HIIT vs. Steady State Cardio: What’s the Difference?
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Time to read 13 min
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Time to read 13 min
Fitness can be a rewarding journey.
The choices we make in our fitness lifestyle determine our results. We get to see firsthand how our decisions impact our lives with every goal reached.
When it comes down to it, proper fitness is just a series of choices we must follow through on day in and day out.
Let’s look into HIIT-style workouts and steady-state cardio routines and consider their differences. In doing so, you’ll learn more about the exercises available to you and see if one of these workout routines will help you better meet your wellness goals.
While you might know that cardio refers to a specific group of exercise routines, you may not know exactly what cardio means.
Let’s look into what cardio is, how it is better known in fitness circles, its possible benefits, and examples from a fat-burning cardio session. When you know about this type of exercise, you can better appraise its value compared to your current fitness regimen and how to implement cardio into your current program.
When we talk about cardio, we are essentially referring to a type of exercise called aerobics . Aerobics comes from the Greek for “with oxygen,” highlighting the central factor that defines this type of exercise. Aerobic exercises are supplied primarily by oxygen.
When we exercise, our body searches for fuel sources to sustain our performance and keep us active. There are a few options available to us. In the case of aerobics, it's the oxygen in our bloodstream that circulates and supplies our muscles with energy.
Aerobics exercises tend to be long-term and endurance-based.
That’s why oxygen is so important to these exercises. Over longer periods, our body’s stored reserves of energy, like carbs, fats, and proteins, might become exhausted if we perform extended exercise sessions.
Breathing patterns are essential to aerobics because the air we breathe is being actively utilized to sustain our body’s activity.
Aerobic exercises thrive on oxygen to sustain us — and that oxygen is a resource we can get more plentifully than our finite reserves to mitigate the usage of the body's stored energy. While we do use stored energy reserves during aerobic exercise — especially longer, more intense types of exercise — oxygen is the baseline fuel source that drives our performance.
Aerobic exercises are those we can do over an extended period.
Their level of intensity classifies them; there are low-intensity aerobic exercises and high-intensity aerobic exercises.
Examples of low-intensity aerobics include:
More high-intensity examples of aerobics include:
Aerobics can be a relatively accessible form of exercise for beginners, particularly the low-intensity options.
They’re great not just because they are relatively straightforward but because they may confer some serious health benefits to folks who do them regularly.
The reason that aerobics is often synonymous with cardio is because of the huge potential they have to benefit our cardiovascular health.
Our cardiovascular health refers to the integrity of our heart and blood vessels. Aerobics, or cardio, relies significantly on our hearts. Because this extended form of exercise requires us to circulate oxygenated blood to our muscles, our heart needs to pump consistently to sustain our performance.
By doing aerobics, we condition our cardiovascular system to function better and reduce cardio-related health risks.
HDL cholesterol is called the “good” cholesterol because it removes surplus cholesterols from the bloodstream. The build-up of LDL or “bad” cholesterol in the bloodstream can cause plaque build-up in our blood vessels and arteries, drastically increasing our risk of heart disease.
With more HDL cholesterol in the bloodstream, we keep our arteries clear and functioning at their best.
Aerobic exercise has routinely demonstrated its positive effects on our total cholesterol levels — bringing us more of the good and less of the bad.
By moving more, you may be giving your cardiovascular system the circulation that wards off cholesterol build-up.
Another specific example of how aerobic exercise may improve our cardiovascular health is its positive effects on our blood pressure levels.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a predictor of heart disease. When you have high blood pressure, the harder your heart has to work to pump blood through the body. The harder it has to work, the more likely it is to fail.
Simple aerobic exercise is frequently recommended to those with high blood pressure. Aerobics have been shown to lower blood pressure levels . Even low-intensity exercises like walking can have positive effects when done consistently.
Aerobics are a go-to exercise for those who want to reach weight loss goals.
The sustained activity in aerobics may eventually lead to the burning off of reserved energy stored in the body, like fat.
As we push forward with aerobic exercise over longer sessions, our bodies turn to these extra energy sources to supplement the oxygen fueling our muscles.
One hour of low-intensity aerobic exercise will burn around 365 calories in a 160-pound person. Running almost doubles that amount. Sustained aerobic activity will help you burn calories, increase metabolism, and propel you toward weight loss goals.
