I’ve been a fan of HIIT and interval training for well over a decade. The metabolism gets faster, your natural fat burning hormone , or HGH is increased, and in short, you get rid of much more body fat than simply dieting. None of this is news to those familiar with interval training. What many people don’t realize is that interval training also increases your ability to do endurance exercise.

Exciting Results With The Interval Training Study

The Journal of Applied Physiology had a study published in 1995, where they divided 16 participants into two groups. For two weeks, eight of the people did sprint intervals, and the other eight people did nothing at all. Both groups were tested for endurance capacity, before and after these two weeks. They found that the interval group doubled their “endurance capacity” in this short time period!

Endurance Benefits Better Than Endurance Exercise

Although we now know that High Intensity Interval Training, certainly increases endurance in people better than those that do nothing, what are the benefits for those who do endurance exercise? The results of the interval study, according to researchers, is that they are better or comparable, to aerobic- based training studies that lasted the same amount of time. The subjects in their study, increased their endurance capacity more than an endurance study…where the participants did endurance exercise for a total of 20 hours in two weeks (2 hours per day for 5 days each week).

15 Minutes of HIIT vs 2 Hours of “Regular” Cardio?

It is kind of crazy to think that doing HIIT can increase endurance capacity more than doing endurance exercise itself. For many people out there, this is a huge paradigm shift. The facts of the study hasn’t become widely known, but the information isn’t new at all. To this day, I rarely see people doing any type of interval work in the gym. It really is mind boggling! For more than 15 years, we have been aware that HIIT is better at burning fat, and for the last 5 years, we have found that one of the ultimate ways to boost endurance, is by doing interval training.

How Can This Help Endurance Athletes?

I still believe that you must include endurance exercise if you are an endurance athlete. You have to strengthen the tendons and muscles to be able to endure the pain involved in endurance exercise. The best thing to do, is to do a mix of intervals along with your endurance training. That way you get the best of both worlds.

How Does This Help Everyone Else?

I like to “milk” a little more fat burning after HIIT by throwing in some steady state cardio. My body, as well as my joints are also in better condition, so that helps with sports that need me to run for a long time. It is wonderful when you can run for 20-30 minutes, and not have to suffer through body aches for a few days afterward. Right now, I only do this 1-2 times a week. When what you are after is slimming down, then there isn’t great need for extended periods of steady state cardio.