The cornerstone of our movement-focused Healthy Habits is Move Slowly Lots. And for very good reason. In terms of application, it has the broadest scope of our physical activity domains. Move Slowly Lots covers everything from all the non-exercise physical activity (every single movement you do that isn’t a structured training session), to exercise which you might frame as the classic long slow distance (LSD) or low-intensity steady state (LISS).
The importance of non-exercise physical activity (or Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis [NEAT] as it is technically known) is a story for another day. In this article, we will focus primarily on how to apply Move Slowly Lots to your regular training and structured physical activity. As mentioned above, we tend to think about and apply this slower, lower-intensity style of exercise as the opposite of the fast, high-intensity efforts associated with our Move Quickly Once in a While habit. Long hikes or steady-paced bike rides might fit the bill.
Based on our assumptions around exercise and intensity, it would be easy to think that we can only choose one of two intensity modes – go slow or flat out. Tortoise or hare, if you like. This polarised approach can work if balanced well (generally favouring a higher volume of tortoise movement relative to hare). But what happens if you are well-versed at being the tortoise but you want to improve your hare game? How do you unleash your inner hare without pulling a hamstring or blowing to bits inside your first 30-second effort?
Perhaps an underappreciated aspect of Move Slowly Lots is that it has a much broader intensity range than you might have first thought. If Move Quickly Once in a While is associated with high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and is akin to sprinting, then Move Slowly Lots can range from the intensity-equivalent of a slow walk, all the way up to the intensity-equivalent of a fast jog. This latter ‘fast tortoise’ can be incorporated into something known as Low-Intensity Interval Training (LIIT).
HIIT or LIIT?
Low-intensity interval training (LIIT) might be perceived as the less sexy cousin to the ever-popular high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which often reinforces the notion that we always need to take a no pain, no gain approach to our growing our fitness. But there are many reasons why LIIT-style workouts might be more appropriate, if not better for us in some instances, not the least because there are just some days where we don’t want to drown ourselves in a pool of our own sweat from a gruelling HIIT session.
One of the best things about LIIT is that it’s suitable for anyone, regardless of age, exercise experience, or fitness level. It can often be readily adapted for those with movement restrictions or impairments. The low intensity means it’s not too strenuous when working out and places less strain on your joints, ligaments, and tendons - perfect for those just getting started, or those coming back from injury or illness.
HIIT is hyped up, and often for very good reason – it works. But with a caveat. It works if your body is ready for it to work. If your strength and posture are compromised in any way, if you are structurally dysfunctional, then all you are often doing by performing high-intensity exercise (where you are more focused on surviving the effort than your form), is adding further stress to a body which is potentially already operating on wafer-thin tolerances. So rather than focus on whether HIIT is better than LIIT (when matched for volume, they will come out relatively equal), a better focus is on which one is best for you. In other words, it’s not what you do but the body you bring to what you do.
Getting Yourself LIIT
When it comes to LIIT vs HIIT, the only real difference between these two types of interval training is time and, well, the intensity. With LIIT, the intensity of each interval is lower, but the interval length is generally longer (though it doesn’t have to be). While the work interval can be short or long, the recovery interval tends to be longer during LIIT sessions. To create a similar training stimulus with LIIT vs HIIT sessions, you may require more total intervals, which, when combined with a longer recovery interval, can often see the duration of a LIIT session being about twice that of a HIIT session (40-60 minutes vs 20-30 minutes), so do keep this in mind.
You can turn almost any movement or activity into a LIIT session. LIIT sessions are much less about what you do than how you do them. Rather than feeling completely wrecked at the end of a session (as you invariably do at the end of a HIIT session – or should), you should feel more energised than anything else. You should feel like you have had fun. It is a minimally effective dose, maximising your fitness gains whilst minimising your fatigue levels – ideal when you have other life pressures on you.
Low-intensity interval training sounds simple and easy, and that’s because it is. When something is simple and easy, it becomes highly repeatable. Repeatable is the key to consistency. And consistency is king (or queen) when it comes to health and fitness.
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