Why Is a 15-Minute HIIT Workout More Effective Than a 45-Minute Long-Distance Run?

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Why is a 15 minute HIIT workout more effective than a 45 minute long distance run? This is JJ Virgin four times New York Times bestselling author, celebrity nutrition expert, and Fitness hall of Famer. I've been on a lifelong quest for answers to the toughest health questions and now I'm sharing what I found with you. Welcome to Ask the Health Expert. Bonnie from Instagram asks, why is a 15 minute HIIT workout more effective than a 45 minute long distance run? All right, well first, what the heck's a hiit workout? It stands for High Intensity Interval Training, and I will be right back to show you how you can save time and get an even better workout. Stay with me.

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HIIT training. I call it burst to blast fat. And I'm a huge fan of this. Not only because it means you can work out and get fit in literally minutes a day, a few times a week, but also because there's a lot more benefits than those long distance workouts. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about moving more. And I think that we should be moving more for an hour plus a day. That means walking the dog, taking the stairs, parking farther away, all of that. Yes. But when you're getting into the workout, I want you to focus on interval training rather than that focus 45 minute or longer steady state run. When you're doing that higher heart rate. This isn't walking right, but higher heart rates. Kind of the higher middle range of your target heart rate. Cardio training for an extended period of time. Here's what happens. It raises your catabolic hormones instead of your anabolic ones. You're breaking down muscle instead of building it. It also hits your immune system. In fact, they've looked at long distance runners after they run and their immune system is depressed for a couple hours afterwards. It also creates a lot of oxidative stress. What the heck is that? You don't want it is the key thing. Oxidative stress is sort of like what happens when you cut the apple open and exposed air. Actually, it's exactly that. It's basically rusting from the inside out. And it's very, very aging. All right, let's contrast that with short bursts high intensity interval training. First of all, let me define this. This can be something that you do all out. And this means that in 10 to 60 seconds, and by the way, the shorter you do this, the better. So don't like save up for 60 seconds, go all out and fatigue yourself with full body movements in somewhere in the 10 to 60 second range. But this research is now coming out that the shorter ones, 10 to 20 seconds are probably better. You're going even harder. And this is where you go all out. You run up the stairs, you sprint, you do Turkish get ups, you do burpees. You know, some of that really, really hard stuff that gets your thighs burning and your lungs crying. That, so you do that and then you recover for twice as long. What's cool about that is the fitter you get, the faster you recover. The uncool thing is this never actually gets easier because as you get fitter, you go harder, but you'll find that you get a lot stronger. And just like any other type of training, you should mix it up. So maybe one day you go for an easy walk for three minutes, then you sprint for 20 seconds, then jogger walk it off for 40 seconds, then repeat to accumulate four to eight total minutes of the hard stuff and again in bursts. In sprints you could do that running up the stairs. You could do that by doing jumping jacks or burpees or Turkish get ups. You can mix the whole thing up. Get it? Now what's cool about that is you create a lot of oxygen debt when you do that. A case in point. I've been doing sprints on the peloton and like you just feel by the end of it you just never quite fully recover. And so I created a lot of oxygen debt which now for the next hour or so my body has to recover from that. What does that mean? That means my metabolism is working harder. I have got it kick in and I want that going on all day long. Weight training is going to help me have a better metabolism all day long because I built muscle. But high intensity interval training is going to help me boost it for a short time after I do the workout. Another thing that's awesome, besides the fact that you get that endorphin response similar to what you would've gotten doing that longer cardio training, is that you also get a growth hormone response from doing this. In fact, that push that lactic acid triggers release of the growth hormone response. So you get a bigger metabolic boost. You have anabolic hormones going up, building rather than breaking down. You don't tax your immune system. You teach your body how to handle stress better by going all out and recovering. All out and recovering trains your sympathetic nervous system how to handle stress better. You get growth hormone response, you don't hurt your immune system and you get those endorphins. What is not to love here? Plus, you can work out in such a short amount of time and you can work out anywhere. And here's the big thing, people tell me they don't work out because they don't have time. Well, if you can't find a few minutes a day to work out, then I'm going to question your commitment here. Find the time. So there you go. HIIT training is more effective and time saving than a 45 minute long distance run. This is JJ with Ask the Health Expert. I do this five times a week, so make sure you never miss a show by going to subscribetojay.com.

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