If you’re looking for an easy workout that will give you a great cardio session, then try out a long walk or short HIIT workout. It’ll burn fat fast and keep you motivated throughout the whole session.
Everyone knows that exercise is essential, but many people struggle to find a workout routine that they can stick to. Most people want something that’s going to be effective and easy to do. There are many different types of exercise out there, and it can be hard to decide which one is best for you. This article will help you determine whether a long walk or HIIT workout is better for weight loss.
That’s how you should think of high-intensity interval training and low-intensity steady-state cardio. One kind of workout isn’t necessarily superior to another, but one may be better suited for you, depending on your fitness goals. What exactly is the difference? HIIT involves alternating short bursts of intense effort followed by periods of rest or active relaxation. There are many ways of doing HIIT, but some common work-to-recovery ratios include 30 seconds of work and 60 seconds of rest, 45 seconds of work and 15 seconds rest, or four minutes alternating between 20 seconds of hard work and 10 seconds of light activity.
If you’re new to exercise and want to get moving
LISS is a good workout for beginners who want to get started exercising again. You can do this workout for a long time without feeling too tired. HIIT workouts are short but intense. They improve your fitness level quickly. These types of exercises require lots of energy and focus. It’s great for those looking to build muscle and burn fat.
The critical difference between these two styles of workouts is intensity. While both offer benefits, each offers different results. If you’ve never exercised before, start slow and gradually increase how often you train. As you become stronger, try adding resistance bands into your routine.
If you want to lose weight and rev up your metabolism
Doing any LISS (low-intensity steady state) cardio will burn calories, but HIIT (high-intensity interval training) will burn more calories. However, if you do both types of cardio, you will burn more calories overall. This is why many experts recommend combining low-intensity cardio like walking with intervals of higher intensity, such as running or cycling.
HIIT is also known as Tabata Training. To perform HIIT correctly, you need to follow strict rules. For example, when you make sprints, the rest should not exceed 2 seconds. Also, make sure you don’t overdo it by trying to complete 20 rounds per session. Do 3 sets of 10 reps instead.
What type of Cardio?
When choosing what kind of cardio to include in your program, remember that moderate aerobic activity burns fewer calories than vigorous aerobic activity. So choose something easy enough that you won’t tire quickly during the day. And keep in mind that even though you might think you’ll burn off 100 calories after 30 minutes of brisk walking, only 50% of them count toward meeting your daily calorie needs. That means you still have to eat 150 calories worth of food every single day to maintain your body weight!
You can use either a treadmill or stationary bike for HIIT. Both machines allow you to adjust speed and incline levels. Treadmills typically cost less money than bikes, but they take longer to warm up and cool down. Bikes are better suited for outdoor activities since they don’t heat up as much.
For maximum benefit from HIIT, aim for four sessions per week. Each session should last around 15–20 minutes. Start slowly and add 5–10 minute increments until you reach 40 minutes total.
What Is Cardio Exercise And How Does It Help With Weight Loss?
Cardiovascular activity includes any physical movement that raises your heart rate above 60 beats per minute. Examples include running, swimming, biking, dancing, hiking, playing sports, etc. When you perform cardiovascular activities, your body uses oxygen to provide fuel for muscles throughout your body. Your lungs use oxygen during cardio exercises to help them pump air through your blood vessels. In addition, your brain needs oxygen to function correctly. By using oxygen from your bloodstream, your brain gets enough oxygen to think clearly and stay alert.
When you perform aerobic exercise, you also raise your metabolism by burning extra calories. Burning calories helps you shed pounds faster than doing strength training alone. Aerobic exercise burns approximately 300 to 500 calories every 30 minutes. Strength training only burns around 100 calories after working out for 30 minutes. So when combined, you’ll see better results!
What is HIIT exercise?
HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training. It is a form of exercise where you perform an intense exercise for a short period, followed by rest. HIIT workouts typically last 10 minutes or less. Many people believe HIIT is the best form of exercise for weight loss. However, you have to think about the other variables when selecting your workout routine. Size of the gym, type of equipment, and guidelines for workouts are other factors to consider when choosing an effective workout routine.
HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training, and it is the perfect workout for weight loss. HIIT exercises — also commonly known as high-intensity interval training — are intense bouts of exercise where your muscles are put under greater stress than they’re accustomed to during a specific workout. These intense exercise bouts are usually one to three times per week and range anywhere from 60–120 seconds long.
The Benefits of a Long Walk vs. HIIT
According to the American Council on Exercise, a long walk can improve cardiovascular health, improve mental health, and support weight loss. It can be an excellent way to enhance overall health and a way to build lean muscle mass. To maintain or build lean muscle mass, a slow-to-moderate pace walk is usually a better way to go.
In a study on older adults, researchers found that those who walked for more than 22.2 minutes at a pace of 8.0–10.9 miles per hour (mph) burned more calories than slow walkers (with a pace of 6.5–8.3 mph) at the same age.
In another study, researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University asked participants to walk on a treadmill at various speeds with varying inclines. The scientists then monitored the participants’ energy during the exercise, heart rate, blood pressure, and body composition.
Those who walked at a steady pace (6.0 mph) burned the most calories during the exercise. However, walking at 8.3 mph resulted in more calories burned over 24 hours, making it the best option for metabolic effects (burning calories over a longer period). Walking at 8.3 mph resulted in the highest oxygen consumption rate; this resulted in the highest fat burning. The researchers concluded “intensity has a greater impact on the rate-of-energy expenditure than energy balance alone; therefore, intense exercise is the most effective and efficient method for promoting fat loss.
What is a long walk?
A long walk is anything longer than usual. For instance, if you’re used to walking for 20 minutes, then you walk for 30 minutes every day, that’s a long walk. Learning what works best for you will make you a more effective and capable person.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF A LONG WALK
A 30-minute walk is enough to improve your health, and walking for longer durations can lead to improved body composition. Your heart rate increases with each higher intensity walk, so it’s easy to get heat loss, and your calorie burn improves with each longer walk. Longer walks seem to improve your mood more, and you may find yourself getting into a more positive mood as a result.
A study that looked at the cognitive deficits in old adults after repetitive parallel sets of walking showed that the elderly experienced improvements in their memory, attention, and concentration.
Walking for 30 minutes burns approximately 100 calories. This means that you’ll lose 1 pound of weight in one month. If you want to lose weight faster, try walking for 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes. You’ll still burn around 100 calories, but you’ll lose 2 pounds in one month.
It is commonly accepted that a walk of higher intensity yields a greater caloric expenditure and greater fat burn when compared to a running speed. One need not look further than your daily commute — even if it’s a mile or less — to get this type of workout. Your commute is a great way to get into a better workout routine, such as a long walk, as you’ll get time to break a sweat and work on making your commute a little more efficient. At the end of each week, take note of your best long-distance walks, and redo the workout one week earlier.
HIIT VERSUS A LONG WALK
OK, so one workout isn’t necessarily better than another. One key factor is the duration. A long walk will wear you out more than an intense group fitness class, so it is best for decreasing cardio endurance and increasing anaerobic endurance.
Which is better for weight loss – HIIT or a long walk?
HIIT is better for weight loss because it burns more calories during and after your workout than a long walk does. Long walks offer other benefits like building muscle and being generally less stressful than HIIT.
To determine which specific type of workout you like best, it may be helpful to research the “what,” “why,” and “how” of each type of workout. Below, I’ve listed different types of workouts (listed from most popular to least) along with their ratings from those who commonly do them.
If you prefer a long walk over a HIIT workout, here is information on HIIT and how it works.
