Sweat vs Squat
Women's Health & Fitness|November 2017

Lifting Is All Well and Good Until You Want Six-pack Abs, and Spending Too Much Time in Hiit Classes Won’t Necessarily Have You Running a Marathon. Understanding When to Squat and When to Sweat Could Be Your Answer to Accelerated Results.

Angelique Tagaroulias
Sweat vs Squat
CRANKING CARDIO

If finding the balance between calorie burning cardio and curve-creating resistance training isn’t hard enough, try working out how to then balance cardio types for best results. The low-intensity steady-state (LISS) versus high-intensity interval training (HIIT) debate still looms large, and which you favour really depends on your aesthetic and/or fitness goals. Pick the wrong version in the wrong amounts and you will likely plateau – fast.

It’s safe to say that modern fad prioritises effective and efficient HIIT above all else: comprising short and intense bursts of activity at your maximum heart rate followed by a period of lower intensity or rest, its proponents swear by results in just 20to 45-minute sessions. And, looking at the research, you can see why. HIIT’s intensity means it can burn some serious calories both during and post-workout, with excess oxygen needed to fuel muscles and systems working in overdrive (aka excess post-workout oxygen consumption or the afterburn effect.) According to recent research, HIIT is thought to increase your metabolism for up to 36 hours after you exit the gym – making it your new BFF for fat loss.

One study published in the International Journal of Obesity found that while both HIIT and LISS showed significant improvements in cardiovascular fitness, 20 minutes of HIIT performed three times per week for 15 weeks was associated with significant reductions in total body fat, subcutaneous leg fat and abdominal fat among the young females tested. This was compared to the same frequency of 40-minute steady-state sessions.

This story is from the November 2017 edition of Women's Health & Fitness.

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This story is from the November 2017 edition of Women's Health & Fitness.

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