High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): Best Cardio to Burn Fat
When most people think of cardio, they think of long, boring jogs, or endless hours on the elliptical. I’ve got good news for you: there’s a method of cardio that takes much less time and is far superior to jogging to help you burn fat. It’s called High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and this article will give you the basics so you can take your body to a new fitness level.
The picture to the right shows an extreme example of the different training outcomes of a marathoner (“steady state” cardio) and sprinter (high intensity interval training cardio). While these people obviously have different body types and genetics, the photo is still revealing.
What is High Intensity Interval Training?
High Intensity Interval Training involves alternating between very intense bouts of exercise and low intensity exercise. For example, sprinting for 30 seconds, then walking for 60 seconds is high intensity interval training. HIIT can be used both anaerobically (in the gym with weights) and aerobically with cardio.
Why Is HIIT the Best Cardio to Burn Fat?
Exercise physiologists used to believe that “steady state” cardio was superior for fat loss because relatively more fat is used by the body as fuel at lower exercise intensities than at higher intensities. The “Fat Burning Zone” shown on most cardio equipment as only 60%-65% of max heart rate is really a myth and is NOT optimal for burning fat. Yes, you burn more fat relative to glycogen when going for a walk, but what we care about is total fat burn. At higher intensities, you are burning far more fat, even though the fat/glycogen ratio is lower. In addition, Interval training allows you to exercise at very high intensities for a much longer period of time than steady state, so you burn more fat.
As an added bonus, there’s also an “afterburn” effect known as EPOC (excess-post exercise oxygen consumption). You burn more calories for up to 24 hours after interval training, whereas going for a jog burns almost NO calories after.
Other HIIT Benefits
There are a number of great benefits to High Intensity Interval Training besides serious fat burn that include:
• Increased Aerobic Capacity – The amount of oxygen your body can use (oxygen uptake) is increased, so your overall aerobic capacity can increase faster than with just jogging
• Increased Lactate Threshold – Your ability to handle increased lactic acid buildup in your muscles substantially increases
• Improved Insulin Sensitivity – Your muscles more readily suck in glucose, instead of the glucose going to your fat stores
• Anabolic Effect – Some studies show that interval training combined with consuming slightly more calories than you burn creates an anabolic effect, which helps you put on muscle without putting on fat. The opposite occurs with steady state cardio, which for long durations is catabolic, thus stripping away all that hard earned muscle you have (just see the picture of the marathoner above)
Sample HIIT Workout
If you are a beginner, I would recommend only trying HIIT if you can do a session of cardio for 20-30 minutes at 70-85% of your max heart rate. You can still try interval training, but at a lower exercise intensity and beginners should always wear a heart rate monitor.
NOTE: Interval training should begin with a 3-5 minute warm up and end with a 3-5 minute cool down to prevent dizziness, or nausea.
Here’s a sample HIIT workout that’s simple, but effective:
60 Seconds Sprint/Fast Jog
120 Seconds Walk/Slow Jog
I do this HIIT workout all the time on a treadmill, elliptical, or outside. The duration of “work” is 60 seconds, and my “rest” is 120 seconds. The work/rest ratio in this case is 60/120, or 1 to 2. I shoot for 5-10 cycles, depending on the type of cardio I’m doing and if it’s right after strength training. The better shape you are in, the higher intensity you can handle and the higher the work/rest ratio. For example, well trained athletes can use a 2 to 1 work /rest ratio, so they are sprinting for 120 seconds and only resting for 60 seconds. That’s tough!
Any type of cardio can be used with interval training, but I would caution against running more than a few times per week, because the demands on your metabolic system and joints are significant. For beginners, I recommend the elliptical, which is lower impact. Swimming, jumping rope, cycling etc. can all work well as training modalities.
I rarely go for just a jog unless I just want to clear my head, or get a little sweat. Jogging is child’s play compared to HIIT, which is substantially more effective to help you burn fat in less time and take your body to a MUCH higher fitness level.
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eeek! what a visual….anarob stuff is killer- I must make myself do more of it
What about calories?
Also, in terms of fat, can you please provide a comparison (i.e For a 175lb male, 20 mins of HIIT is equivalent of X minutes on a treadmill or X minutes on a an ellyptical)?
