Why Interval Training Is Better Than Spending Hours On The Treadmill

If you’re like most people out there, you’ve been putting in the ‘time’ lately with your cardio training as you work towards reaching the goal of that dream body. You know that burning more calories than you take in each day is important if you want to see fat loss and as such, you are sure to get your cardio in there.
Day after day after day you’re spending 30-60 minutes slaving away on the treadmill, hoping to finally melt that fat off for good.
But yet, that fat never seems to budge. Try as you might – and you might even be uping the total treadmill hours you do put in, nothing seems to work.
What’s the problem?
The problem is that you’re not doing the right form of cardio training for maximum fat loss. If you really want to see results with your cardio training program, interval training is where it’s at.
Let’s take a quick look at some of the biggest benefits that interval cardio training offers over that of steady state training.
Increased Post-Exercise Calorie Burn
The very first major benefit you’ll get from high intensity interval training (otherwise known as HIIT) is a very high post exercise calorie burn. What this essentially states is that immediately after the workout is finished, you’re going to continue to burn calories at a greatly elevated pace for hours to come.
How good does that sound? Burn fat while you sit on the couch and watch late-night TV. For most people, it’s a dream come true.
That is precisely what HIIT will do. You’ll burn more calories 24/7 when you include it as part of your workout routine.
Shorter Workout Sessions
Second, another big benefit to doing HIIT is that it will really cut back on the total amount of time you have to spend working out. Since you are working at such a high intensity, your workouts are going to be limited to about 15-20 minutes each.
So if you want a workout where you get into the gym and get out again, this is the workout for you. For anyone who’s short on time, interval training is the way to go.
Far Less Boredom
Third, another big reason why interval training is far superior than slaving away for hours on the treadmill is because it’s far less boring. Let’s face it, 60 minutes at once on the treadmill is not all that interesting.
If you happen to have your favourite show on TV, it may not be all that bad, but if you’re able to watch TV while you do your cardio, how hard are you really working?
Interval training constantly changes up the intensity so you’re going to find that boredom never becomes an obstacle. Less boredom means more adherence and that will mean better results.
So there you have three big benefits of interval cardio training. If you haven’t added this to your workout yet, it’s time that you started doing so.