Okay, so I already know what is going through some of your guys minds, most of you are thinking “hell yes, this is my thing” and others of you are probably thinking “here is another fad someone is trying to talk me into” and by all means, I understand both sides of the spectrum (I honestly do) but all of you know by now that I am a fitness and health blogger and fitness professional and so.. I feel the need to talk about this, why not? I mean it is popular among a lot of people, athletes and general population alike and there are many benefits to it BUT it doesn’t mean everyone needs to do this type of training regimen, honestly.. depending on your goals in mind, you may not need to do training like this and I am not going to sell it to you. All of you probably assume I do this type of training and I will be honest, It is preferable for me but doesn’t mean I am promoting it everywhere I go to everyone I know. Lets be reasonable, there is MORE than ONE way to stay fit and healthy and keep an active lifestyle, no way is BETTER than the other, but some ways have more benefits in the short term and long term. If you want some words of advice: “Not everyone is training for the same competition with the same goals”; with that being said.. I like this regimen but doesn’t mean you will.
Let us begin with what HIIT means
HIIT: High intensity interval training (an exercise that alternates short periods of intense anaerobic exercise with less intense recovery periods.
- This type of training is said to burn more fat in a shorter amount of time and gets and keeps your heart rate up.
Benefits of HIIT training:
- Improves aerobic and anaerobic fitness
- Improves blood pressure
- Improves cardiovascular health
- Improves insulin sensitivity
- Improves cholesterol
- Improves abdominal fat and body weight while maintaining muscle mass
- no equipment necessary (more of a pro)
- Increases metabolism
- very challenging but worth while
- It can boost your VO2 max
- It can boost your endurance
- Quick workout
- Fueled by carbohydrates
With all those benefits, one can understand why I enjoy it and not to mention, no matter how I switch it up, it can be fun and still give me the improvements I am looking for. This doesn’t mean those of you who prefer your steady state cardio reap no benefits, as a matter of fact there is benefits to that as well in which I will list for you in case it is unknown to you:
Steady state cardio benefits:
- Faster recovery
- You can still retain muscle mass- because your body is not over-stressed. With HIIT training, you have to keep in mind that those who eat a low calorie diet and do a lot of strength training and HIIT training each week can lose their muscle mass if they aren’t properly recovering and eating enough calories. Many will agree that dieting is easier when you are doing a stead state cardio training.
- You will still burn calories.
- Builds up aerobic fitness
- Builds your cardiovascular and endurance
- no equipment necessary
- Fueled mostly by stored fat
- Improves metabolism
- Improves blood pressure
- Improves V02max
- You can burn fat, not a whole lot, but it is possible to still burn it.
Honestly both types of training have their pros and cons, none of them are 100 percent, but when you compare the two they have some of the same similarities and some differences, However I did not list the cons as I normally would because I didn’t feel as though it was as important because my whole point of this post was to talk about HIIT, but not belittle steady state cardio training, I wanted people to see they each have benefits of their own and depending on the person and their goals, one could be more beneficial than the other. They essentially have the same benefits but HIIT training gives you the benefits in a shorter amount of time. The only way to decide which works best for you is to try it, and read up on the cons and see if they out-weigh the pros or if the pros out-weigh the cons. I personally find steady state cardio boring and repetitive ( a con) in my opinion but doesn’t mean others will find that a con in their opinion. Do me a favor? Use a training regimen that best works for you. Share your feedback, opinion, stories, etc with me, as you all know, I love hearing them!!!
Your fitness blogger,
Shay-lon
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