HIIT vs. LISS: Which Cardio Workout is Right for You?

Cardiovascular or aerobic exercise is an integral part of a balanced workout routine. The numerous heart health benefits include better blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight management. It also lowers the risk for conditions like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. It’s one of the best things you can do to care for your heart. But how do you choose what kind of cardio is best for you? Let’s break down popular forms like high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and low-intensity steady state (LISS). We’ll discuss benefits and differences to help you formulate a personalized plan. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) High-intensity interval training, or HIIT, is a training form with bouts of near-maximal effort followed by a recovery period and is then repeated for several cycles. According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)1, the benefits of HIIT include improved aerobic and [...]

Shake Up Your Exercise with a HIIT Workout

    High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a type of workout that alternates brief periods of vigorous exercise with periods of moderate activity, or rest (recovery). For example, a person could run for 30 seconds and then walk for three minutes. The periods of vigorous exercise and periods of rest/recovery can vary, as can the intensity levels of both. This allows HIIT workouts to be very adaptable to each individual and their fitness levels. The popularity of HIIT has remained on the rise thanks to continued research supporting it as an efficient and effective way to get and stay fit. HIIT is an excellent way for you to improve your fitness level and health, but it does require pushing your body to a higher intensity, so take your level of fitness into account before starting. Consulting a doctor before beginning [...]

Outdoor Lower Body HIIT

Outdoor Lower Body HIIT Read Time: 2 min 42 sec Gyms throughout the country are reopening with increased sanitation and safety precautions. Despite these preventative measures, you might still be hesitant about returning too soon. Thankfully, the warm weather provides us with endless outdoor workout possibilities. The Benefits of Outdoor Workouts Routine physical activity can help improve emotional well-being, including symptoms of anxiety and depression. New research suggests this effect may even be amplified with outdoor exercise. A preliminary study published in 2016 found that individuals with mild to moderate depression reported greater improvements in mood when they exercised outdoors compared to indoors. One theory as to why the outdoors positively impacts mental health is increased vitamin D synthesis from sun exposure (specifically, UVB rays). Low vitamin D levels are common in the United States and strongly associated with depression [...]

Make Your Workout HIIT

Make Your Workout HIIT For those of us looking to do more to prevent disease, manage weight, and increase fitness, a type of training called high-intensity interval training (abbreviated HIIT) can help! Competitive athletes use HIIT to improve performance, but it has serious potential for anyone. What is a HIIT workout? A HIIT workout is one that involves intervals of all-out, vigorous-intensity exercise dispersed with bouts of low-to-moderate intensity exercise. In other words, after warming up, you exercise very hard for some time, then exercise easily to recover, then repeat. HIIT workouts most commonly use sprinting or uphill cycling, but stair climbing, swimming, bodyweight training, and weightlifting are all incredibly HIIT friendly! For example, many gyms now offer HIIT group classes that make use of bodyweight movements (i.e., burpees) and free weights (i.e., kettlebells). Since the goal is to [...]

HIIT Workout

One of the most commonly cited reasons for not keeping physically active is just not having time. If this doesn’t apply to you, congrats! You’ve beaten one massive hurdle to regular physical activity. If it does, scientists have thoroughly investigated a style of exercise called high-intensity interval training, or H.I.I.T. (pronounced “hit”), which involves short intervals of all-out, maximum effort exercise flanked by longer bouts of lower intensity exercise. For example, a H.I.I.T workout could be repeated intervals of cycling as fast and as powerfully as possible for 20 seconds, then cycling at a slow, relaxed pace for 60 seconds until you’ve cycled for a total of 15-20 minutes. These workouts come in many forms (find free full H.I.I.T. workouts here) and can last minutes to hours, but if you truly give your all during the high-intensity portions, you likely [...]