HIIT over standard cardio

[JawD]

I do cardio for two main reasons. One is to improve my overall stamina and cardiovascular system including giving my lungs and heart a good workout! The second is to help is my goal of burning fat.

I have been using two methods and was hoping for some feedback to which would be more beneficial to achieve the above.

I have the luxury of having a fair sized park near my house which is half flat and half hill. There are numerous paths around it so I can build a route to suit my requirements.

Menthod One

I do two or three laps mixing flat and hills. I work hard to get my heart rate up to around 125 - 135 where I should be burning fat. I then try to stay this level for around 25 - 30mins.

Method Two

I do a 2min steady cycle to the park (warmup) followed by a 30second sprint along one of the flats, then steady to cool down for around 2mins to the bottom of a hill and then a standing sprint up it (30secs). Then steady for 1 1/2mins to the bottom of the next hill where I sit sprint up the hill (40sec). Then its steady / downhill for 2mins back to the next flat sprint at the start again and repeat. I done this at the weekend and managed two rounds of this and arrived back home after 20mins.

Doing it this way my heart rate is up and down as you'd expect.

When I'm out of my fat burning zone (say above 145bpm) and into cardio zone, do I still burn fat from stores or would I use glycogen stores and then muscle at this high level?

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Naturally method two had me much more tired! One other thing I noticed though, more of a health issue. When I climbed the hills at pace and was gasping for air at the top, I was getting a dry pain in the back of my throat? Anyone any ideas?

Cheers,

[Klinger]

There will be room for disagreement, but science is on the side of interval training (it jacks up your metablic rate and keeps it there long after you are done training. But listen to your body (bolded section in second graph). Check out these snippets from James Krieger:

A number of explanations exist for the greater amounts of fat loss achieved by HIIT. First, a large body of evidence shows that high-intensity protocols, notably intermittent protocols, result in significantly greater post-exercise energy expenditure and fat utilization than low- or moderate-intensity protocols (1,4,8,14,19,21,25). Other research has found significantly elevated blood free-fatty-acid (FFA) concentrations or increased utilization of fat during recovery from resistance training (which is a form of HIIT) (16,17). ... Finally, a number of studies have found high-intensity exercise to suppress appetite more than lower intensities (6,12,13,22) and reduce saturated fat intake (3).

Overall, the evidence suggests that HIIT is the most efficient method for achieving fat loss. However, HIIT carries a greater risk of injury and is physically and psychologically demanding (10), making low- and moderate-intensity, continuous exercise the best choice for individuals that are unmotivated or contraindicated for high-intensity exercise.

View the whole thing here:

http://www.wsu.edu/~strength/hiit.htm

[JawD]

Well, that sums it up nicely! I was out this morning at 6am, it was dark, cold and windy. Thats what I call willpower! The worst bit was on my second lap as I pass the point where I turn off to go home. Had to keep telling myself, one more lap and we're done... Was so hard this morning, I think I done JWUIT (Just woke up interval training).

I think I'm going to mix it and do both. HIIT some days and cardio based on my heart rate the next.

Must remember though, buy some gloves!! Brrrr.

[cursor]

Forget the Fat-burn Zone

[JawD]

Another good article. Thanks. As in my previous post, I'm going to mix it up and do both. When I done my last session including the sprints (cycling), I felt like I nearly died! Really though, I need to be building up my fitness / stamina levels so I'll get into this gradually. At the moment I do 3-4 cardio sessions per week. I'll add one HIIT session and build it up until I'm happy with it and then introduce more over the week replacing my standard session.

Hmm, thinking out loud, maybe I could replace them now so that I build up quicker....

sigh.. Still, I have to realise that any method is better for me than none at all !! (at least until I hit a pot hole and break something!).