Came across an interesting study the other day, which was a fat loss showdown between HIIT and steady-state cardio .
Here’s what happened:
Two groups of healthy but overweight men took part in the study. Both groups cycled for 25-30 minutes, three times a week for six weeks.
The first group did high-intensity interval training, cycling for one minute at 90% of their peak heart rate, followed by another minute of slow cycling. Each workout involved a total of 10 high-intensity intervals, sandwiched between a 3-minute warm-up and 2-minute cool-down.
Subjects in the second group cycled at a steady state for 30 minutes at 65-75% of their max heart rate.
The result?
Both groups finished the six-week study a little fitter than when they started. The HIIT group increased their VO2peak – a marker of cardiovascular fitness – by 9%, while the steady-state group improved by 7%.
What about body fat?
To quote the researchers directly, the effect of HIIT and steady-state cardio on body composition “were negligible to small across all whole-body and regional-specific measures and did not differ significantly between the groups.”
In other words, neither group lost a significant amount of fat, a finding the researchers say was “surprising.”
Personally, I can’t say I was surprised.
That’s because the main driver of fat loss is your diet. Exercise can make you fitter, healthier, happier, stronger and more muscular. But, if you don’t get your diet right, it’s not going to make you any leaner.
HIIT… sprint interval training… steady-state cardio… strength training… metabolic resistance training… all can be useful at different times, and for different people.
But they’re not going to help you lose fat if your diet isn’t set up properly.
Which is exactly what I show you how to do inside Gutless.
If you want to shift the fat without living like a monk, swearing off your favorite foods or following a set of complicated diet rules that you can’t stick to for more than a week, head on over here and I’ll show you how it’s done:
https://muscleevo.co.uk/gutless
Talk soon,
Christian
Christian Finn, M.Sc.
Founder of Muscle Evo