Debunking the myths – is HIIT really better than low intensity cardio for fat loss?
HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training is a fairly new trend taking over the fitness industry, it has gained a lot of traction and hype behind it due to the supposed higher calorie burning ability. The hype isn’t without basis either – a 2018 survey of fitness trends ranked HIIT number 1, compared to other trends, this survey was based on the responses of over 4,000 exercise professionals.
Contrary to popular beliefs, HIIT experts advocate that less exercise (in the form of HIIT) can be equally as effective as prolonged, lower intensity cardio sessions. However the intensity levels must be high enough to maintain this fact.
In this article we will dive deeper into the question ‘Is HIIT better than low intensity cardio for fat loss?’ and provide you with some solid advice.
What exactly is HIIT?
HIIT is an all-out, high-intensity cardio protocol. It’s layered out by combining several short burst of exercise with other slower intervals. For example you sprint as fast as you can for 30 seconds to a minute and then taper into a jog for about the same time, this is then repeated until the session is over.
HIIT cardio can be performed in a number of ways. You can do a running routine, incorporating the short sprints, or the same for cycling. HIIT can also be applied in other movements like skipping, burpees, push ups, etc, the list goes on and on.
How is HIIT different from steady state cardio
The biggest difference between the two forms of cardio is the intensity and duration of activity. When performing HIIT cardio, 80-90% of your maximum heart rate is reached for a much shorter period. Whereas with steady-state, low intensity cardio you use about 50-60% of your maximum heart rate for a much longer period of time.
Furthermore HIIT cardio is largely an anaerobic activity, meaning your body uses stored glucose in the muscles whilst relying less on oxygen and helps you in Powerbuilding. This means the oxygen demand is greater than the oxygen supply, causing your body to release energy without oxygen. This also increase the rate of fatigue due to the release of lactic acids (waste by-product of anaerobic energy release). Think about how after sprinting you are truly out of breath as opposed to a longer, less intense cardio session.
Steady state cardio, otherwise known as LISS (low intensity steady state) is an aerobic cardiovascular activity. Meaning the body relies on oxygen for releasing energy. This is a more steady, moderate energy release to cater for the longer period of activity.
Which is better for fat loss?
Now to the most important question discussed in this article, which method is more effective at fat loss?
Firstly, a 2012 study of 38 overweight men, found that impressive reductions in body fat were achieved through implementing a HIIT program. They followed a 20 minute HIIT session protocol for 12 weeks, and lost considerable body fat whilst also improving aerobic capacity by an average 15%.
Another study, involving a group of 43 women, aged 18-22 years, were split into groups: one who did HIIT; another doing LISS and another control group not participating in exercise. Body mass, fat percentage and abdominal subcutaneous fat were all measured before and after. The results of these tests showed that the HIIT group achieved similar levels of fat loss to the LISS group, in half the time.
Furthermore another study in 2011 has even concluded that not only does HIIT cardio reduce body fat in less time, but is also even more effective for diabetic individuals. The individuals (diabetic) showed greater reductions in subcutaneous fat and significantly improved insulin resistance, by as much as levels of 36%.
To conclude
So should HIIT cardio be used over steady state cardio for greater fat loss? The answer is yes, as long as you are relatively fit and able, HIIT cardio is perfect. However if you have any mobility, joint issues, or any injuries we recommend prioritising steady state cardio as it will be much easier on your body to handle.
Creation of long-term relationships between users and a product are much more important than trying to induce them to an instant purchase.
This way, app owners be it enterprises or promising startups have abandoned incentivized download campaigns in favor of user engagement and their lifetime value but we will talk a bit later about that.Challenges on your way to loyal usersAs it was already mentioned, more than a half of all users installing an app use it once and then just delete.
Achieving of more or less acceptable uninstall rate, requires well-thought strategy as well as lots of efforts directed to the targeting of separate users that are most likely to continue using the product instead of focusing on huge groups of potential users having a fleeting interest in the product.
Considering the fact each of them sends at least one notification every couple of days, it is not surprising that users tend to leave these messages without any attention.However, this is still the only channel for instant notification and you should definitely use it but with less harm to users.
Try to dive deeper into your users' flow to single out an appropriate time to notify them and make the content of your notifications helpful rather than interrupting.
Remember that off the point notifications not only contribute to less in-app content consumption but app removal as well.To other factors influencing on a loyal community creation we can refer the number of times your product is opened, the frequency of its usage, the times spend in there, and customer lifecycle.How to engage and retain app users?It is high time to refer to engagement as one of the most effective ways to increase your users' loyalty.
Which one to choose and which best one should they go for?
If these are some of the questions that have been ringing in one’s mind then that is great!
The ringing of confusions always lands into somewhere that is best for the moment!
While the base of this discussion to bring out things on the pretty clear plate, it is necessary to know definitely, which was a freelance web developer or any professional should be going for what purpose.
When the talk runs about someone wanting to have an online store, which is already having a website, then one should definitely consider the use of WooCommerce, a platform that allows having a running website along with a commerce online platform.
It’s time to dive deeper into this knowledge as collected as a result of some survey done among some freelance PHP developer.
