Difference Between HIIT and Cardio: Can You Do Both?

The modern world of fitness basically seems divided into two major workout methodologies: High-Intensity Interval Training and conventional cardio. Since both have huge health benefits, it is very necessary to know the difference between HIIT and cardio in order to tailor an effective workout regime that goes well with individual goals. 

This article has gone a step further into detailing physiological mechanisms and practical applications for both HIIT and cardio, plus a brief account of their drawbacks, so the reader is better equipped to make a decision in regard to their fitness journey.

Understand the Physiology: 

Irrespective, it’s most important to have an understanding of the physiological adaptations that occur to appreciate these differences. HIIT primarily targets the anaerobic energy system, which uses glucose to give one quick bursts of energy. Optimally, this energy system does short, hard work for power, speed, and muscular strength.

Cardio, on the other hand, mainly gets you to work under your aerobic energy system, which uses oxygen to fuel your exercise. This energy system is designed for endurance, heart health, and fat oxidation.

HIIT: The Science Behind the Burn

High-Intensity Interval Training has been the most in-demand workout craze today because it is efficient at successfully burning calories and causing metabolic rise. It mainly consists of very short periods of high-intensity exercise with an even shorter recovery phase.

This dynamic approach causes a series of physiological responses, including:

Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC)

Often referred to as the afterburn effect, EPOC is basically when the metabolic rate is still elevated after an HIIT workout. While in this state, the body will continue to use more calories even when at rest—for example, while watching TV or during sleep.

While the mechanisms responsible for EPOC are not yet clearly established, most researchers suspect it results from a combination of the following factors: 

• Increased oxygen demand: It increase the demand in oxygen; since HIIT workouts include dynamic movements, a great amount of oxygen stores in the body gets depleted. During recovery, the body works hard to re-fuel those stores by consuming lots of oxygen and, therefore, calories.
• Muscle repair and rebuilding: HIIT exposes the underlined microscopic muscle fiber tear. Your body expends energy in repairing and rebuilding such muscles, further adding to EPOC. 
• Increased enzyme activity: It increases the activity of certain enzymes involved in energy production, which stays elevated after HIIT and leads to an enhanced process of burning calories even at rest.

Now, the duration of EPOC does depend on the intensity and length of the performed HIIT workout. Generally, the more extended and more intense the workout is, the longer the effect of EPOC lasts.

Anaerobic Threshold Improvement

The anaerobic threshold is the point at which the exercise intensity reaches a level wherein the body primarily resorts to anaerobic respiration. Anaerobic respiration generates energy without oxygen but results in lactic acid, which is the major factor that causes muscle fatigue.

More frequent HIIT trains the body to tolerate greater exercise intensities prior to reaching the anaerobic threshold. In virtue of this change of physiology, one can train harder for a longer time and consequently improve athletic performance. 

Here’s how HIIT improves anaerobic threshold: 

Growth Hormone Release

Growth hormone is an essential hormone that maintains various physiological functions related to muscular growth, repair, and metabolism of fats. It has been evidenced that HIIT exercises stimulate the production of growth hormones more than standard moderate-intensity workouts. 

The following are the benefits associated with increased GH due to HIIT:

One must remember that, as much as HIIT can increase GH levels, other variables like sleep, nutrition, and overall training volume play important roles in optimizing the production of GH.

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HIIT Exercises: Fuel for Your Fire

HIIT is all about extreme bursts of exercises with very short recovery time; this leads to a maximized burn of calories, improved fitness, and saved time. Now, let’s get into some really effective HIIT exercises:

Core HIIT Exercises

• Burpees: A full-body exercise containing squat, push-up, and jump in one single motion.
• Mountain Climbers: This move engages your core and mimics running in place to bump up that cardio.
• High Knees: It targets the lower body and the core while increasing coordination.
• Squat Jumps: Explodes lower body power and gets the heart rate up. 
• Push-ups: One of the classics for upper body, developing chest, shoulders, and triceps. 
• Lunges: Works the legs, core, and balance. 
• Plank: Core-central in nature, works on stability and strength. 
• Crunches: Works abdominal muscles. 
• Bicycle Crunches: Works the core and obliques. 
• Burpee Push-up: A burpee combined with a push-up for extra challenge. 

HIIT Workout Routine:

Warm-up: Do 5 minutes of light cardio, like jogging in place or jumping jacks. 

Workout:

• Round 1: Do 30 seconds of each, trying to take as minimal rest as possible between exercises: Burpees Mountain Climbers, High Knee, Squat Jumps
• Round 2: Do Round 1 again
• Rest: 1 minute
• Round 3: Do Round 1
• Cool-down: 5 minutes of stretching, holding each stretch for 30 seconds.

