HIIT Vs LISS
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What is HIIT and LISS?
HIIT = High Intensity Interval Training, which consists of short sprint intervals coupled with low-moderate intensity work. An example of this would be a 30 second sprint followed by a 4 minute steady pace walk to cool down and bring your heart rate back to normal and then repeating it.
LISS = Low intensity steady state cardio, which consists of purely low-moderate intensity work. An example of this would be jogging on the treadmill or riding the bike.
Research
A study conducted by Wilson et al. From the University of Tampa, FL, shows when you add in LISS you get a temporary boost in weight loss. Subjects lost a couple of pounds the first week and after that they lost nothing. This happened because their metabolism completely adjusted to that and that became their new steady state. LISS with a low calorie diet is bad for fat loss and can cause muscle loss. During a low calorie diet, LISS cardio is more catabolic (muscle breakdown) towards muscle compared HIIT.
The reason being that your metabolism adjusts to LISS and you constantly have to do more LISS to achieve the same effects as before.
If you are on a low calorie diet, it usually means a low carb one, so once you are glycogen depleted (glycogen is provided by carbs and is broken down during exercise), your body is going to look for energy to use in the form of protein, then you start to see muscle breakdown.
Further Studies
In the same study by Wilson et al. it showed that LISS caused more muscle loss than HIIT.
When you’re doing LISS you’re not activating muscles the same way as if you were lifting weights where as HIIT is another way to overload the muscle.
Some Reasons To Do HIIT:
• Increased work capacity
• Loss of body fat
• Increased hamstring and glute development
• Increased maximal strength on all lower body exercises
Some Reasons To Do LISS:
• You can’t do HIIT 5-6 days a week because eventually it will have a negative impact on your weight training and interfere with growth
• Many people have legitimate health reasons to avoid HIIT
• HIIT could be dangerous if not used right and could lead to injury
• Combing both HIIT and LISS would be best
Conclusion
HIIT is quicker, proves to be more effective for fat loss, creates metabolic changes, and helps with muscle retention but not everybody can do HIIT.
LISS is safer, but takes twice as long to accomplish similar things and it still has its place for fat loss in moderate amounts (for a few ways to change up your cardio routines see here).
