When you are wanting to lose a bit of body fat do you tend to introduce/increase your cardiovascular exercise? Do you cut back on the resistance based exercises and solely focus on cardio based exercises such as running, cycling etc? What do you need to do to burn those pounds away and how does it impact you when choosing between low intensity and high intensity exercise? In this post I will suggest reasons for why you will choose LISS training and why in other situations you should choose HIIT.
Cardiovascular VS Resistance
It shouldn't come as a shock when I tell you, you will burn more calories when lifting weights than running on a treadmill for hours. One single weight lifting session can burn twice the amount of calories than running, however certain types of cardiovascular exercise in my opinion is good to perform especially when wanting to lose body fat. So what is the difference between liss and hiit and what do they actually mean?
LISS vs HIIT
Getting straight to it, these two forms of cardio sit at both ends of the spectrum in the sense that one is low and the other is high intensity. So your output is different with both forms of cardio depending on what you want to achieve. LISS simply means low intensity steady state cardio, whereas HIIT means high intensity interval training.
Why LISS?
Well, here are some benefits of why you would do LISS training...
- Low intensity means less impact
- Can perform this fasted to help increase fat loss
- Enjoy it more and can do it with family
- Less likely to burn muscle
LISS is basically your walks outside or very low speed cycling. If you were at the gym and on a treadmill you would be walking again, occasionally uphill. This is typically used when you are wanting to have an active rest day or do a little bit of exercise because you can't do too much. This is a perfect way to meet government standards with how much exercise should be done per week as there isn't a tremendous stress on your body.
Why HIIT?
The benefits of HIIT are as follows....
- Increase fitness/stamina
- Increase Fat burn
- Increase Core Strength
HIIT is basically high intensity training working you close to your maximum over a short distance. For instance sprints on the road, cycling or rowing are but a few ways of performing hiit style workouts. These workouts are generally performed by those who have been training for a while and would class themselves as experiences athletes.
Summary
Both forms of cardio are great to perform and it ultimately depends on what type of goal you are looking to achieve. I will always recommend weight training over cardio for burning fat, however to mix things up you might want to explore these options too. They will help keep your training fresh, keep you fit and most of all add another dynamic to your health and fitness.