Remember:

• Do as many rounds as your fitness level will allow you to finish. The more rounds, the harder it’s going to be.
• The more rest periods you have between exercises, the easier it’s going to be.
• Do different variations of the exercise; if you keep doing the same thing every time, it will get easy.
• You should always listen to your body and stop if you feel like you need a break.

Additional Tips:

• Use a timer to keep your workout intervals.
• Focus on proper form to avoid injuries.
• Get the best of both worlds; take the greatest part of HIIT and combine it with strength training.
• Don’t forget to rehydrate before, during, and after your workout.

Remember to put in work consistently. If you keep pushing yourself with HIIT, you will certainly feel improvements in your energy levels, cardio fitness levels, and metabolism.

Cardio: The Steady State Solution

Cardiovascular exercise has been a mainstay of fitness programs for many years due to its wide-ranging positive effects. Cardio exercises are those that provide activities that raise the heart rate, thereby increasing oxygen uptake.

Heart Health

A healthy heart goes hand in hand with regular cardio exercises. Basically, it is like a workout for the heart muscle. Continuous training makes the heart muscle stronger. Improved cardiac strength allows the heart to undertake blood pumping more effectively and hence decreases blood pressure along with the prospective risk of heart diseases, heart attacks, and strokes. Besides, cardio exercise ensures healthy cholesterol levels as it increases “good” cholesterol (HDL) and decreases “bad” cholesterol (LDL).

Improved Endurance

The greatest advantage associated with cardio has to do with enhancing endurance. When a person exercises regularly in cardio activities, his or her body becomes more resistant to continuous physical activity. More endurance may be beneficial for an athlete, but it is also helpful in living. Activities requiring stamina, such as climbing the stairs or carrying groceries, are accomplished with less fatigue. 

Oxidation of Fat

One of the most powerful tools for burning fat is cardiovascular exercise. When the body performs low-to-moderate-intensity exercise, it basically uses just fat as fuel to provide energy during exercise. This process of fat oxidation helps maintain weight and enhances body composition. Even though HIIT will induce high-intensity workouts, which also have the same effect—burning fat—steady-state cardio produces a continual fat-burning effect.

Cardio is Ideal for:

• Heart Health: Those who want to reduce their risk of heart disease or increase cardiovascular performance in general. 
• Building Endurance: Participants, common in athletes or people training for marathons, triathlons, and other events of this nature, or those seeking to improve their endurance. 
• Stress Relief: Cardio decreases stress by means of the endorphins released, which, by definition, are natural body-produced mood enhancers. 
• Overall Well-being: Being one of the integral three legs of a well-balanced fitness program, cardio contributes to better physical and mental health.

In summary, cardiovascular exercises do a lot more than just physically keeping a person fit. It improves heart health, enhances endurance, burns body fat, and is, therefore, one of the most important parts of a holistic health regime.

Cardio Exercises: A Comprehensive Overview

Cardiovascular exercises, or cardio, include various activities that raise your heart rate and breathing. They are essential in achieving overall health, maintaining weight, and building endurance. Below is a rundown of common cardio exercises:

Types of Cardio Exercise

Aerobic Exercise:

These activities involve continuous rhythmic movements that raise oxygen intake

• Running/Jogging: A very effective way to burn calories and is easily done as an outdoor activity or using a treadmill.
• Swimming: Low-impact and full body with very minimal stress to joints.
• Cycling: Indoor or outdoors, it accommodates a person’s various levels of intensity. 
• Dancing: The fun and energetic mixing of cardio with coordination. 
• Rowing: Multiple groups of muscles work together while pounding out a cardiovascular exercise. 

Interval Training:

The system alternates times of high-intensity activity with short recovery periods.

• High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): Short bursts of extreme exercise are followed by very short rest periods. 
• Tabata: A form of HIIT, which is 20 seconds of high-intensity exercise and 10 seconds of rest for eight repetitions.

Low-Impact Cardio:

Easy on joints; suitable for beginners or people who have problems with their joints.

• Walking: It’s within the grasp of most people. One can either walk briskly or leisurely.
• Elliptical Training: Low-impact and full-body exercise with changeable resistance.
• Water Aerobics: Low joint impact but provides cardiovascular challenge.

Sample Cardio Workout Routine

Beginner:

• Warm-up: Light cardio, 5 minutes: Brisk walking, jogging at the spot, etc.
• Main workout: Brisk walking/cycling at a medium pace for 30 minutes.
• Cool-down: 5 minutes of stretch.