Great points. Personally, I think that HIT is much more rewarding and beneficial. I hate long jobs! The faster I can get done and the faster my heart rate the better. Thanks for the workout, I am going to try it out.
I agree with most everything in this blog entry, especially about using HIIT to train as opposed to steady state cardio. However, I think your images used to present the idea are misleading. The gentleman you used for your marathoner is of different descent than the gentlemen used to illustrate a sprinter. Different groups have naturally occurring different body types and frame sizes. In addition, the man used to illustrate a marathoner is significantly older than the man used to illustrate the sprinter. Muscle mass (as well as the ability to put on muscle mass) decreases with age, and the roughly 20 years between these two men are certainly enough to make a difference.
Ultimately, even though there is not doubt intervals are better than steady state, you picked images which would show the most contrast between a marathoner and a sprinter, which isn’t necessarily accurate.
Hi Jenni,
I understand your point. I do believe, however, that most track athletes, regardless of their descent have muscular, lean, and balanced bodies. I think you make good points about the age differences etc., but this photo was really meant to just highlight the different training outcomes of two different modes of activity (HIIT vs. steady state). It’s obviously an extreme example and I did not intend to mislead at all, just show the extremes, which I think are accurate.
One more thing to mention is when I go for a jog, I love to incorporate a little interval training into it. I don’t mean to say steady state is awful. Anything that can get people to move around is great. HIIT happens to be more efficient at burning fat.
Thanks for your comment.
-Marc
Hey Julian,
I don’t have data to compare the calorie burn of HIIT vs. Cardio. I have come across it before, but it’s dependent on the type of HIIT vs. the speed of steady state cardio. Also, I want to emphasize HIIT is not just about burning calories. Too many people focus on calorie burn and not the quality of the exercise. Even if 15 minutes of HIIT burned less calories than 30 minutes of jogging, it can still be far superior to help you lose fat because of hormonal changes in your body.
-Marc
Thank you for this article, I should try this in the gym machines.
Hi Marc,
Thanks for the great post. I do have a question though that has been on my mind for a while and it will be nice if anyone can also contribute to the answer.
My question basically is, how many minutes do you have to sprint to equal to 30 minutes of jogging? There may be no definite answer but it would be appreciated if I get a rough figure at least. Basically, does 1 minute of sprint equal to 10 minutes of jogging when it comes to burning calories? etc…
Thanks
Hey Wassim, thanks for the kind words regarding the article. That’s a tough question to answer, but I’ll give it a try:
A short hand approach to calculating calorie burn is using MET’s (metabolic equivalents) as a measurement of exercise intensity and body weight with the following equation:
(MET’s x 3.5 x bodyweight in kg)/200 = kcal/min
So assuming you weigh 175 pounds (80kg) and you jog for 30 minutes, which is around 7 METs, you are burning about 300 calories. Now I would have to put HIIT at 12.5 MET including the rest periods because it’s just so intense. Also, I have to add on 10% because of the afterburn effect. You then get about 15 minutes of HIIT equal to 30 minutes of jogging. This is really a ball park estimate and these calculations are pretty darn complicated for reasons that would take me a while to discuss, but that’s a decent estimate.
I also want to emphasize in my opinion, HIIT is not about calorie burn, but about increasing your aerobic capacity substantially and improving your hormonal response. I just had a very hard leg strength training workout yesterday that I would have never been able to do if I didn’t do HIIT. I feel like with jogging, I don’t get that fire in my lungs that’s forcing my body to get in better shape much faster. You don’t have to do HIIT every day, just once a week can yield significant benefits.
Hey Marc,
Thanks for the answer. Yesterday was my first day of HIIT and it was tough. In total, I was only able to do 5 mins of jogging and 2.5 mins of 100% pure sprinting. When it comes to just jogging, I’m able to go for 40 mins and thats under very hot weather because at the moment I live in Kuwait. The temp here at night could reach upto 50 C on an average day during summer.
I guess that shows how tough and hard HIIT is and as we all know, no pain no gain.
Thanks again for making me aware of this sort of excercise.
