High Intensity Cardio Workouts vs Lower Intensity Cardio Workouts
When it comes to “what kind of cardio is best for fat loss,” remember that both play a significant role, and both will help you in your fat loss journey.
The “old fashioned” way of burning fat during your cardio was to dial it down, say 45-50% of your maximal level, for at least 60 minutes. Thus, a 150-pound female with an average fitness level might walk at around 3 mph at 5% grade and would burn about 5 – 6 calories per minute for a total of 300 – 360 calories for the 60-minute workout. It is reasonable to assume she would burn around 60% of her calories from fat, meaning 180 – 216 of the calories she burned were burned as fat.
In the other scenario if the same woman jogged for one minute at 80% of her maximum and then walked for one minute at 40% of her maximum and did this for the same amount of time, she would conceivably “average” a higher intensity. For starters this would certainly burn more calories on the front end (because she is exercising harder). Now during the first workout she would likely burn a higher percentage of calories from fat, but this higher percentage is largely made up by the fact that she is working harder and burning more calories overall.
The big selling points for higher intensity work are three-fold:
1. Efficiency
The #1 complaint or barrier for non-exercisers is a lack of time, so getting in simple and effective interval workouts help to overcome this as a problem. Next, working harder and doing so over longer and longer periods of time will work wonders to improve your overall fitness.
2. Fitness and Performance Improvements
With a higher athletic fitness level, hard workouts become easier and you are more apt to exercise for a longer period of time; both of which translate into greater fitness and athletic performance and more calorie burning.
3. Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC)
EPOC stands for excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, informally called afterburn which is a measurably increased rate of oxygen intake following strenuous activity. In essence, achieving a greater EPOC results in more calorie burning during recovery from your workouts, as it promotes more fat burning across the day.
At the end of the day, the best cardio is what you will do and what type of cardio is most enjoyable to you. If you like walking slower at an incline while watching TV then go for it, crank up the speed a couple of ticks and increase the incline 1 – 2 %. If you want to do intervals because it’s efficient and challenging, then dominate it. Whatever you decide to do, put all of your energy and effort into it and you’ll always get the best return.
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