Intermediate:

• Warm-up: 5 minutes of dynamic stretches (arm circles, leg swings); 
• Main workout: 30 minutes, alternate between running and walking intervals; 
• Cool-down: 5 minutes with static stretches, holding a hamstring stretch. 

Advanced:

• Warm-up: 10 minutes of dynamic stretches and a bit of cardio; 
• Main workout: 45 minutes of HIIT or interval training that has burpees, mountain climbers, and high knees; 
• Cool-down: 10 minutes of stretch and relax.

Remember:

• Confidence through consistency: A minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity cardio per week.
• Variety in workouts: Engage in several cardio activities to fight boredom and complacency.
• Listen to your body: Start out gradually, progressing the intensity and duration.
• Add some strength training: For maximum benefit, pair cardio exercise with strength exercises.

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How to Combine HIIT and Cardio: An Integrated Approach

While HIIT and traditional cardio exercises have enormous benefits, there’s great value in putting them together into a well-rounded workout regimen. Such would be holistic in covering manifold fitness components and avoiding plateaus for those training in single modalities. 

Benefits of Cross Training

Inclusion of HIIT and cardio in your regimen keeps the body involved in different movement patterns. This type of cross-training reduces the risk of overload injuries, typical of repetitive actions. For example, running works lower body strength, while swimming will work your entire body without the large impact on joints.

Comprehensive Fitness

A blend of HIIT and cardio coves all bases in the area of fitness. HIIT is particularly great for building power, speed, and enhancing anaerobic capacity, while cardio enhances muscular endurance and stamina, thereby improving aerobic capacity. Together, you’ll get a well-rounded level of fitness that covers strength, endurance, and cardiovascular health.

Personalized Training

What really works is a combination of HIIT and cardio to fit your goals and taste. For example, athletes who are primarily looking at peak performance would focus on HIIT for the development of power. This is augmented by steady-state cardio for endurance. Those looking to lose weight could alternate between HIIT to burn calories and moderate-intensity cardio that promotes fat oxidation.

Practical Considerations

Including both HIIT and cardio makes for a great workout, but with these caveats:

• Intensity: HIIT requires a disparagingly high level of intensity during the very short, powerful bursts of exercise, while cardio’s intensity may be as low or as high as one wishes for the chosen goal. 
• Duration: Typically, HIIT workouts are done for up to 20-30 minutes at most, while cardio sessions can be performed from as short as 30 minutes to an hour or more. 
• Recovery: HIIT incorporates breaks between sets to recover completely from the previous set; cardio recovery is often built right into the workout.
• Progression: Progression should be ensured to occur through incremental changes in intensity, duration, or frequency for both HIIT and cardio.

Pay careful attention to these aspects and tuning the routine to your needs would bring together HIIT and cardio in complete accord toward the ultimate goals of fitness.

Sample Workout Routines Combining HIIT and Cardio

Routine 1: HIIT and Steady-State Cardio

• Warm-up: 5 Minutes Light Cardio (jogging, cycling, jumping jacks)
• HIIT: 20 minutes of alternating 30 seconds high-intensity exercise—burpees, mountain climbers, high knees, squat jumps—with 30 seconds rest.
• Steady-state cardio: 30 minutes at moderate levels of cardio—running, cycling, swimming

Routine 2: HIIT and Interval Cardio

• Warm-up: 5 minutes of light cardio
• HIIT: 20 minutes of alternating 30 seconds high-intensity exercise with 30 seconds rest
• Interval cardio: 20 minutes of 4 minutes of high-intensity exercise—in this case, running at a quick pace—then 3 minutes of recovery, jogging, or walking. 

Routine 3: HIIT and Low-Impact Cardio: 

• Warm-up: 5 minutes of light cardio.
• HIIT: 20 minutes alternating 30 seconds of bodyweight exercises (squats, lunges, pushups, planks) with 30 seconds of rest;
• Low-impact cardio: 30 minutes swimming or elliptical training.

Routine 4: HIIT and Cross-Training

• Warm-up: 5 minutes of dynamic stretches
• HIIT: 20 minutes of alternating 30 seconds of high-intensity exercise with 30 seconds of rest
• Cross-training: 30 minutes of a different activity (yoga, pilates, or strength training)

Remember:

• Scale up or down the intensity, duration, and frequency depending on your level and goals.
• Listen to your body when it needs rest.
• Keep variety so you’ll never get bored and caught in a plateau.

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In the final analysis, difference between HIIT and cardio depends on individual goals, taste preferences, and time availability. Taking into account the physiological underpinnings of each method, incorporating them strategically will make sure that there is an overall healthy workout that ensures total well-being. But always consult a doctor before embarking on any new exercise.