Vipin, I am really impressed. Good Question. Before I comment on sukshama vyayama, let's see what is High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) exercises.
HIIT workouts generally combine short bursts of intense exercise with periods of rest or lower-intensity exercise. These workouts often mix aerobic and resistance training. Basically, these workouts consist of a set number of high intensity exercises, each immediately followed by periods of recovery and these high intensity exercises range anywhere from between 5 to 10 seconds to 5 or 10 minutes. Ideally high intensity exercise periods are extremely intense, as intense as you can possible make them. These exercises fatigue you quickly which only lasts for a very short duration as exercising at high intensity for extended periods is difficult. This difficulty happens due to the rapid build up of lactic acid as well as a depletion of creatine phosphate stores. Creatine Phosphate is an energy compound in the muscles which powers the body when engaged in extreme high intensity activity. The recovery period, which is compulsory in between, stops blood pooling in your legs, some thing that happens following exercise without a cool down and helps in the removal of metabolic waste products, such as lactic acid. During this time, creatine phosphate stores are also be replenished, enabling the body to perform high intensity work again, such as sprinting or high intensity cycling. Light exercises such as walking, gentle jogging or cycling at an easier pace can be performed during recovery period.
During HIIT, there is sudden extra shock to your system that forces your physiology to make those changes to your fitness at a rapid pace. It is not for those people who have sedentary lifestyle or those who have little exercise experience.
On the other hand, Sukshama vyayama, set of 48 light exercises, is not so much intense as HIIT and does not cause sudden extra shock to the body system. These were developed by Maharishi Karthikeya Ji Maharaj of the Himalayas. He developed these practices based on the essential and mysterious aspects of Hatha yoga particularly related to the mudras ad bandhas. Later he taught these practices to Swami Dhirendra Brahmachari, who in turn propagated these practices to the humanity by publishing it in books as well as through videos. These exercises do not cause fatigue to such extent as compared to that resulted by HIIT, as there is no build up of lactic acid in the muscles. These are the system of yogic practices which loosens your joints and removes the energy blockages. This system has a strong purifying effect thus, boosting the body energy. Yogic Sukshma Vyayamas (Loosening and strengthening practices) are safe, rhythmic, repetitive stretching movements synchronized with breathing. These practices mobilize the joints and strengthen the joints and muscles to improve blood supply towards the different parts of joints like cartilage, ligaments etc. Unlike HIIT, These exercises also help to drain the toxic materials in the interstitial spaces related of the joints and in this set of exercises, every body part (muscle, joint and organ) is taken care of. The beauty of this set of exercises is that it includes breathe awareness and synchronisation of inhalation and exhalation with the movement of that joints respective to the exercises of suksham vyayama and hence, there is no build up of lactic acid in the muscles, resulting to no fatigue or negligible fatigue, but if this develops, every yoga session is followed by shavasana or yoga nidra or relaxation session to over-write the fatigue developed, if any. In fact, all yogic exercises are synchronized with the breathing and concentration/imaginations and if they cause any discomfort, they do not fall under the category of asana as per Patanjali Yoga Sutra – Asanam Sthiram Sukham.
So, you can infer that sukshama vyayama is more than physical exercises and the questions on research studies on Yogic Sukshama Vyayama as similar to HIIT exercises does not arise. However, you will be benefitted to know its effects through the available studies likes its effects of sukshama vyayama on aromatase inhibitor-induced arthralgia (AI) in breast cancer patients, improvement in handgrip strength in normal volunteers following selective sukshma vyayam practices, etc.
But if you want to gain the benefits of HIIT from the yogic exercises, you can practice sthula vyayama which are as strenuous as HIIT. But it is better to practice sukshama vyayama before practicing sthula vyayama. To know more on HIIT, you can go through the book : High Intensity Interval Training Explained. If you have any further questions, please feel free to write back to me.
