Cardio vs. HIIT: Which Is Right for You?
Exercise is a great tool for improving your health. To better understand the benefits of exercise, we need to understand two popular ways of exercising. Here, let’s explore aerobic exercise and high-intensity interval training (HIIT).
Understanding Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise, also known as cardio training, is any exercise that involves maintaining a moderate-intensity heart rate for an extended period. During aerobic workouts, your heart rate increases and you breathe more deeply. What qualifies as an aerobic exercise is different for everyone depending on the effect on their heart rate. Common examples of aerobic activities are swimming, jogging, and biking. To get started, pick an enjoyable activity and see how your body responds to it. The guideline for daily activity is 30 minutes of aerobic activity, coupled with muscle-strengthening exercises two days a week.
The benefits of aerobic exercise:
Heart Health: Aerobic exercise is your heart's best friend. It strengthens your heart, making it more efficient at pumping blood. Aerobic exercise lowers your risk for heart disease and many other chronic diseases.
Weight Maintenance: If you're looking to maintain a healthy weight, aerobic exercise is a good approach. It burns calories, helping you achieve and maintain your desired weight.
Metabolism Boost: Regular aerobic workouts can kickstart your metabolism, making it easier to manage your weight and stay energized.
Improved Lung Function: Your lungs work harder during aerobic activities, improving your respiratory function and increasing oxygen circulation.
Stress Reduction: Aerobic exercise triggers the release of endorphins, reducing stress and promoting an overall sense of well-being.
Aerobic exercise, or cardio training, is defined as moderate-intensity exercise and involves reaching 50-70% of your maximum heart rate. During aerobic exercise, the body uses oxygen and your mitochondria for energy production. There are many changes that occur throughout the body the result in beneficial changes to all the major organs, tissues, and blood vessels.
Exploring High-intensity Interval Training
HIIT is a workout strategy that combines short bursts of high-intensity exercise with periods of lower-intensity exercise or rest. HIIT can involve various forms of exercise, such as sprinting, jumping, or even strength training.
Here's what you need to know about HIIT:
Efficiency: HIIT workouts are short but intense, making them ideal for people with busy schedules. You can achieve results in a shorter amount of time.
Fat Burning: HIIT is excellent for burning fat and weight loss. High-intensity intervals push your body into an anaerobic state, which promotes more fat loss.
Muscle Building: HIIT stimulates the production of testosterone and human growth hormone leading to increased lean muscle mass. HIIT may also decrease muscle soreness post-workout.
Greater Metabolism Boost: The benefits of HIIT extend beyond the workout. Your metabolism stays elevated even after you've finished, leading to continued calorie burning. These benefits can last up to several days after you enter an anerobic state.
Your target heart rate for high-intensity exercise is 70-85% of your maximum heart rate. Aerobic exercise becomes anaerobic exercise with increased exercise intensity. During anaerobic exercise, the body produces lactic acid which signals the production of testosterone and human growth hormone. This “hormonal soup” increases fat loss and lean muscle mass.
We recommend HIIT training as a way to obtain more value and performane benefits from exercising. There are many ways to do HIIT. One simple way is to adjust the settings on the treadmill to increase the speed and grade of your run until you hit your target heart rate. This easy method can be repeated and increases your exercise intensity. Many treadmills even have a heart rate monitor to check your heart rate to ensure you reach your targets. Try to sustain your high-intensity exercise as long as you can and when you need a rest, simply reduce your speed or rest until you have the energy for another push!
HIIT training also includes weight lifting or resistance training. Resistance training alone improves your body composition and prevents muscle loss associated with aging.
Circuit training is a type of HIIT that alternates between resistance training and aerobic exercises.
Integrated concurrent exercise is another form of HIIT that mixes resistance training with other high-intensity activities during the workout.
Work-out tip: It's more effective to alternate high-intensity exercises within your workout instead of doing aerobic and resistance training consecutively, which is known as serial concurrent exercise. Keep this in mind for your next workout session.
Try This! Start with a ten-minute treadmill run followed by a weight lifting exercise. After completing a full set, spend another ten minutes on the stair machine, and then follow it with another set of weight lifting. Keep repeating this pattern of alternating between aerobic exercises, high-intensity activities, and resistance training to implement HIIT effectively.
Learn How to Calculate Your Target Heart Rate
To get the most out of your workouts, it's important to determine your target heart rate. This is the range of heartbeats per minute that ensures you're exercising at the right intensity. In our previous blog post, "Personalized Fitness: Tailoring Your Workouts with Target Heart Rate," we explain how to find your ideal range for aerobic exercise and HIIT. Refer to that post for a step-by-step guide.
Making the Right Choice
So, which exercise approach is right for you? It depends on your goals, schedule, and preferences. Some people thrive with the steady rhythm of aerobic exercise, while others enjoy the intensity and efficiency of HIIT. The key is to find an exercise routine that you like and can stick with.
Remember, a combination of both aerobic exercise and HIIT can provide a well-rounded approach to your fitness routine. You can enjoy the heart health and stress reduction benefits of aerobic exercise while harnessing the fat-burning and muscle-building potential of HIIT.
The most important thing is to get moving and make exercise a part of your daily life. Whichever path you choose, your body and mind will thank you for it.
So, there you have it: the lowdown on aerobic exercise and HIIT, two dynamic approaches to achieving your fitness goals. Refer to our guide on calculating your target heart rate, and embark on a journey to a healthier, happier you.
References:
Staff MC. Exercise intensity: How to measure it. https: //www. mayoclinic. org/ healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/excercise-intensity/art-20046887. Accessed April 12, 2019.
Ph D, Church TS, Ph D. The Role of Exercise and Physical Activity in Weight Loss and Maintenance. 2015;56(4):441-447. doi:10.1016/j.pcad.2013.09.012.The
Pizzorno J, Murray M. The Textbook of Natural Medicine. St. Louis: Elsevier; 2013.
