Why does hiit burn more fat

If you have joint pain or prefer a more relaxed workout, you can train at a lower intensity. Subjects who used this method while cycling or running experienced a significant reduction in total body fat, visceral fat and abdominal fat mass.

HIIT running was more effective than HIIT cycling for reducing total body fat, while lower intensities below 90 percent maximum heart rate produced better results in terms of abdominal and visceral fat loss. Visceral adipose tissue has been linked to heart disease, dementia, colorectal cancer and other ailments, so it's in your best interest to get rid of it.

In a small study, both HIIT and moderate-intensity continuous training reduced body fat mass and visceral fat in young women with obesity. Subjects experienced a 10 percent decrease in total and regional fat mass in as little as 12 weeks. The steady-state cardio group spent twice as much time working out compared to the HIIT group. As the scientists note, HIIT is more time-efficient due to the increase in post-exercise oxygen consumption.

With this training method, your body consumes more oxygen post-workout EPOC to return to its normal state. The duration and magnitude of EPOC is greater when you're training at high intensity compared to moderate-intensity exercise. As a result, you'll burn more calories after leaving the gym.

Additionally, high-intensity interval training may increase the release of growth hormones and other compounds that influence fat loss, reports the above review. The more intense your workout, the greater this effect will be.

When it comes to HIIT versus cardio, both training methods can improve cardiovascular health and sports performance. Researchers compared endurance training, high-intensity circuit training and low-intensity circuit training.

Overweight men who engaged in high-intensity circuit training had greater reductions in body fat, blood pressure, triglycerides and cholesterol levels compared to the other two groups.

All subjects experienced major improvements in body weight. As the researchers point out, low- to moderate-intensity activities, such as walking, may not be vigorous enough to improve cardiorespiratory fitness. More vigorous exercise, on the other hand, may produce better results in terms of aerobic endurance and glycemic control. Just one HIIT session may reduce blood sugar after a meal in older adults with diabetes. This training method may also increase muscle insulin sensitivity for 24 to 48 hours after exercise.

The benefits of HIIT may also include improved stroke volume, faster recovery from vigorous workouts, lean mass gains and greater muscle definition, states the American Council on Exercise.

Plus, it appears to be safe and beneficial for those with heart disease, notes the Mayo Clinic. However, this doesn't mean that HIIT is suitable for everyone. Researchers recommend seeing a doctor before getting started with this kind of workout, especially if you have diabetes.

Those with a sedentary lifestyle should start slowly and increase the intensity gradually. Also, note that most studies had small groups of participants, so further investigation is needed to confirm the long-term safety and effectiveness of HIIT. There are some things to consider before getting started with HIIT.

If you're out of shape, it's safer to start with steady-state cardio or strength training to build up your conditioning. Keep your fitness level in mind when choosing the best exercises for your HIIT workout. As the Mayo Clinic points out, high-impact HIIT activities may not be safe for people with poor movement patterns, weak muscles or injuries.

Instead, they should opt for low-impact HIIT options, such as biking or water running. Beware that HIIT is taxing on the body and central nervous system.

To stay safe, limit your HIIT workouts to no more than three weekly sessions on non-consecutive days, recommends the American Council on Exercise. Sure, if you're an athlete, you may do more — but that's another story. Although each workout session was 30 minutes long in this study, it is common for HIIT workouts to be much shorter than traditional exercise sessions.

This is because HIIT allows you to burn about the same amount of calories, but spend less time exercising. HIIT may help you burn more calories than traditional exercise, or burn the same amount of calories in a shorter amount of time. One of the ways HIIT helps you burn calories actually comes after you are done exercising. Some researchers have even found that HIIT increases your metabolism after exercise more so than jogging and weight training Another study showed that just two minutes of HIIT in the form of sprints increased metabolism over 24 hours as much as 30 minutes of running Due to the intensity of the workout, HIIT can elevate your metabolism for hours after exercise.

This results in additional calories being burned even after you have finished exercising. Interestingly, it found that both HIIT and traditional moderate-intensity exercise can reduce body fat and waist circumference Additionally, one study found that people performing HIIT three times per week for 20 minutes per session lost 4.

Several other studies also indicate that body fat can be reduced with HIIT, despite the relatively low time commitment 17 , 18 , However, like other forms of exercise, HIIT may be most effective for fat loss in those who are overweight or obese 20 , High-intensity intervals can produce similar fat loss to traditional endurance exercise, even with a much smaller time commitment.

They can also reduce unhealthy visceral fat. In addition to helping with fat loss, HIIT could help increase muscle mass in certain individuals 21 , 22 , However, the gain in muscle mass is primarily in the muscles being used the most, often the trunk and legs 16 , 21 , Some research in active individuals has failed to show higher muscle mass after HIIT programs If you are not very active, you may gain some muscle by starting HIIT but not as much as if you performed weight training.

However, it appears that HIIT can produce the same benefits in a shorter amount of time 20 , 21 , This was almost identical to the improvement in oxygen consumption in the other group in the study, who cycled continuously for 40 minutes per day, four days per week. Once again, the total time exercising was much different between groups: minutes per week for the traditional exercise versus only 60 minutes per week of HIIT. Additional studies also demonstrate that HIIT can improve oxygen consumption 25 , High-intensity interval training can improve oxygen consumption as much as traditional endurance training, even if you only exercise about half as long.

A large amount of research indicates that it can reduce heart rate and blood pressure in overweight and obese individuals, who often have high blood pressure One study found that eight weeks of HIIT on a stationary bike decreased blood pressure as much as traditional continuous endurance training in adults with high blood pressure 7.

In this study, the endurance training group exercised four days per week for 30 minutes per day, but the HIIT group only exercised three times per week for 20 minutes per day. Some researchers have found that HIIT may even reduce blood pressure more than the frequently recommended moderate-intensity exercise In one trial , a group of obese men who did 60 minutes of brisk walking or light jogging every day lost, on average, 13 pounds of fat. While losing a little over one pound of fat per week is a decent result, the men taking part in this trial exercised for more than one hour, every single day, for three months.

They were also obese and carrying around a lot of extra weight, which means they burned a massive amount of energy during their daily workouts. But let's get back to HIIT for a moment.

HIIT is often praised as being uniquely effective for fat loss—more so than steady-state cardio. Researchers from Colorado State University, for example, found that HIIT led to an average of extra calories being burned over the course of the day. All of the calories were burned during and immediately after the workout itself. By way of comparison, an Appalachian State University study shows that 45 minutes of steady-state cardio at 85 percent maximum heart rate burned a little over calories— during the workout itself and after it had finished.

In , a team of Australian scientists published a meta-analysis on the subject of HIIT, steady-state cardio, and fat loss. A meta-analysis involves pooling the results from multiple trials on the same subject. Instead of lots of small experiments, you end up with one big experiment, conducted on lots of people.