HIIT, Heavy Strength Training Key to Weight Loss, Not "Cardio"

I teach a Boot Camp-style class at a workout business with which I have no affiliation.?

Outside the business was a sign that said the science says, ““The only fitness plan for weight loss is cardio” = Science.”

That’s just not right.?

And the sign made me a little upset because it perpetuates a myth that if you just run or walk or ride enough, you’ll lose weight.?

Yes, cardio, done correctly, can minimally help with weight loss.?

Cardio by itself, though, will not help, and that’s why cyclists and runners might ride a lot and not lose any weight.?

“Cardio” alone doesn’t do much good for weight loss

For both endurance athletes like cyclists and runners and “regular” people, effective weight loss requires strength training, “cardio”, and good nutritional habits.?

And here’s what works:

• improved nutritional habits
• heavy strength training
• high-intensity “cardio”

For endurance athletes, doing long cardio offers additional training adaptation benefits that don’t necessarily help weight loss.?

So it’s critical for all people to have a balanced approach to their fitness to maximize not only endurance but their overall health.?

HIIT work is most effective for weight loss, fitness

Here is what the science says:?

In this review of numerous research studies, the authors conclude HIIT (high-intensity interval training) is the most effective way to increase fitness and oxidize fat.?

“In conclusion, regular HIIE produces significant increases in aerobic and anaerobic fitness and brings about significant skeletal muscle adaptations that are oxidative and glycolytic in nature.”

Furthermore, HIIT work burns more calories than cycling, running, or general weight training, according to this study.

Long cardio can be a waste of time in losing weight

So here’s what to take from this: going out for a casual ride, run, walk, or even hitting the gym will burn some calories.?

But you need to be exercising for long periods of time to get the benefits.?

(More on how weight training fits into this later.)

When I worked at a large gym, I would see people on the treadmills or exercise bikes doing the same low-to moderate-intensity cardio work every single day.?

It just doesn’t work, and those people are wasting their time.?

What works is short, very high-intensity work

For example, the studies reference 30 seconds all-out sprinting, followed by four minutes of moderate work, and repeat.?

I’m a fan of Tabata intervals, or 20 seconds full-on and 10 seconds of rest for four minutes.?

Tabata is a Japanese scientist, who studied the most effective way to get fit on bicycles, and the best interval now bears his name.?

The beauty of these HIIT sessions is that they don’t take long!?

Yes, you can do two sets of four minutes with a warm-up, cool down, and a rest between sets in less than 30 minutes.?

The challenge, obviously, is that the HIIT sessions are really, really hard, like bleeding out of your eyeball, breathing like a fish out of water hard.?

You kind of just have to suck it up and go, knowing that four minutes is a very short amount of time.?

HIIT bonus: burning calories AFTER the workout

Moreover, there’s some evidence that doing HIIT gets your body to continue to burn calories AFTER you’re done working out!

In this study, people who did HIIT work were burning calories TWO HOURS after their workout.?

“Strenuous resistive exercise may elevate PEMR for a prolonged period and may enhance postexercise lipid oxidation.”

Lipid oxidation is fat burning.

And this study, which focused solely on women, showed similar results in post-exercise fat burning.

Strength training builds lean muscle which burns calories

Can we agree now that HIIT is more effective than mindless walking on the treadmill??

Good, let’s move on to strength training.

First of all, strength training is a very effective tool for weight loss.?

One, you’re exercising and burning calories, and two, you’re building strength with lean muscle which requires more calories to maintain.?

But again, strength training requires effort and not just mindlessly swinging a dumbbell around 30 times and calling it strength training.?

It’s not.?

Heavy strength training builds more strength than light work

Second, there’s evidence that lifting heavy weights and lifting light weights produce the same adaptations (fitness gains) - as long as you work the muscles to fatigue.?

That’s the key - building fatigue.?

So whether you do six repetitions or 60, you need to fatigue the target muscles to near failure.?

Lifting heavy weights not only takes less time but also builds more strength, which, as I said earlier, builds strength and lean muscle, which, in turn, leads to more calorie consumption.?

This study suggests that you end up recruiting more muscle fibers when you lift heavy weights rather than light weights, and that increase force production and strength, both of which help burn calories.?

The force production also helps runners and cyclists put out more power while running or riding.

And recruiting more muscle fibers makes your muscle operations more efficient, meaning you get better at lifting the weight and can continue to lift more.

Heavy weights are particularly good for women

Dr. Stacy Sims wrote two books, Roar, and Next Level, both of which argue that women need to lift heavy weights, particularly during and after menopause.?

Her idea is that women lose more muscle mass, and therefore need to lift heavier weights to build strength and lean muscle.?

This study further reinforces the idea that heavy weight lifting among elderly people produces more muscle mass.?

Sims and others argue that women in or after menopause essentially need to train like 25-year-old bodybuilders, lifting heavy weights, eating a lot of protein, and working to build lean muscle mass.?

(No, women don’t have enough testosterone to get “bulked” out like they were told in the past!)

Keep a balance in your strength training

Lifting heavy weights saves time in the gym, produces more strength gains, and improves how well you can use your muscles.?

However, you don’t want to lift heavy for every exercise you do.?

There’s a balance for all lifting.?

For example, I usually do the main lifts as heavily as I can: deadlifts, dumbbell chest presses, and dumbbell rows.?

This means I’ll do sets of three to eight repetitions.

Other exercises, like pullups, shoulder presses, and core work, for example, I typically do for time or volume or sets of eight to 12 repetitions.

I want to make sure my form and technique are spot on. It can be difficult to do two or three reps of a bicep curl with good form.

The bottom line for strength training is still the same: Work to fatigue.?

HIIT, strength training are best bang for the weight loss buck

Traditional “cardio” like cycling or running does minimally work to burn calories.?

But it’s not the best bang for your buck.?

You need a balance of good nutrition, HIIT, strength training, endurance training (longer cardio), and yoga.

Yoga, which I love, is really good for mobility and joint strength, but not as great at building overall muscle strength because you have to do so much movement to get the same result.?

If you are an endurance athlete, like the cyclists or runners I coach, then doing endurance work produces a variety of other adaptations like mitochondrial growth and increased capillary density.?

However, endurance athletes want to improve race performance.

Weight loss is a secondary result of that work.?

Endurance athletes, though, will benefit a lot from high-intensity interval work and strength training for the same reasons as everyone else: better fitness.?

Want to know more about what you can achieve??

This is a lot of information in a short article.?

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I help a limited number of cyclists and runners achieve their goals with more strength, endurance, and mobility.?

Contact me or sign up for Virtual Coffee so we can discuss your goals, ask questions, and talk about making your endurance training more effective, fun, and Simple.

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Paul Warloski is a USA Cycling Level 3 Coach; RRCA Running Coach; Training Peaks Level 2 Coach; RYT-200 Yoga Instructor; Certified Personal Trainer