LSS or HIIT??!!

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KyaLeanGreen
KyaLeanGreen Posts: 17 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I know everyone is different, but which one do you prefer to cut body fat the fastest? Just curious to hear 😘

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  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    HIIT isn't appropriate for many people, especially if they're new to fitness.

    The one that will cut fat the fastest (and I hope you're choosing a definition of "fast" that is safe and reasonable) is the one that you can most consistently do. That means you'll be considering what you enjoy, what fits your schedule, and what reduces your risk of injury.
  • KyaLeanGreen
    KyaLeanGreen Posts: 17 Member
    edited March 2020
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    excersise for my health as well and kids. I’ve found that fasting 16:8 works well for me and my schedule as well as my trainers schedule. You just dropped a lot of great info!!
    sijomial wrote: »
    Neither.
    if you really want to use exercise to create a calorie deficit (which is what cuts the fat, not the exercise modality) then medium intensity long duration is superior to either LISS or HIIT as a way of getting large calorie burns although once you are past a couple of hours typically people need to at least partially fuel their exercise or they have to stop. My largest calorie burn in a day was c. 4,500 from 9hrs of cycling at mostly medium intensity but with some killer hills. But I had to eat a lot of food that day!

    HIIT duration is far too short to burn a lot of calories and also creates a load of fatigue meaning you can't repeat it frequently and may impact your daily activity negatively too. Go mad for 20 minutes and then spend the rest of the day exhausted on the sofa for example. It's completely unsuitable for people not conditioned to extreme exercise.
    (I'm meaning real HIIT - cardio with very short intervals at or near to maximal intensity, not YouTube fitness industry "let's call any old workout with intervals HIIT because it's the fashion"....)

    LISS takes an age to burn a lot of calories, upsides are that it creates little fatigue and can be done frequently and can be done for long durations and is suitable for people still building their fitness base.

    Personally I exercise for health, fitness, enjoyment and a personal challenge and not calorie burns - my training schedule is a mixture of many different types of intensity as it's alligned to my performance goals. If I want to lose some fat then I'll eat a bit less.

  • KyaLeanGreen
    KyaLeanGreen Posts: 17 Member
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    Well said!
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    HIIT isn't appropriate for many people, especially if they're new to fitness.

    The one that will cut fat the fastest (and I hope you're choosing a definition of "fast" that is safe and reasonable) is the one that you can most consistently do. That means you'll be considering what you enjoy, what fits your schedule, and what reduces your risk of injury.

  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    edited March 2020
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    Build your base of cardio first. If you want to call it LISS, fine. It should be slow as you build your base. No more than 10% increases per week. Once you have a few months under your belt and feel comfortable (not fatigued) by building up the base you want, then consider adding in HIIT.

    I currently do indoor rowing for around 50 miles per week. I keep it extremely polarized -- less than 20% HIIT, mostly the rest LISS. It took me a couple of years to be able to do that much rowing and my volume is pitiful compared to many I know. True LISS, from what I've read, is keeping the HR under 60% of max. Most of my base workouts are a bit higher than that, so not true LISS by some definitions. I do try to keep my 90 minute workout on Sunday under 65%, more of a true LISS workout. Should feel pretty easy.

    The best description of HIIT I've heard is (from some rowing friends, related to intervals), "you think you're going to die, then you want to...". True HIIT feels like that. It's horrid but you get used to it. Not for beginners.

    Just do cardio you enjoy and gradually add in more. Any movement is fantastic. HIIT is more reserved for those that want to compete in an endurance sport. While it's great for you, not necessary when beginning at all. Keep that as perhaps a long-term goal.
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,095 Member
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    Proper hiit is horrid imo and I avoid it like the plague. I like moderate intensity cardio like spin ( I cheat on the resistance) step aerobics and circuits. Its pretty time efficient and I can stick to it year in year out
  • Djproulx
    Djproulx Posts: 3,084 Member
    edited April 2020
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    OP, you've received some great information in response to your question.

    I'll add my two cents as an example. I practice both steady state cardio work (a lot of it) as well as doing a HIIT style workout (often once per week) as a way to build my endurance. My goal for the HIIT sessions, whether on the bike or running, is not to burn more calories, but to increase my capacity to absorb and use oxygen, also known as my VO2 max.

    For me, one factor to consider with true HIIT work is that it is both very uncomfortable while doing it ( want to die!) and it creates significant fatigue that often lasts all day. In fact, I track daily fatigue in a software tool and can see the spikes in fatigue brought on by interval workouts. So while I recognize that for people with a solid fitness base there are some benefits to HIIT, including the short workout duration of the sessions, I don't see HIIT as a "more effective" tool to cut fat.

    As others have said, I would suggest building fitness and then adding in some HIIT work as a complement if you want to build endurance.

  • KyaLeanGreen
    KyaLeanGreen Posts: 17 Member
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    I don’t do LISS or HIIT, I was just curious as to what works for others. I have a trainer and am a Body Fit instructor. I love to hear what other people do and what works for them. ☺️
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    I prefer a small amount of low to moderate cardio in a cut. For me fast doesn't work well, I prefer slow, steady and efficient.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    edited April 2020
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    MikePfirrman wrote: »
    KyaLeanGreen wrote: »
    I don’t do LISS or HIIT, I was just curious as to what works for others. I have a trainer and am a Body Fit instructor. I love to hear what other people do and what works for them. ☺️

    From a purely health perspective and one from a guy "rounding home", so to speak (I'm 55), HITT and LISS have both been proven in studies to preserve the length of telomeres, or end caps more or less, that protect your DNA and prevent you from aging as fast. Interestingly, strength training does not do that. It's fantastic for functional fitness and to prevent injury and age well, but in terms of pure antiaging at a molecular level, only cardio keeps you young.

    Personally, I do both, but as I age, I'd like to keep my telomeres as long as possible!

    https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-11-resistance-anti-aging-effects.html

    Don't want to agitate any strictly lifters, but if they want to age better, it's better to do both lifting and cardio. And if you want to be able to do HIIT well, you need lots of cardio to do it safely.

    Mike, I think what you are saying only makes good sense. I do plenty of LISS (pre- coronavirus walking the mile and half to the gym to lift, then lifting, then walking back. It's not an either or in my mind. Both are essential for maximizing health.

    Right now, I'm doing some running(MISS) some stairwork (HITT) and body weight and resistance band work to keep my muscle mass at least in decent shape in the interim. I live on the side of a fairly large hill in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico and we are at about 5000 ft above sea level.

    The stairs I do are about 1/3 of a mile from a street up to a concert pavilion. I start with a taking 2 steps at a time but by about 2/3 of the way up the first time, I can't anymore and am doing all I can to just make it the rest of the way. Jog back down and do it again, total of 3 times. It may not classic HIIT in structure but it is pretty damn intense! Especially for a guy whole is a little further around home that you as I'm about to turn 69 in May.

    But to address the OP, these workouts are not designed to cut body fat as that is primarily done through diet. The best calorie burner in the bunch is the MISS, a good 2 to 3 mile run. The stairs have done wonders for my legs and my wind but are not a huge calorie burner.

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