High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) vs Regular Cardio
Cardiovascular exercise increases your physical stamina and burns body fat. Regular cardio workouts and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) are two popular approaches to this type of exercise. They differ in the length and intensity of the session. Regular cardio workouts are characterized by low to moderate intensity exercises performed for long periods of time. Examples of steady state cardiovascular exercises include jogging, bicycling and rowing. A typical cardio routine consists of jogging for 45 minutes 5 times a week.
HIIT workouts are briefer and more intense than regular cardio workouts. HIIT includes high intensity periods and low to moderate intensity periods. For example, you alternate between sprinting for 30 seconds and jogging for 60 seconds over a 20-minute period. HITT provides additional health benefits over regular cardio workouts. It increases your aerobic capacity, muscle mass, strength, power and speed. HIIT also improves your insulin sensitivity. This means that less glucose is stored as fat. You can convert virtually any aerobic exercise into a HIIT session by varying the intensity of your workout.
Regular cardio workouts are aerobic exercises. This means that you use oxygen to burn fat and sustain your body. HITT workouts are aerobic and anaerobic. Anaerobic exercise reduces your oxygen levels and burns glucose and glycogen stored in your body’s tissues as its primary fuel sources. HITT workouts efficiently burn fat and glucose.
Numerous clinical studies support the superior fat burning characteristics of HIIT workouts. An Australian study compared two groups of female athletes. One group performed a 20-minute HITT program of 8-second sprints followed by 12-second rest periods. The steady state cardio group followed a 40-minute program that maintained a 60% mean heart rate. The HITT group lost 6 times more body fat than the cardio group.
HITT workouts burn more body fat than regular cardio workouts because of their effect on your metabolism. A 1996 study demonstrated that participants using a HITT-style workout on stationary bicycles burned more calories 24-hours after the workout than participants cycling at a steady intensity.
A HITT workout builds more muscle and burns more fat that a regular cardio routine.
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