9781422272152

LEBRONJAMES NBAmegastar LeBron James is an athlete who has maintained an incredible level of performance across a career that has spanned nearly two decades. When discussing the greatest basketball player of all time, theman is always in the conversation. When you consider that, at the NBA level, every athlete on the court has been giftedwith incredible natural talent; this kind of performance undoubtedly results froma fanatical work ethic. Part of James’ rigorous training routine, according to his longtime trainer, Mike Mancias, looks a lot like HIIT. Mancias, who has workedwith LeBron James for more than 16 years, has described a staple part of his workout that takes place on a piece of equipment known as the Versa Climber. Using this device, which basically functions as a rapid-paced stair climber, James will perform intense bursts of speed for around 30 seconds. In-between these bursts, a 10- to 20-second recovery period is allowed. This cycle is then repeated for a set number of rounds. NFL SUPERSTARS Another great example of HIIT being used by athletes to prepare for competition comes froman interviewwith Todd Durkin, a highly regarded trainer who has workedwith various football stars including DrewBrees, Darren Sproles, and GeraldMcCoy. Durkindescribedhow, using an innovativepieceof cardioequipment inhis gym, his clients performintensebursts of speed for 5–10 seconds. After this short but grueling interval, they are allowed to rest for a coupleofminutes before repeating the cycle for up tofive times. Durkin likes toworkwith multipleplayers simultaneously, allowing the inherent competitivenature crucial for aprofessional athlete tomakehis clients pushevenharder. Although themethod Durkin describes corroborates with the principles of HIIT that we discussed earlier, his workout design is evenmore specific when it comes to simulating a football game. The 5–10-second

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High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

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