That comparison is utter BS. As is HIIT. 30 second sprints do you absolutely no good. You need to stay up at or above lactate threshold for 2+ minutes to get the benefits of interval training. For proper interval training, here is a primer: http://home.hia.no/~stephens/interval.htm
Sprinters are mainly anaerobic and they have a lot more fast twitch muscle and their explosive speed depends on how much anaerobic power they can produce in a short amount of time. Bigger is better. Endurance events are aerobic in nature which requires high VO2Max numbers and superb oxygen delivery to the muscles. It relies on slow twitch muscles and the less weight the athlete has to carry the better off they are. Their speed is Oxygen limited not strength limited hence the leaner body build up. But to say that HIIT works for your benefit so you won’t end up looking like the guy on the left is just stupid.
I couldn’t post both links together, your spam filter rejected my comment. But here is an interesting article about body composition of different athletes: http://www.begin2dig.com/2009/09/athletic-bodies-which-one-is-your.html
I’d also add that elite endurance athletes do a lot more interval training than the average gym rat can ever imagine to do. Now, I’m not an elite endurance athlete my any means but I wouldn’t consider a 20 minute workout intensive. If I do intervals it’s at least 16 repeats of 200, 10 repeats of 400 or 6 repeats of 800 meter sprints at various speeds (the longer the interval the slower the speed). I also start with a good 2 mile warm-up and another 2 mile cooldown phase. So when it’s all said and done I probably ran 6-10 miles for the day. I don’t see your average gym rat running that long ever let alone running it at the intensities I run it at.
Hi Greg, I thought (my mistake) it was obvious the picture was just an extreme example of both training outcomes and genetics. Frankly, I feel like you are putting words in my mouth and twisting the meaning of this article, but I will reread it to make sure I am not misleading anyone.
I’m very familiar with different body types, fast twitch vs. slow twitch muscle fibers etc. that you refer to. The reality is that mesomorph types of builds can become “skinny” with certain diet/training regimens and ectomorphs can be musclular. By including the picture, I was to simply trying to show the extreme example of training outcomes, which I think is accurate.
In your comments, you seem to be creating this endurance vs. hiit, bad vs. good comparison, then comparing HIIT to gym rats. There’s nothing wrong with long jogs and endurance training. I know several elite endurance athletes, many of whom follow this blog and they didn’t have any issue with this article. In fact, they liked it. I believe from a time and fat loss perspective, HIIT is superior to steady state jogging. No doubt about it.
Regarding interval training, the research study you presented uses an ergometer as the training modality. So we’re comparing apples to oranges. For an elliptical, or ergometer, I agree the stimulus should be increased for a longer time period.
I’ve got an awesome article coming up with my buddy who has an exceptional build (one of the best I’ve ever seen) and was a former track athlete and football player at the University of Texas. What’s so amazing about him is that he’s had an office job for the last 5+ years and still looks incredible. He’s going to be sharing some of his HIIT cardio workouts that are 20-30 minutes. That’s all it takes.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Hi Marc,
Since Greg seems to be having a very similar issue to the one I had over two weeks ago, I’d like to reiterate (possibly more calmly) the issue with the two pictures you used.
You never really state in your blog that those pictures are extreme examples. Instead, you label each picture generically as “Marathoner” and “Sprinter”, which heavily implies (whether you intended it or not) that this is the norm, instead of the extreme example. Although the extreme example you provided is TECHNICALLY accurate, it appears to be a deliberate attempt to mislead your readers.
Comparing the average sprinter to the average marathoner (of similar age and ethnicity) would reveal a much more subtle difference. Quite simply, that is why science uses averages: The extreme case gives a misleading result and does not accurately reflect the reality for 99% of cases. Unless all of your readers are in this 99%, then the presentation you have given is not accurate.
Quite frankly, I feel it’s irresponsible for an otherwise knowledgeable fitness website to use this particular tactic. It is very misleading to your readers.
Once again, I am a huge fan of HIIT, but your presentation is deceiving.
Hi Jenni,
Thanks again for your comment. After reading it over a couple more times, I realize how people can come to a conclusion which I did not intend. I think my use of the term “body” may have thrown some people off.
I changed the intro from:
The picture to the right highlights the difference between the body of a marathoner (“steady state” cardio) and sprinter (high intensity interval training cardio). So guys, who do you want to look like? For ladies, high intensity interval training won’t make you very muscular, but does help you get leaner faster.
To:
The picture to the right shows an extreme example of the different training outcomes of a marathoner (“steady state” cardio) and sprinter (high intensity interval training cardio). While these people obviously have different body types and genetics, the photo is still revealing.
