jandrewrogers wrote: post #9

As an anecdote of one, I was doing moderate intensity endurance exercise for a couple years with only modest improvements in basic cardiovascular metrics that kind of flatlined over time. As an experiment, I switched to high-intensity interval type training for a couple months, which required about half the time to do. All of my cardiovascular metrics immediately changed in a strongly positive way. When I did the old…

You probably spent all that time training your cardiovascular base, which takes a long time to do. Then, you capped them off with anaerobic gains that were only possible with that prior work. For optimum gain you should mix moderate exercise with intense exercise, but the time you put in likely made your later success possible.

To be competitive in the sport, you need the pyramid method with the high volume base of light effort, middle of volume of sold effort (e.g. lactate threshold work) and a peak of intensity (e.g. interval training).

This is about health.

High volume of exercise is damaging via oxidative stress and other ways. Weekly training volume is the most reliable predictor for injuries.

If health and basic fitness is the goal, rather than bringing home the gold, you can add intensity to just a fairly small volume of moderate exercise, or perhaps even none at all, other than a warmup and cooldown.

Re: Exercise intensity is associated with cardiometabolic health

#33

Post by jandrewrogers » Fri, Sep 11, 2026, 6:14 AM UTC

lloeki wrote: post #27

jandrewrogers wrote: post #9

As an anecdote of one, I was doing moderate intensity endurance exercise for a couple years with only modest improvements in basic cardiovascular metrics that kind of flatlined over time. As an experiment, I switched to high-intensity interval type training for a couple months, which required about half the time to do. All of my cardiovascular metrics immediately changed in a strongly positive way. When I did the old…

That sounds exactly like what one should do for, say, couch to 10k: build a solid base in "zone 2" (low aerobic), which also serves not just as a cardio foundation but also builds the body's ability to withstand effort and impact. Then once the base is built, to make any progress one needs stronger, more focused stimulus, so you introduce interval training at high aerobic (tempo and threshold paces) as well as anaero…

I was running 10km 3x per week for a few years. When I started swapping some of those runs for HIIT, performance on the remaining 10km runs very noticeably improved in addition to the cardio metrics.

To be clear, performance-maxxing was never the objective. I am in it for the health benefits and conditioning for grueling pursuits. Nonetheless, observable effects of different kinds of training on performance are still interesting to me and helps me optimize the time I spend on it.

Re: Exercise intensity is associated with cardiometabolic health

#34

Post by jeffbee » Fri, Sep 11, 2026, 6:21 AM UTC

It's interesting that they characterize a 30-second cycling effort as "all-out" when any cyclist knows it's impossible to go "all-out" for that long. You can go really all-out for a few seconds before your whole metabolic process needs to switch modes. A 30-second effort has to be paced. "All-out" intervals are very effective but for me they mean 4 seconds out of every 30 seconds.

Re: Exercise intensity is associated with cardiometabolic health

#35

Post by luke_s » Fri, Sep 11, 2026, 6:23 AM UTC

lloeki wrote: post #27

jandrewrogers wrote: post #9

As an anecdote of one, I was doing moderate intensity endurance exercise for a couple years with only modest improvements in basic cardiovascular metrics that kind of flatlined over time. As an experiment, I switched to high-intensity interval type training for a couple months, which required about half the time to do. All of my cardiovascular metrics immediately changed in a strongly positive way. When I did the old…

That sounds exactly like what one should do for, say, couch to 10k: build a solid base in "zone 2" (low aerobic), which also serves not just as a cardio foundation but also builds the body's ability to withstand effort and impact. Then once the base is built, to make any progress one needs stronger, more focused stimulus, so you introduce interval training at high aerobic (tempo and threshold paces) as well as anaero…

Are you able to point out which video explains how to find your current bottleneck? I suspect its something I would find quite useful! Unfortunately most of the videos have quite "clickbaity" titles, which makes it hard to figure out what they are about.

Re: Exercise intensity is associated with cardiometabolic health

#36

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Sep 11, 2026, 6:26 AM UTC

bohrbohra wrote: post #7

tim-projects wrote: post #5

I found that setting a two minute timer and running up and down a stair case with high intensity once per day can resolve a whole host of seemingly unrelated issues.

Same. I found that picking up a 28-kg kettlebell and climbing up a 20-storey building within 6 mins (switching up hands every couple of floors) is an awesome "functional" exercise. Hits cardio, grip strength and unilateral stability stuff.

[deleted]

Re: Exercise intensity is associated with cardiometabolic health

#37

Post by bob1029 » Fri, Sep 11, 2026, 6:36 AM UTC

jeffbee wrote: post #34

It's interesting that they characterize a 30-second cycling effort as "all-out" when any cyclist knows it's impossible to go "all-out" for that long. You can go really all-out for a few seconds before your whole metabolic process needs to switch modes. A 30-second effort has to be paced. "All-out" intervals are very effective but for me they mean 4 seconds out of every 30 seconds.

You might need to talk to a doctor if you can only go flat out for 4 seconds before having to slow down. You may put out more power during the first few seconds, but you should be able to go substantially longer than this before falling into the limitations of aerobic capacity.

Re: Exercise intensity is associated with cardiometabolic health

#38

Post by vunderba » Fri, Sep 11, 2026, 6:44 AM UTC

Madmallard wrote: post #18

I play Dance Dance Revolution. Doing hard songs in that game is basically the definition of high intensity interval training. And it's fun!

Same! I used to play Max 300 in heavy mode (on repeat) at my local arcade without hugging the bar - your feet end up moving like Donald Duck from Mathemagic Land.

30 minutes and you are gassed...

Nowadays I switched over to Pump It Up - I feel like the 5-step configuration lends itself towards larger body movements and less river dancing. :)

Re: Exercise intensity is associated with cardiometabolic health

#39

Post by lloeki » Fri, Sep 11, 2026, 6:46 AM UTC

luke_s wrote: post #35

lloeki wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds exactly like what one should do for, say, couch to 10k: build a solid base in "zone 2" (low aerobic), which also serves not just as a cardio foundation but also builds the body's ability to withstand effort and impact. Then once the base is built, to make any progress one needs stronger, more focused stimulus, so you introduce interval training at high aerobic (tempo and threshold paces) as well as anaero…

Are you able to point out which video explains how to find your current bottleneck? I suspect its something I would find quite useful! Unfortunately most of the videos have quite "clickbaity" titles, which makes it hard to figure out what they are about.

On mobile RN. I'll try to find it once I'm on a desktop.

Re: Exercise intensity is associated with cardiometabolic health

#40

Post by vunderba » Fri, Sep 11, 2026, 6:47 AM UTC

tim-projects wrote: post #5

I found that setting a two minute timer and running up and down a stair case with high intensity once per day can resolve a whole host of seemingly unrelated issues.

I always run stairs when given an opportunity (big proponent of "incidental exercise"), so when I used to live in apartments I would deliberately rent a room in the highest available floor. It's shocking how much HIIT you can get out of running 20+ flights.