Speakers
Dr. Gary Mak
Dr. Gary Y.K. Mak graduated in University of Hong Kong in 1982. He received his medical training in the Department of Medicine, Chinese university of Hong Kong and completed his Interventional and Nuclear Cardiology training in the University of Toronto. In 1989, he returned to CUHK to continue his clinical and teaching duties until 1993 when he starts his private practice.
He is currently the Director of the Pro-Care heart Clinic and Pro-Cardio Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Center.
Dr. Mak is the Past President (2012-2014) of the Hong Kong Association of Sports Medicine & Sports Science. He is the Consultant Cardiologist of the Hong Kong Sports Institute since 2014. He is the Broad Member of Hong Kong Paralympic Committee (2021-present). He is a member of the Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology Consensus Group. He is the visiting lecturers in the Department of Sports Medicine in Chinese University of HK and HK Polytechnic University. He is also the professional Advisor to Hong Kong Physical Fitness Association.
His current main research interests in Sports Cardiology including Pre-participation Screening in athletes, cardiovascular response to exercise, exercise related sudden death and application of Cardiac MRI and Coronary CTA for athlete’s assessment.
Abstract
Moderate Intensity Continuous Exercise (MICE) and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
Aerobic capacity, expressed as VO2peak, is well-known to be an independent predictor of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular prognosis. Exercise training is the best method to improve VO2peak. Guidelines of most academic societies recommend continuous moderate- or vigorous- intensity physical activities to gain health benefits.
MICT stands for medium intensity continuous training and consists of moderate difficulty aerobic exercise like jogging, cycling, or pick-up sports. MICT workouts are normally 30 minutes to an hour and have been shown to be most effective for long term glycemic control.
HIIT stands for high intensity interval training and it consists of very intense (as high as 80%+ of max heart rate) anaerobic bouts of exercise followed by medium intensity (50-60% max heart rate) aerobic bouts of exercise. HIIT workouts are generally shorter than the workouts of their cardio counterparts, lasting only 20-30 minutes in most cases. HIIT training often utilizes sprints, resistance training, or other high intensity modalities. Meta-analysis of the benefits of HIIT found that it is the most effective type of exercise for increasing vo2 max and endothelial function.
There is no significant benefit to body composition gained by choosing one form of cardio over another. HIIT appears safe and has been recognized as an efficient exercise protocol with short exercise sessions. However, HIIT can be tough, harder to recover, higher risk of injury. In high risk individuals and patients with underlying heart disease, pre-participation assessment with stress test +/- CTCA is recommended.
HIIT protocols can be classified into aerobic HIIT and anaerobic sprint interval training (SIT). While SIT may be slightly superior to VO2max HIIT for most athletes, HIIT may be slightly superior to SIT for time-trialists.
Combined training of MICT with HIIT is more sustainable and appeared to be the optimal training plan for 99%.