Incorporating cardio into your weekly routine is essential for overall health, from strengthening your heart to boosting your mood. The NHS recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity cardio each week. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has emerged as a popular and efficient method for achieving these benefits, particularly for weight loss. HIIT may offer the same health benefits as regular exercise in less time and help reduce body fat, heart rate, and blood pressure. It may even help improve blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity.
Understanding HIIT and Running
While both HIIT and running are popular forms of cardio, they differ significantly in their structure and intensity.
Running: Running is a high-impact aerobic exercise involving forward movement at speed, with a phase where both feet are off the ground. Running can be aerobic or anaerobic, depending on the intensity. Moderate, steady-state running uses oxygen to produce energy (aerobic), while high-intensity running workouts (such as sprints) use glycogen (anaerobic).
HIIT: HIIT is a workout characterized by its format, alternating short periods of high-intensity training (at least 80% of your maximum heart rate) with recovery or rest periods. HIIT workouts are shorter, typically under 30 minutes. This style of training is mainly anaerobic, but the aerobic system is also engaged. HIIT workouts can incorporate various exercises, including running, and can be done with weights.
The Benefits of HIIT
HIIT offers several advantages, particularly for those seeking weight loss:
Read also: Comprehensive HIIT Guide
Time Efficiency
HIIT workouts are high intensity and should be kept under 30 minutes, but it’s possible to have an effective HIIT workout in as little as 5 minutes. It's a great option for those who are time poor.
Calorie Burn and Metabolism Boost
HIIT workouts burn a lot of calories in a short space of time and continue to burn calories hours after the workout is finished. Due to the intensity of the workout, HIIT can boost your metabolism for hours after exercise. This results in burning additional calories even after you have finished exercising.
One of the ways HIIT helps you burn calories actually comes after you’re done exercising. Several studies have demonstrated HIIT’s ability to increase your metabolic rate for hours after exercise.
Fat Loss
Studies have shown that HIIT can help you lose fat. One review looked at 13 studies and 424 adults with overweight or obesity. It found that both HIIT and traditional moderate-intensity exercise can reduce body fat and waist circumference. A range of other studies also indicate that HIIT can reduce body fat despite the relatively short time commitment. However, like other forms of exercise, HIIT may be most effective for fat loss in people with overweight or obesity.
Interval training may make your body more efficient at burning fat, the researchers believe.
Read also: Comprehensive HIIT Guide
Muscle Mass
In addition to helping with fat loss, HIIT could help increase muscle mass in certain people, particularly those who are not very active. However, weight training continues to be the gold standard to increase muscle mass in active people. If you are not very active, you may gain some muscle with HIIT, but not as much as you might with weight training.
Improved Oxygen Consumption
High intensity interval training may improve oxygen consumption as much as traditional endurance training. Oxygen consumption is your muscles’ ability to use oxygen. Endurance training typically improves your oxygen consumption. Traditionally, this consists of long sessions of continuous running or cycling at a steady rate. However, it appears that HIIT can produce the same benefits in a shorter amount of time compared with moderate-inensity continous training.
Reduced Heart Rate and Blood Pressure
Research indicates that HIIT can reduce heart rate and blood pressure in people with overweight and obesity, who are more likely to have high blood pressure. Some researchers have found that HIIT may even reduce blood pressure more than moderate-intensity exercise in these populations.
Improved Blood Sugar Levels
HIIT programs may reduce blood sugar levels. High intensity interval training may be especially beneficial for those needing to reduce blood sugar and insulin resistance. For example, research has shown HIIT can reduce blood sugar and improve lipid metabolism in people with type 2 diabetes.
Performance Enhancement
While its health benefits are very important, HIIT also improves performance in both anaerobic and aerobic activities. Whether you’re an athlete or a weekend warrior or you just enjoy running around with your kids, including HIIT training in your routine can improve your performance.
Read also: Explore the effectiveness of HIIT for weight loss.
The Benefits of Running
Running, whether steady-state or incorporated into HIIT, offers its own set of advantages:
Suitable for All Fitness Levels
Running can easily be tailored to any fitness level, from jogging for beginners to training for an ultramarathon.
Increased Bone Density
Running can help to build and maintain good bone density levels in the lower body which can help prevent against injuries as you get older.
Minimal Equipment Needed
All you need to get started is a good pair of running shoes and the great outdoors.
Calorie Burn
Running can be a great way to burn calories, especially if running at high speeds or uphill.
Improved Endurance
Running is a great way to build up your cardiovascular endurance.
Easy to Measure Progress
Tracking your running progress is simple to do, and can be very motivating for people to keep up with it.
Potential Drawbacks
Both HIIT and running have potential drawbacks to consider:
HIIT
- Risk of Injury: HIIT workouts put a lot of stress on the muscles and joints, and form can be neglected when performing exercises at high speed or intensity.
- Stress on the Body: HIIT workouts trigger the release of the stress hormone cortisol. With insufficient rest, this can lead to excess cortisol and negative symptoms of stress. It's recommended to only do HIIT 2-3 times a week.
- Uncomfortable: Some people find the high intensity nature of HIIT training off-putting, making it difficult to stick to.
Running
- Risk of Injury: While running can be lower impact that HIIT, it still comes with risk of injury. However, these are more likely to happen if you have poor form or if you increase your mileage too quickly and can be avoided by taking necessary precautions.
- Weather Dependent: While you can technically run in most weathers, running in bad weather can be off putting and hard to stick to.
- Repetitive: Some people find the repetitive nature of running boring.
