Cardio question - Exercise & Fitness Message Board

JStigs · 05-06-2005, 12:51 PM

A friend told me this and I've never heard of it before and wanted to know if it was true...

Quote:

The reason that High Intensity Interval Training works better for fat loss is this: When you do a cardio session at the same pace the whole time, your body goes into what is called steady state. This means that your body has adjusted itself to the speed you are going and tries hard to conserve energy (calories). You will be able to avoid this and burn more calories and FAT by doing the interval training.

The easiest way that I tell people to do it is to start off at a good pace for 5 minutes. Then take up the intensity on the machine and go as hard and as fast as you possibly can for a minute and then bring it back down for a minute or two — however long it takes for you to recover enough to do it again. ANY cardio machine will work — I like the treadmill and the elliptical trainer the best.

Another easy way to introduce yourself to this kind of cardio without killing yourself right off the bat is simply to keep changing your speed and intensity level every two minutes or so — go up and down — challenge yourself. This will "trick" your body into burning more calories since it can not achieve steady state.

When it comes to the heart rate question— whether to stay lower or higher — this is your answer. At a lower % of max heart rate (65%), a larger percentage of calories burned come from fat than at a higher heart rate (75-85%). HOWEVER, despite the percentages, you will burn more total calories

Naxis · 05-06-2005, 01:03 PM

I don't know about the steady state bit. I'd like to see something scientific to back that up. I do know that HIIT done properly works so well because it is essentially a resistance/anaerobic activity, and whill increase metabolism for hours after the workout where fat will be used meet the new energy needs of the body, if still under a calorie deficit. I haven't noticed a big difference in fat loss between general interval training (ie. intervals of a little faster and a little slower) and standard, nonvarying intensity cardio. I don't see how the body would be able to "conserve calories" under the conditions of aerobic exercise.