I agree. The catch is that it doesn't seem to be something that's sustainable at high rates in the long term. There's quite the contrast between the way experienced athletes who already are very fit incorporate interval training long-term (often 1x/week) and the way Internet enthusiasts (perennial beginners) use interval training because they read about the Tabata study.
It strikes me as a bit similar to one of those effective but short-term crash diets. You get lean, tell everyone about it, and stop. Similarly, the dramatic effect of training intervals 6x/week is one of those things that's great for a few weeks.
> There's quite the contrast between the way experienced athletes who already are very fit incorporate interval training long-term (often 1x/week)
1x/week? Where are you getting that number from? For many athletes, their sport essentially is interval training (e.g. sprinting, tennis, American football).
As a pretty capable sprinter, I do something akin to interval training 4x/week, weight training 2x/week (one heavy day, one light), and then mobility and blood flow work whenever I can.
You're right. I missed a great deal of context there, as I was thinking about the most familiar cases to me, where either (a) you're an endurance athlete whose interest is largely maintaining a huge cardio base (see the Mark Twight piece in the sibling comment) or (b) you're getting a ton of 'intermittent' work from your sport, like you say.
Mentally I somehow but that kind of skill work in a different category from "interval" training but that's probably because I've never done an sport like sprinting or short-distance rowing/swimming/etc. Skill training for tennis or boxing or judo or BJJ or whatever doesn't feel like interval training even if it is intermittent and anaerobic... even when the round timer goes off at regular intervals in a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio.
It strikes me as a bit similar to one of those effective but short-term crash diets. You get lean, tell everyone about it, and stop. Similarly, the dramatic effect of training intervals 6x/week is one of those things that's great for a few weeks.