Punching Above Its Weight?

2017 was the year of the HIIT class, but as its popularity continues to soar, could this lead to a downward spiral, asks Mark Kebble

- Mark Kebble

THERE are plenty of gym snobs around and I am one of them. When I eventually persuade my aching, tired body to drag itself down the road for a workout, the last thing on my mind is to socialise and stop to have a chat. As I desperately try to bench press a ridiculous weight level – my ego can’t take accepting lower than the person before me, regardless of his or her size – my frustration grows as a couple natter away next to me.

Yet there is something in this social aspect to working out. Someone close to me had never set foot in a gym – or even considered exercise – a couple of years ago, but now you can’t stop her booking on to yet another HIIT class. High intensity interval training, to give it its full name (after all, you shouldn’t take shortcuts when working out), has been the fitness fad of 2017.