Cardio vs Interval Cardio and Fat Loss

Any of you that have known me for any length of time understand that I am NOT a proponent of steady state aerobic training for fat loss. In fact I've told many folks many times that if they want to stay fat, keep doing steady state aerobic training.

Here's a bit of research that might shed some light on this subject:

Trapp EG and Boutcher SH
Fat loss following 15 weeks of high intensity, intermittent cycle training
Fat Loss Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine,
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Here's the basic low-down:
There were 2 groups - Group One did 40 mins of steady state aerobics at 60% VO2 max ( their maximum breathing capacity), three times per week for 15 weeks.

Group 2 did 20 mins (notice: that's HALF the time of Group 1) of interval training (8 seconds of work, 12 seconds of rest x 60 rounds), three times per week for a total of 15 weeks. Just so you know...Group two did just 5 mins total work the first week.

The researchers monitored the eating habits and diets of both groups very closely.

Here's the good part: The steady state aerobic group GAINED half a kilogram (about 1 pound) of fat in 15 weeks.

The interval training group LOST, on average, 2.5kg of fat over the same 15 weeks!

The researchers were very intrigued by the possibilities, so they removed two folks who were already pretty lean (their BMI was less than 20) and the results of the group 2 improved even further. By how much?

An average of 3.9kg of fat! One researcher commented that two women from Group 2 lost 8kg of fat!

So what's the bottom line?

Let's look at it mathematically:
Group 1 (the aerobic training group) GAINED fat.
Group 2 (the interval training group) LOST fat. In fact, they lost almost 8 times as much fat as the steady state group and trained only half the time!

Which group would YOU rather be in?

Steve

Steve Payne is San Antonio's premier fat loss expert. If you're really serious about fat loss, then please consider San Antonio's finest fat loss "boot camp", the Firestorm Fitness Systems Fat Burning Fit Camps, The 28 Day Miracle Fat Loss Program or you can e-mail Steve here for more information on his many GUARANTEED success programs.