Should You Do HIIT If You Want To Build Muscle Or Lose Fat?

By Russ Howe


There is so much conflicting advice in the gym that most people find it almost impossible to learn how to build muscle effectively. One of the biggest areas of concern surrounds HIIT.

Today we're going to be looking at this form of cardiovascular exercise and answering the all important question. Is it good for hypertrophy?

When it comes to cardio exercise, the fact is most guys don't do enough of it. They're happy to throw around the weights three times per week but if you offer them the opportunity to jump onto a treadmill or exercise bike they'll not be anywhere near as keen.

Naturally, this behavior stems from a largely untrue stereotype that cardio is for women and weights are for men. This age old belief is something which has held countless gym members back for years and it's built upon lies.

In fact, everybody needs to do some form of cardio if they want to get fitter and stronger. No matter whether your are a man or a woman, if you wish to get leaner you should be performing some form of cardiovascular exercise alongside your resistance routine. One of the best methods is high intensity interval training.

There are several key differences between high intensity cardio sessions and steady state workouts. If you've ever used an exercise bike for an hour at a steady pace you've probably felt a little bit bored at certain stages. That's one of the main drawbacks to this style of training and something which high intensity sessions will eliminate.

By constantly changing the resistance and intensity level of your gym session you will be able to challenge your body in ways it has never been pushed before. In fact, many of the benefits to this type of training have more in common with weights than they do with cardiovascular exercise.

First of all, which energy system does your body use when you are training with weights? Your anaerobic energy system. During any high intensity interval workout you'll be tapping into the exact same energy resource.

Secondly, one of the best things about resistance training is that the calories continue to be burnt by your body for up to sixteen hours after your session ends. This phenomenon is known as Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption and the exact same phenomenon occurs after a high intensity cardio workout. While you stop burning off calories the moment your regular cardiovascular workout finishes, interval training helps you to carry on even after you have left the gym.

Despite growing in popularity over the last few years, HIIT remains a largely unused form of cardiovascular exercise. Most gym users believe that they need to punish themselves with long, dull sessions on bikes and treadmills to lose fat and it is simply not true. If you are learning how to build muscle more effectively, this form of training will work very nicely alongside your resistance training.




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1 comment:

  1. Very helpful info Russ. I could not agree more with you. Gyms really need to include more of HIIT routines now that they are getting so popular. It works great with people who want to burn more fats in s shorter time span and increase their cardiovascular fitness as well. I normally use "7-minute-fitness-workout" app(https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/7-minute-fitness-workout/id661022809) while doing my HIIT routine. The time duration perfect and very easy to work with.

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