As far as the history of HIIPA goes, it is short. In fact it was only early this year that a study was produced coining the term and espousing the potential benefits. In a research paper, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in early 2019, a group of researchers argue that when considering differences in physical capabilities by age, sex and weight, many daily tasks can be classified as "high intensity" physical activity. That is, the kind of activity that gets you out of breath enough to boost your fitness.
The term HIIPA hit the headlines, heralded as the perfect way to boost overall fitness, especially among the overweight and obese. Sounds like a solid theory, but do the findings back it up?
The science
That first research paper was the work of Emmanuel Stamatakis, of the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre and School of Public Health, and a group of researchers. They argued that the benefits of HIIT could easily be applied to everyday household activities. "The beauty of HIIPA and the idea of using activities we are already doing as part of everyday life is that it is much more realistic and achievable for most people," Stamatakis stated in the study's hypothesis. "The time commitment for HIIPA is close to zero minutes per day."
Another study "Do stair-climbing exercise 'snacks' improve cardiorespiratory fitness?" was undertaken around the same time by a group of Canadian kinesiologists who set out to prove the benefits of HIIPA - but their overall results were less than astounding. Their findings, also published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, compared two groups of sedentary young adults. One group were tasked with rapidly climbing three flights of stairs, three times a day, three days a week, for six weeks. The stair-climbers could have one to four hours' recovery time between climbs. The effect of the exercise was measured by assessing their peak oxygen uptake and comparing the measurements to a control group. The study found that the intermittent stair climbing did improve cardiorespiratory fitness, although the increase was modest.
The reality
The advantage of HIIPA is that getting started requires no equipment and you could probably do your first session right now. See those stairs looming ahead of you? Don't avoid them, take them as fast as you can. Sounds easy, but that's not the whole story.
Are you really going to run up the stairs to work and arrive huffing and puffing and sweaty? We all live busy lives and, if you're anything like me, you are already sweeping those floors at hyper-speed and racing around doing a million things at once most days. Adding a few extra intense moments of exercise during the day is not going to hurt, but it is probably not going to turn you into a bodybuilder overnight either. Add to that the challenge of remembering to incorporate the intense workouts into your day, and you have already given me a stress headache.
The verdict
I am always on the go. So, for me, adding a bit more incidental activity into my daily routine was not a game-changer. I did a few funny sessions of speed cleaning, which my family found hilarious, but over the few weeks I trialled HIIPA I realised it would be a great idea for someone who was interested in separating their bum from the couch for the first time in a long while, but it was nowhere near enough to make me want to cancel my gym membership. So, sadly, I am not a HIIPA convert. I haven't drunk the Kool-Aid and I won't be knocking on doors and handing out fliers. Although if from time to time it inspires me to run instead of walk, then it's not a total bust.
