HIIT Or Steady State? Which Cardio Training Is Better

When it comes to picking the best form of cardio, there tend to be some mixed opinions out there..

Should we do HIIT or should we do steady state? You may be wondering what is either one of these and what do they mean

HIIT just stands for High Intensity Interval Training, doing short bouts of high intensity work such as sprinting or kettlebell swings, then taking a break for half the amount of time or less. A HIIT workout will be a circuit of 4-5 different exercises or you can do it with just one, you are just looking for that time break down of more work than rest, and getting the heart rate up during those work periods.

Steady state is less intense, meaning a longer duration needed. The heart rate is increasing but you are not getting it up quite as high as during a HIIT workout. Steady state cardio can also be done in various forms like jogging, biking, rowing, etc. You can burn the same amount of calories if you do a longer bout, because you are not getting the heart rate up as high.

So the benefit of one over the other? To be honest, they are both different and they should both be trained. If you are training for something specific or play a certain sport/ activity that requires HIIT like movements, training HIIT more would be beneficial but does not mean you should avoid doing steady state, and same goes for vice versa.

Doing HIIT is an anaerobic type of exercise, meaning it does not require oxygen. This form of exercise is anaerobic because it does not involve an increase in the absorption and transportation of oxygen. The anaerobic energy system (also called the lactic acid system) is the body's way of creating energy in the form of ATP quickly, our muscles energy source. Primarily using glucose as fuel, this energy system powers the muscles anywhere from ten to thirty seconds for intense efforts. The body breaks down glucose stores in the absence of oxygen, leading to a buildup of lactic acid in the muscles. What we like to call "the burn".

Aerobic exercises are endurance-type exercises in which a person’s muscles move in a coordinated manner for a sustained period of time. People refer to these forms of exercises mentioned before as aerobic because they require oxygen to generate energy. Aerobic exercises increase a person’s heart rate and breathing rate to supply more oxygen to the body’s muscles. Aerobic exercise produces energy using a continuous supply of oxygen to sustain the current level of activity without needing additional energy from another source. This starts to happen after about 2 minutes of continuous exercise.

So now that we understand the difference between the two, we can see why its beneficial to train both. In the end we can burn more calories in 30 minutes of HIIT than 30 minutes of steady state, so if you are looking for time efficient workouts HIIT tends to be the way to go if you are looking for fat loss. However if you are looking to build muscle or just maintain your current cardio level, steady state can be better more often. Doing high intensity workouts can make us tap into our protein stores for energy, so we must make sure we are having adequate amounts if we are doing these types of workouts often.

Sometimes of course, it just depends on the mood! All that really matters is you are doing some cardio, elevating the heart rate and staying active :)