Professor Receives Grant for HIIT Study with Army

An assistant professor of kinesiology at Kansas State University has been awarded a grant of more than $2.52 million for a study to test the effects of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) compared to usual Army physical readiness training among active-duty military personnel.

Katie Heinrich received the grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the Manhattan, KS-based university announced earlier this month. The study could help address the issue of obesity in the military because of the potential HIIT offers for promoting fat loss through increased post-exercise fat metabolism, Heinrich said in press release from the university.

Heinrich is a co-principal investigator on the grant with Carlos Poston of the National Development and Research Institutes, Institute of Biobehavioral Health Research in Leawood, KS. Craig Harms, head of the kinesiology department in the university's College of Human Ecology, is a co-investigator.

Heinrich and her team will work with the Command and General Staff College and Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, KS, according to the release.

In an interview with the Kansas State Collegian, Heinrich said the idea for the study came while doing CrossFit workouts in Hawaii. From the Collegian:

"When I started CrossFit in Hawaii, I met tons of people from all branches of the military," Heinrich said. "In fact, the owner of CrossFit Oahu was a Navy SEAL. So, here I was working out next to Navy SEALs, and in time got to realize that they're just regular people."

The grant provides graduate and undergraduate research opportunities in Heinrich's Functional Intensity Training Lab.