In the fitness world, there are 2 types of cardio training: Steady state and HIIT/Met-cons. You will naturally gravitate towards one or the other because you prefer it. There is a lot of hype around doing quick intervals along with quick lifting and short met-cons that increase your training capacity. However, ruling out longer duration cardio sessions can also decrease your overall fitness gains. I am going to identify why you should try to incorporate both HIIT and steady state into your training program so you are condition as an all around athlete.
HIIT / Met-Cons
First off what are they ? They will encompase but are not limited to exercises such as sprinting, lifting weights and using just bodyweight to perform various styles of HIIT. The froms can inclucde AMRAPs, EMOMs and Tabata training. You can even do circuit training. They help to push you mentally and physically.
There is scientific research that concluded the following:
-1- Build muscle
-2- Improves your overall physique for an athletic build
IF you are only training HIIT/ Met-cons, you are only tasking into 50% of your training capacity. That is 50% you are NOT using. Interval training increases your heart rate and then brings it back to a moderate level before increasing it again. HIIT jumps your heart rate and your anaerobic system but what will happen when we work our aerobic cardiovascular system too?
There are multiple reasons that you should incorporate some version of stead- state cardio training into your programming.
1-At the bare minimum you should try steady state because it will increase your work capacity. Your heart will be stronger, thus you can recover faster and move more efficiently.
2-It battles DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) by producing cellular adaptations that raises how fast your body can remove lactate. This, in turn, helps your body not accumulate excessive lactate until higher intensities.
3-Even though HIIT gets a lot of love for fat burning, only steady-state cardio has been shown to actually oxidize the most fat cells in your body at 65% of your V02 Max.
4-If you incorporate some sort of steady moderate exercise as an active recovery between your lifting sessions or intense HIIT/METCONS it will help your muscles and body recover faster than doing nothing and taking a “rest day”
5-We already know the huge benefits that lifting gives for boosting our muscle building hormone testosterone. And surprise, surprise, steady-state cardio has also been proven to raise dihydrotestosterone in men.
You don’t get bigger and stronger by being in the gym, it’s a matter of how you recover to help you build that strength. By mixing both steady state and HIIT you will begin to really see increased benefits.