I was thinking that a good follow-up to my last post about 3 effective ways to live a healthier life would be about the 2 types of cardio.
A lot of people who are into weight lifting are curious about the 2 ways of doing cardio: HIIT and LISS
HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training - is what it sounds like. You work out by doing short bursts of high intensity exercise and then rest for a short interval and do it again.
The benefits of HIIT training are multi-fold. I prefer to do HIIT mainly because it's faster than LISS (I'll get to LISS in a second) and it's more challenging (in my opinion).
HIIT also has the benefit of "the afterburn effect" which is bascially just the effect that happens after you work out your muscles. Your muscles need to feed and thus, the afterburn effect refers to the extra calories you burn for up to 48 hours post-workout.
My full HIIT session may last for 15-20 minutes max.
LISS - Low Intensity Steady State - Again, the name gives it away. LISS is low intensity cardio training at a steady pace for a longer period of time.
My typical LISS session is about 30-45 minutes in duration and will keep a steady pace the entire time. An example is when I do the stair master for 30 minutes and keep the level on 8 (8 is a level that I can walk at for 30 minutes without getting my heart rate and breathing to high and heavy).
Which is "Better"?
Neither one is necessarily better than the other, they're mostly just different. I'm a firm believer that it comes down to personal preference more than anything. If you prefer walking for a longer time and at a lower intensity, then LISS is probably preferable for you.
If you prefer to power through and work through intense pain in a shorter duration, then HIIT is probably better for you!!
Try both and experiment!!