Although studies show jumps between lower and upper body exercise intensity are minimal, you’ll still burn anywhere between 4–12% more calories during 300 seconds of HIIT (as compared to a longer, slower walk) than you would during a longer steady-state walk. The short duration of HIIT helps improve your cardiovascular fitness and your metabolic rate, which is the number of calories your body burns at rest.
To be clear, you don’t have to go all out for a HIIT workout to lose more weight. Walking may burn 5–7% more calories than you’d burn during a long walk, but it requires you to work more repetitively, meaning you burn more calories per minute during a shorter endurance exercise.
Is Walking Better Than Running To Lose Weight?
Walking is low-impact compared to jogging or running. Low-impact exercise like walking doesn’t put stress on joints like higher-intensity forms of exercise such as running. Because of this, walking is considered safe even for older adults and children. Plus, if you live somewhere where there isn’t much space for outdoor recreation, walking is a perfect alternative.
Walking is easier on your knees than other forms of exercise. This makes it ideal for anyone recovering from knee surgery or arthritis. According to WebMD, “walking is especially beneficial for women over 50 years old.”
How many calories does HIIT burn?
The amount of calories you burn during high-intensity interval training (HIIT) depends on how long your workout is. A 10-minute HIIT session may burn between 150 and 300 calories, while a 30-minute HIIT session may burn 300 and 600 calories. However, the calories burned in a one-hour HIIT session are significantly higher than either of these 30-minute sessions.
So, would you rather walk for an hour every day or HIIT for 30 minutes every day?
Although both types of exercise are effective for weight loss and fat loss, choosing the right type of workout for you is essential. “The key is finding something that will be beneficial on a day-to-day basis, and it can vary from workout to work out whether it’s an hour-long walk, [or] an intense 20-minute circuit,” explains Tamara Duker Freuman, trainer and private running coach.
Those looking for an extra challenge will often walk for an hour for a marathon, try HIIT for 30 minutes on a high-intensity interval day, or do both. However, your choice of exercise sure has an impact on your final calorie tally.
How many calories does a long walk burn?
A 150-pound person walking at 3.5 miles per hour for one hour will burn about 350 calories. That’s about the same amount of calories you’ll burn walking up the stairs to your office on one floor. Will This Work For You?
This is going to depend on your goals as well as your current fitness level. What type of goal is this article for? Well, there is a goal for everyone: Fat loss. Losing weight is usually the end goal, but it’s essential to do it in a way that makes you feel good about yourself. After all, we all have tastes in life: some people want lower-calorie, more colorful options, while others want the best workout possible performing HIIT. There are people out there with ultra-athletic goals, and then there are people who are just average and enjoy a workout plan that makes their life a little easier.
What is your Goal?
If your goal is to do fat loss, an interval-based workout is the way to go. Like HIIT, interval training requires your heart rate to be high for a short period, and then it has to come down quickly, so you can recover. Interval training, however, is intense and comes with a pretty high risk of injury. “Interval training is one of the fastest ways to lose fat and reduce lean mass. It may be undesirable in the long-term because it can cause metabolic disturbances and increases the risk of getting injured,” says Erik Cedano, Ph.D., licensed clinical psychologist and the founder and director of The Light Project, a weight-loss support group in Chicago.
Let’s look at HIIT workouts. Often, trainers will encourage you to do a HIIT workout, but because it’s so intense, most people can’t stick to it for an entire 45 minutes. But studies show that people who do HIIT workouts regularly and specifically pick the exercises they know work will burn more calories.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you’re trying to get fit, losing weight, or simply wanting to improve your health, then choose either a long walk or a shorter HIIT session. If you’re not ready to commit to a full 60-minute workout, start by doing 10 minutes of cardio three times a week. Then gradually increase the time until you reach your desired length. Remember, though, make sure you enjoy it no matter what kind of workout you decide to do!
Alex is a fitness aficionado, empowers others towards healthier, active lives through small, sustainable changes for lasting results. Visit Gearuptofit.com for insightful tips and resources to enrich a balanced lifestyle.