HIIT cardio - when should I do it to achieve my goals?

[NACHONOBLE]

Hi there,

For the last 3 months I've been working hard to lose weight and get myself a lean bod. So far, everything seems to be working, I've lost an incredible amount of weight, my stomach has become flat, my obliques have started showing and I'm generally looking more defined, as well as that; everybody says I'm looking great! My bod is still a work in process but I appear to reaching my goal nonetheless. My diet is also an huge improvement, I'm eating stuff I would've never touched just some months ago. But theres still one aspect of my weight loss I'm still wondering about and that is if I'm approaching my cardio correctly.

At the moment, I've been doing a 2 minute HIIT workout a minute after my strength training, but I've heard from various sources that its also good to do cardio on rest days? Would doing my HIIT cardio workout help speed my progress or would it just get me the dreaded "skinny-fat" bod? Would it be better just to stick with eating right on my rest days instead?

Thanks in advance.

 

[theartofphysicalfitness]

If you are seeing progress, than nothing is wrong with your approach to 'cardio' training. If it ain't broke...

If you are worried about being "skinny-fat" than you need to, if your aren't already, begin a weight training program to increase strength and gain muscle.

Best of Wishes,

Kyle

 

[Albert Smith]

Whatever you have heard it’s true. But if you want to burn fat more quickly then you should take a little bit hard approach.

I believe that “steady state” cardio was superior for fat loss because relatively more fat is used by the body as fuel at lower exercise intensities than at higher intensities.

The “Fat Burning Zone” shown on most cardio equipment as only 60%-65% of max heart rate is really a myth and is NOT optimal for burning fat.

Yes, you burn more fat relative to glycogen when going for a walk, but what we care about is total fat burn. At higher intensities, you are burning far more fat, even though the fat/glycogen ratio is lower.

In addition, Interval training allows you to exercise at very high intensities for a much longer period of time than steady state, so you burn more fat.

Hope so it would help.