Hi Jake again, I was training a client this morning and the question asked was ‘how can people talk in the middle of this?’. My answer was simply, given that we are doing a HIIT session where the intensity is high for a short period of time but repeated many times you shouldn’t be able to talk at the end of the round for a small time, let alone during.

So what is the right intensity? What is the magic number of reps and sets or allotted time you should do in an interval? The answer is there isn’t one single magic number that fits everyone. This is why it is important to regularly change you’re training routine. If you’re that person who has been doing the same thing in the gym for the last 6 months, have suffered from lack of motivation and gained little, then this is really important for you.

It is also worth noting that an individual who may excel at aerobic activity such as a runner or cyclist may not excel with weight lifting and vice versa. So long as you are working at a challenging intensity in your sessions it’s fair to say you will get some adaptation either way. Also, more conditioned exercisers will be able to undergo more demanding sessions because of their increased levels of strength and fitness, this is especially worthy of note if you are new to training.

The only person you should be aiming to keep up with is the self  you’re aspiring to. It is easy to get sucked in to some competitive spirit in a commercial gym, but equally so it is also easy to feel ill motivated and uncomfortable when you walk in to a room full of conditioned ‘Gym Bunnies’ you’re almost made to feel like you have to be fit to go to a gym which is rather like saying you should learn to drive before taking lessons!

The simple answer to the ‘Is it easy?’ question is, no. It isn’t easy, why should it be? It isn’t easy because to become stronger, faster, leaner, more durable or more powerful or even flexible we need to take the body slightly beyond its comfort zone and current ability. If you do 10,000 steps per day, well done! But once you have done 10,000 steps for a few weeks the novelty will wear off and you will be back to no gains, try upping it to 12,000 and the cycle repeats. If you find it easy, the chances are your body is already able to do the job, whatever it is. The only way to advance your body and change its shape and physical capabilities is to constantly challenge it.

If it were easy we would all be Olympic Gold Medalists!