A question I get asked a lot is what type of cardio is more effective for burning fat and maintaining muscle mass. Coming from a track and field background, I know that a sprinter’s body is different from a long-distance runner’s physique; each is built by the training regimen these athletes adopt.
Sprinters are more muscular and explosive—for example sprint superstar Usain Bolt—while long-distance athletes are wirier and lack the musculature—like long-distance ace Mo Farah. Despite their differences, at the world class level both long distance athletes and sprinters are equally conditioned and have low levels of body fat.
But their approach to training varies by the use of fast (Bolt) and slow (Farah) twitched muscles.
So when it comes to cardio, the choice is yours based on what body type you are trying to achieve.
There are two awesome methods of continuing your fat burning and muscle building. Both are effective, although one is a little bit better in terms of results and the time it takes to get them. The methods are called HIIT and LISS.
What is Hiit and what is Liss?
It is hard to keep up with all the health and fitness information flying at you every single day. This is especially true with acronyms, so you may not have heard of HIIT and LISS yet.
HIIT stands for high intensity interval training. This is where you go all out for a short burst of time, followed by a medium-paced exercise or short rest, followed by another all-out burst.
LISS stands for low intensity steady state. Both of these finishing methods are cardio routines, and both are beneficial. As mentioned earlier, one of these is a little bit better than the other for a couple of reasons.
Which is better?
Firstly, both HIIT and LISS have a place in your programme. But for the most part, it could be said that HIIT is much more efficient at helping you reach your goals of weight loss and muscle building. You would have heard the expression ‘feeling the burn’. This is when your muscles are hurting and they feel like they are on fire. Here is where you need to go the extra mile and make that big push to do more.
This is where HIIT can greatly benefit you. It can help make a change in your metabolism to where your body starts burning fat after exercise to gain energy, known as after burn. HIIT also has a great perk for muscle building: it helps to maintain muscle mass. However, HIIT is not without risk. In fact, if you overdo using HIIT, you can set yourself up for some serious injuries.
On the other hand, LISS takes twice as long to complete and it doesn’t have the muscle sparing effects! Furthermore, some people just cannot do HIIT for a variety of personal or health reasons, so LISS may be the only viable method.
What’s the answer?
If you’ve been doing HIIT, try some LISS for a couple of weeks. If you’ve been doing LISS, try some HIIT for a couple of weeks. The ideal setup is to use both HIIT and LISS in your training, provided you are able to do both. If you alternate the methods or make up some other routine involving both HIIT and LISS, you should find yourself moving beyond that plateau and onto greater muscle growth and fat loss