HIIT vs. Running for Fat Loss
Minute for minute, HIIT workouts are better for burning calories than running at a moderate pace, so you can burn the same number of calories in a short HIIT workout as a longer running workout. You can also burn more calories in the 24-48 hours after HIIT than running, increasing the total calories burned. Consistency is key when it comes to weight loss, so we'd recommend choosing workouts you are more likely to stick to and creating a calorie deficit through your diet rather than choosing an exercise based solely on its weight loss potential.
HIIT vs. Running for Heart Health
HIIT may have a better impact on V02 max than steady state cardio like running, which means the lungs and heart can deliver oxygen more effectively. However, one long term study found no difference in mortality between HIIT and moderate cardio, and also found people were less likely to keep up with HIIT. So, while HIIT can be great for quickly improving heart health, in the long run, running is likely just as effective.
HIIT vs. Running for Strength
When doing solely cardio exercises, HIIT workouts do not build strength, but if choosing resistance training exercises, HIIT workouts can help to build strength. Running can strengthen the lower body but is not considered a form of strength training. We'd recommend sticking to strength training such as weightlifting if strength is a goal, with HIIT or running as a cardio exercise.
Designing Your HIIT Running Routine
There are many ways to add high intensity intervals to your exercise routine, so it’s easy to get started. To begin, you just need to choose your activity. For example:
- Running
- Biking
- Jumping rope
When you get comfortable with HIIT, you can experiment with different durations of exercise and recovery.
Tips for Creating Your Own HIIT Routine
The following tips can help you create your own personalized HIIT routine:
- Pick an exercise you’re familiar with at lower intensity. For example, don’t go all-out on running if you have not done any jogging lately.
- If you deal with joint pain, begin with lower impact movement such as cycling or swimming.
- Take long enough rest periods. You can maintain sufficient intensity for HIIT only if you take rest periods equal to or longer than your work periods.
- Keep work periods under 30 seconds. Work periods longer than 30 seconds will be difficult to sustain at the intensity required for HIIT.
- Start with just a few cycles twice per week. HIIT training is very demanding, especially with higher impact exercising. Adequate recovery between training sessions is a must to avoid injuries.
Examples of HIIT Workouts
Here are a few simple examples of HIIT workouts:
- Stationary Bike: Pedal as hard and fast as possible for 30 seconds. Then, pedal at a slow, easy pace for 2 to 4 minutes. Repeat this pattern for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Sprints: After jogging to warm up, sprint as fast as you can for 15 seconds. Then, walk or jog at a slow pace for 1 to 2 minutes. Repeat this pattern for 10 to 20 minutes.
- Squat Jumps: Perform squat jumps as quickly as possible for 30 to 90 seconds. Then, stand or walk for 30 to 90 seconds. Repeat this pattern for 10 to 20 minutes.
While these exercises can help get you started, you can modify your routine based on your preferences. There are many ways to implement HIIT into your exercise routine. Experiment to find which routine is best for you.
Combining HIIT and Running
Combining running with the format of HIIT is one of the most effective ways to boost your fitness and burn calories. Sprint intervals and hill intervals are a great way to practice running in a HIIT workout and have the added benefit of improving your running speed. You can also perform HIIT workouts 1-2 times a week, and steady state running 1-2 times a week, to get the benefits of both.
HIIT for the Beginner Runner
If you're sold on the idea of high-intensity interval training, here is how beginner runners should go about getting started:
- STEP 1. Learn to Run: Follow a learn-to-run program for four to six weeks that will gradually build up your ability to run continuously.
- STEP 2. Develop Good Running Technique: A good learn-to-run program will also teach you to run with good, efficient running form while you're building up your endurance.
- STEP 3. Short Intervals of Moderate Intensity: Once you can run continuously for 30 minutes straight, you can start doing short and moderate-effort running intervals of 30-60 seconds.
- STEP 4. Build Up Intervals Very Gradually: Over 2-3 months, you can build up from 30-60 second intervals to 1-4 minute intervals. However, when in doubt, go slower and easier than you think you're capable of.
Designing Effective Running Workouts for Losing Weight
Designing an effective workout for weight loss is about finding the right balance between the intensity of the intervals, the overall duration of the running session, and the intensity of the intervals.
Types of Interval Running Workouts
- Sprint Interval Training (Super High-Intensity Training SHIIT): This involves very short and intense bursts of sprinting followed by extremely long periods of rest or low-intensity exercise. Hill sprints would be a good example of SHIIT training.
- High-Intensity Interval Workouts (HIIT Training): This involves alternating between high-intensity exercises and brief periods of rest. This method is not only effective for weight loss but also improves Vo2 max.
How Often Should You Do Interval Workouts?
Interval running workouts are extremely intense and very hard on the body; that's why we recommend doing just one interval run each week.
Heart Rate Zones for Weight Loss
For optimal weight loss, targeting heart rate zones 4 and 5 during interval runs is key. These zones, representing 80-90% and 90-100% of your maximum heart rate, are where you'll experience the most significant calorie burn.
Workout Duration
Interval running sessions for weight loss are most effective when they last between 30 to 75 minutes. This duration ensures a significant calorie burn while keeping the workout manageable and preventing burnout.
The Importance of Diet
HIIT can assist you in dropping the weight, as long as it’s combined with a low-calorie diet or nutrition plan. What you do in the gym has to balance with what you do in the kitchen. If you're not operating on a caloric deficit - burning more calories in your HIIT workouts than you're consuming - you may not lose weight. Healthy eating is an important part of weight loss, too, and that pairing a good diet with interval training is the best way ensure weight loss success.