Considering that your breathing is so important to continued performance with aerobics, your lungs get a lot of work in with this type of exercise.
Working your lungs in this way is like working any other part of your body — the more you train your muscles with aerobics, the stronger they become .
By increasing your lung function with aerobics, you are allowing more oxygen to find its way into your bloodstream faster.
This translates to significant overall benefits to your fitness. With a better lung function, you’re supplying more oxygen to your muscles to sustain your workout, which means you can get even more out of your workout.
With so many benefits to gain from aerobic exercise, it’s often recommended to folks as an accessible method to address health issues or stay fit.
Our body needs to move around to function properly. The recommended amount of aerobics we ought to do at a baseline fitness level is 30 minutes a day, at least five days a week.
This can change depending on the intensity level of the exercise being done. The more intense level of exercise done directly translates to more calories burned.
But what really helps aerobic exercise deliver its benefits is consistency. An exercise as simple as a 30-minute walk, when done on a daily basis, goes a long way.
The level of intensity you approach aerobic activity depends on your fitness needs. But no matter the level you get involved in, you should make sure to keep your safety in mind.
As you increase the intensity level of your aerobics, implementing a stretching routine before and after your workout may help you prevent injury and even improve performance.
Over extended periods of time, you’ll likely build up a sweat. Extended aerobic activity can dehydrate your body quickly.
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To better understand HIIT, it’s worth having a better grasp on another common exercise type: anaerobics.
Anaerobics means “without oxygen.” Unlike aerobics, these types of exercises don’t rely primarily on oxygen to supply their performance. Energy sources stored in the muscles, or stores of fat, carbs, and proteins, fuel anaerobic exercise.
They are generally shorter exercises that directly target our muscles. Because anaerobics are more focused on the muscles themselves, they are more quickly exhausted.
However, anaerobics may be more proficient in building muscle strength as they play a bigger role in these exercises.
There are many different types of anaerobic exercises because there are many muscles in the body.
Generally, most anaerobic exercises are classified as calisthenics and weight training exercises.
Calisthenics are exercises that use our body weight as a means to train and strengthen our muscles. Popular calisthenic exercises include:
Weight training exercises use equipment that serves as sources of resistance to your muscles. There’s a whole world of exercises you can do with weight training. Here are a few examples to give you a better idea of what they are:
Anaerobic exercise ranges in intensity depending on the weight levels used and the number of repetitions done in a given exercise. While there are plenty of options for beginners, they must be done with the proper level of caution — poorly done anaerobics can be dangerous.
The most alluring benefit of anaerobic exercise is the positive effects they have on our muscle growth. By directly training specific muscles, anaerobic exercises allow us to build up muscles and help them get stronger.
Our muscles get weakened over time. Continued anaerobic exercise keeps your muscles active, which helps you keep them strong.
Your bones benefit from anaerobic exercise too.
Over time our bones get weaker. Sustained anaerobic exercises put our bones to use through the repetition of strength-building activities. Manageable stress on our bones helps them stay strong, which may help us prevent the onset of degenerative conditions that worsen their integrity.
Building muscle mass doesn’t just improve our physical performance but also helps us burn fat.
Muscles require more energy to use. So as our muscles get bigger, our body burns more stored energy to fuel their performance. That means our stored body fat is used more frequently to supply our muscles.
Anaerobic exercise exhausts our muscles more significantly than aerobic exercise. Anaerobic exercises only require a few days to get a good workout in.
Only 3 to 4 days a week , with exercises that hit all your body’s main muscle groups, is more than enough to start seeing the benefits of anaerobic exercise.
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Now that we’ve established how aerobic and anaerobic exercise differ, the difference between HIIT and aerobic exercise will become clearer.
HIIT is almost a middle ground between aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise. HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is quickly becoming a popular approach to exercise that can bring serious results to your fitness goals
HIIT can refer to a wide range of exercises.
At its core, HIIT describes a workout, or workouts, characterized by quick spurts of high-level intensity paired with extended resting periods to recover.
The core feature of high-intensity interval training exercises is their intensity level. That means even aerobic exercises can become part of a HIIT routine when done at a sufficient intensity level. HIIT is an inclusive approach to exercise that utilizes the strengths of different types of exercises, like aerobics and anaerobics.