Marc,
I like your update! I commend you for taking the constructive criticism in stride, something I often find myself hard to do. I’ll be reading your blog from now on, this just shows true character!
I really like your update.
i’m excited about this one. learned something new for sure. now to implement!
ok so i did my first set of intervals today on treadmill. 8 cycles of 30 secs work, and 60 secs rest. i kept increasing the speed for work and rest for each cycle by .1. is 1 min work and 2mins rest the goal? or perhaps 2:1? is it ok that this only took me about 20mins? should i be doing cardio for more time on days that i dont lift?
I like to increase the incline to make it even harder on the intervals when running on a treadmill. I think a 1:1 work to rest ratio is about as high as you can shoot for when doing sprints and really running hard. So a 30 second rest and work, or 60 second rest and work. I go by feel, if I feel an intense burn in my lungs and my muscles are really feeling it, and I’m sweating profusely, I know I’m getting a great workout. Of course, these types of intervals are only for advanced trainees. Hope that helps.
Hi Marc,
I have been trying to lose my last bit of weight to hit my target goal of 175, currently at 187. Anyways, I have been jogging around 3.5-4 miles a day on the treadmill at 5 MPH (haven’t tried faster just to make sure I can keep the pace) and I was wondering how much HIIT you would recommend to compete with that? I know you said its not all about the calories burned etc., but I don’t want to go from burning 650 calories a session to something possibly significantly less as I want to lose weight pretty quickly at this point.
Thanks!
@ Tyler – I don’t know what your complete exercise program looks like and your nutrition, but if you are healthy enough, HIIT is an awesome workout. I have a bunch of HIIT workouts I will be adding soon. Anything from treadmill, to jump rope, to swimming. Seriously some of my best content ever. In the meantime, I would start out with maybe 5 cycles of 1 minute on, 2 minutes off (treadmill), then start decreasing the work/rest ratio (i.e. 1 minute running, 1 minute rest) and increasing the number of cycles (I wouldn’t go much above 10). FYI, I do at lest 10-11mph sprints when I do intervals, then walk, or straddle the treadmill for a minute. I would try to do HIIT 1-2x per week, then jog, or do other cross training cardio (ergomoter,swimming, jumping rope, etc.) the other days to keep it fresh and prevent your body from adapting. I would argue though that the cardio is important, but the eating and strength training will make the biggest difference in your body. Hope this is helpful!
That was extremely helpful, thanks Marc.
Hi Marc,
Don’t know if you remember me. I posted a question on here like a month or so ago. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been going to the gym 3 times a week and this is what I do; 5 mph for 1 min and 10.5 mph for 30 sec. I repeat each 10 times which makes it 15 minutes in total. That is excluding the 2 min warm up and 2 minute cool down. I lost 5kg in one month and I feel great.
Thanks alot for the great info. It seriously helped me alot and saved me from jogging for a long time. I feel stronger, lighter and fitter.
@Wassim – How could I forget you! I’ve never met someone before from Kuwait, in person, or online.
That’s great news that you have improved your body and lost 5kg in only one month with some help from interval training. Determination + a good game plan ensure you will achieve your goals. Nice work.
Age 60 and need to lose about 100 lbs. Got my wake-up call a few wks ago and have been hitting the gym hard (dumbbells, weights, nautilus) and making nice progress. Also have been walking. Had my first interval treadmill walk today, 20 minutes, 3 minute at brisk pace (HR about 128), faster pace and more elevation for 1 minute (HR about 135). Max heart rate calculated between 160 and 166. Plan at this point is to build gradually, and try to get a 20 minute session in a few times a day. Comments welcome. What are the 2 (hi & lo) training zone heart rates I should be looking at?
Great site, very helpful.
@ Bill M. – Congrats on taking control of your health. Training zones can be tricky because the better shape you achieve, the harder you have to work to get your heart rate higher. I think using your heart rate monitor to get a feel for your heart rate at various intensities, paying attention to how you feel, and slowly increasing the work/rest ratio and the intensity (speed, duration, frequency) will help you continue to improve your body. While I don’t know everything your’re doing, it sounds like you’re on the right track.
It sounds like you have a positive mindset to help push you through and reach your potential. Please stop by the Builtlean.com blog and keep everyone posted with your progress!
Best,
Marc