You might have heard of these terms, but do you know what exactly HIIT cardio and LISS cardio are? what are their health benefit and when to use HIIT and LISS?
HIIT Cardio:
HIIT stands for “High Intensity Interval Training”. It’s a type of cardio involving applying maximum effort for short bursts of time, followed by rest - and then repeating until you’ve reached your goal number of sets.
“Maximum effort” means that you should be working at least at 80% to 90% of your perceived maximum capacity (this can be quantified by measuring your rate, but going by perceived effort is fine too). You should be struggling big time to complete those sets, so push yourself! Then, you will typically rest for double the time between sets - and repeat a few times.
Regarding to rest between HIIT sets, ensure that your breathing is getting back to a nice even pace before proceeding to the next round (you should be able to ‘talk’). This means that when completing your next burst of exercise, you are able to give your maximum effort.
Depending on your training program, you may encounter a combination of body weight HIIT, weighted HIIT, cardio and plyometric movements. HIIT training elevates your heart rate quickly and keeps it up, allowing you to complete a very effective session in a short amount of time.
What about LISS?
LISS cardio.
LISS stands for “ Low Intensity Steady State” - meaning you will be working at a consistent pace, usually at 50-60% of your maximum perceived effort, tops. Your session will typically last for 30-60 minutes, as the point is to sustain this consistent effort for a relatively long period of time.
So you might ask: "what training I should do?"
The answer is depend, but best to having both. Both types of training provide the same health benefits including improved blood flow, reduced stress, lower risk of heart disease, and improved brain function.
However, HIIT cardio as mentioned above, help to burn a lot of calories in short amount of time, it helps to boost your metabolism rate hours after, and promote fast lost while improve cardiovascular health. Therefore, it is more effective for weight lost and take shorter time.
HIIT cardio might be a bit more challenging for beginner or people who have not exercises for a long time as its fast pace, and requirement of effort to push to the maximum capacity while LISS is gentle on the body, it is a great tool to increase energy expenditure throughout the day or to stay active on your rest days. It’s also a great option to get back to exercise. Whether you’re recovering from an injury or haven’t worked out in a while.
Howe do you know you do LISS with the right amount of intensity? Bring your training partner and a brisk walk and see if you can sustain a casual conversation throughout. Getting out of breath? Then you might want to slow down a bit and enjoy the chat!
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