High Intensity Training Research Results

To establish the benefits of high-intensity training, scientists at Laval University in Quebec conducted a study to find out it if it worked any better compared to steady-state cardio. Not only did they find that both groups increased aerobic capacity, but the high-intensity group lost 9x more body fat!

Here’s what the study looked like:

Test Group #1 Workout:

• 20 Weeks
• 4-5x a week workouts
• 30 – 45 minutes on the exercise bike
• Intensity at 60 – 85% of max heart rate

Test Group #2 Workout:

• 15 weeks (5 less weeks)
• 20 – 35 minute workouts on the exercise bike at 60 – 85% of max heart rate (10 – 25 minutes less per workout)
• 19 short-intervals (15 – 30 second sprints) at 90 – 95% of max heart rate
• 16 long-intervals (60 – 60 second sprints) at 90 – 95% of max heart rate

Results (quoted from study):

“Because the first group worked out for a longer time period (20 against 15 weeks), conducted more total workouts (90 against 60 sessions) and completed longer individual training sessions, total energy expenditure during training was twice as great in the first group as in the second group. However, each group achieved about a 30-per-cent increase in maximal aerobic capacity. Most surprisingly, the second group (the interval-trained athletes who performed less total work) had a NINEFOLD greater loss of body fat than the first group.”

Tomorrow, I’ll give you some possible reasons why high-intensity interval training burns so much more fat than slow paced, longer distance cardio sessions.

Source: 'lmpact of Exercise Intensity on Body Fatness and Skeletal Muscle Metabolism, ' Metabolism, vol. 43(7), pp 814-818