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home / 世界杯决赛2022

fitness: is it worth feeling the burn of hiit?

high-intensity interval training saves time, but if you want to lose weight, this may not be the workout for you.

by jill barker, special to the montreal gazette

jan 20 2020
read time 3 minute read
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fitness: is it worth feeling the burn of hiit?
there are many formats for hiit workouts, and no single one has been proved to provide the greatest return. some are performed on a treadmill, some on a stationary bike. some require 80 per cent of maximum effort, others demand close to 100 per cent. allen mcinnis / montreal gazette files
like many trendy workouts before it, high-intensity interval training (hiit) has gone from being the next best thing to the greatest thing of all time. this elevation in status from cool new workout to a workout that does everything for everyone is typical of most exercise fads that take the fitness world by storm.
with hiit voted no. 2 out of the top 20 fitness trends for 2020 by the american college of sports medicine, more and more people are jumping on the bandwagon, and more and more fitness clubs are offering hiit workouts. yet despite all the hype, consider this a gentle reminder that no one workout does it all.
what’s the appeal of hiit? for today’s time-crunched exerciser, it’s the efficiency of the workouts. traditional workouts last anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes, whereas hiit sessions last 10 minutes or less. best of all, those 10 minutes pack a mean punch, offering similar fitness and health gains as workouts that take twice as long (or more).
to reap those gains, you have to exercise at your maximum effort, albeit for short periods of time (60 to 240 seconds). while there are myriad interval formats, hiit results are based on repeated bouts of exercise performed anywhere from 80 to 100 per cent of all-out effort interspersed with periods of recovery.
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as long as exercisers consistently push themselves into that discomfort zone, research suggests hiit workouts have the potential to significantly improve cardiorespiratory fitness and deliver all the health benefits that go along with it. keep in mind, however, most of the research protocols supporting the benefits of hiit were performed in a lab, which doesn’t always compare to the type of hiit workouts offered at fitness clubs or online. not to mention that what works on one section of the population may not have the same effect on another. so not all research results should be taken at face value.
part of the reason it’s so difficult to translate hiit results from a research lab to real life is that there are so many workout formats, and no single one has been proved to provide the greatest return. some workouts are performed on a stationary bike and some are done on a treadmill. some require maintaining 80 per cent of maximum effort, while others demand exercisers push closer to 100 per cent.
despite all the debate surrounding the benefits of hiit, it’s clear there’s one promise that’s continually oversold: hiit isn’t a magic bullet for losing unwanted weight or body fat. a recent published review of 47 studies featuring 1,422 middle-aged and overweight individuals suggests that anyone who’s sweating through hiit sessions in the hope of losing a few pounds is likely to be disappointed.
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“our results revealed no evidence to suggest low-volume hiit was beneficial for improvements in total body fat mass, body fat and lean body mass when compared to a non-exercising control or moderate intensity continuous training,” said the australian researchers who analyzed the available data.
it’s likely that what makes hiit so popular is also what prevents it from affecting body weight and body composition. successful weight loss starts with workouts longer than 60 minutes, which far exceeds the characteristics of hiit. as for the ballyhooed afterburn of hiit workouts, any extra calories burned post-exercise are unlikely to be significant enough to have an effect on weight loss.
what does this mean for those who have switched from longer, steady-state workouts to hiit? it depends on your goals. if you want an express workout that’s guaranteed to improve your health and fitness, hiit workouts are the way to go. but if weight loss is your goal, you need far more minutes than what hiit has to offer before you can buckle that belt a little tighter.
also worth keeping in mind is that the majority of hiit studies feature aerobic-type workouts — primarily cycling and running. most hiit workouts offered in fitness studios or on youtube feature a mix of aerobic and calisthenic/weight-training-type intervals, so the results may not mirror those published in research journals.

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no workout checks all the boxes. but when it comes to improving overall fitness, nothing gets the job done in less time than hiit. that said, exercising at the top end of the effort scale isn’t for everyone, so if feeling the burn isn’t your thing, then trendy or not, hiit’s not for you.

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