The high intensity level that characterizes HIIT exercise means that our muscles are being directly targeted and drawing on latent energy sources the same way that anaerobic exercise does.
However, aerobics can often be included in a HIIT routine at such high intensity levels that they exhibit similar targeting effects to anaerobic exercise.
Jogging and running may be aerobic exercises, but they can easily be implemented into a HIIT program by including sprints into an extended run.
A HIIT routine might look like a warm-up jog with sprints for 10 to 15 seconds. Return to a low-intensity walk or jog to recover for about a minute or two, then back to the burst of sprints.
HIIT routines like sprints are designed to build on rapid exertion; that way, you can activate the muscles in your legs in an anaerobic way while continuing with a long-term aerobic workout that utilizes your rest periods to keep burning fat.
Burpees are a classic example of what a complete HIIT workout looks like.
To do a burpee, take a standing position and jump as high as possible while outstretching your arms above your head.
When you land, transition into a squat. From the squat, lower your body to the ground and hop your legs back so that you enter a plank.
From the plank, do a push-up. Go back into the plank, snap back to the squat, and stand up to do the jump again.
Burpees combine multiple exercises in one. That way, you get holistic coverage of your muscle groups, activating your upper body, core, and lower body with your movements.
What makes HIIT so great is that they allow exercisers to create a program that works for them.
The core factor at the heart of HIIT exercise is the high intensity level. Exercising at a high intensity level increases your metabolic rate, targets specific muscles, and burns fat.
Other than the intensity level, the modular nature of HIIT means that you can string any number of exercises together into a cohesive program.
These are just a few exercises you can do in sequence to accomplish a HIIT program that works for you:
There are all sorts of different regimens that can qualify as HIIT. Consult your trainer or do research online to find a routine that works for you.
The high intensity output demanded by HIIT translates into a more time-efficient method of burning calories.
Compared to aerobics and anaerobic exercises, HIIT routines have been shown to burn energy much faster, 25-30% more .
This higher rate of burnt calories happens in a shorter period of time. The high-intensity bursts of HIIT, done with 5 to 10 repetitions, can burn through a significant amount of calories in little time.
HIIT can improve your oxygen consumption. That means you’re getting more oxygen in your bloodstream and more energy flowing to your muscles, allowing you to get even more energy to sustain your performance.
Aerobics can improve your oxygen consumption, but HIIT can accomplish the same benefit over a shorter period of time .
The short bursts of high-intensity exercise define HIIT and allow you to condition your body much faster than with more moderate level, extended aerobic exercises like running.
HIIT is an effective way to achieve your weight loss goals over a shorter period of time.
Both HIIT and moderate exercise promote weight loss when done consistently, but the advantage of HIIT is that it can accomplish the same degree of weight loss with less time spent exercising.
The high yield of calories burnt in an intensive HIIT program means that you make every minute matter in your workout.
The intensity level is the key difference between HIIT and cardio, or aerobics.
Aerobics necessarily require a lower intensity level in order to function. After all, 30 minutes of constant exercise walking is quite different from 30 minutes of sprinting.
This difference in intensity level means that the benefits between HIIT and cardio manifest differently.
While both are effective exercises, HIIT tends to accomplish similar results over a shorter period of time. This is likely because HIIT is more demanding than moderate-level aerobics.
Furthermore, HIIT is able to activate your muscles in a more meaningful way. Depending on your routine, you could get a commendable workout for your muscles — burpees, for example, may help you build up your muscles in your upper body, core, and lower legs if you do them consistently.
While more demanding than cardio, HIIT can confer the same benefits with less actual time exercising, with some additional benefits one would not gain from a strictly aerobic routine.
HIIT and those steady-state cardio workouts are just a few ways you can pursue your fitness goals.
All that matters is that you’re giving it your all, no matter what exercise routine you choose to do.
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Source:
Aerobic Exercise | Cleveland Clinic
Aerobic Exercise Reduces Blood Pressure in Resistant Hypertension | AHA Journal
How Does Exercise Strengthen the Lungs? | American Lung Association
The benefits of anaerobic exercise | Piedmont
Cardiovascular Training Vs. Strength Training for Weight Loss | Beaumont