Steady State vs. Interval Training: Introduction
In recent years there has been what can be called a ‘paradigm shift’ in how fat loss training is approached. Rather than endless aerobic training, the focus is on intensity and interval training (a type of training where you alternate periods of higher intensity with periods of lower intensity).
I’ve heard a variety of amusing things along the lines of ‘Faster is always better, don’t walk if you can run, don’t run if you can sprint’ and other unqualified nonsense (in a less generous mood I’d call this complete bullshit but I’m feeling generous today).
I’ve even seen it recently claimed that not only will steady state cardio not help you get lean, it can make you get fatter. Never mind that four decades of bodybuilders got contest lean using nothing but low intensity cardio, apparently in the year 2008 it can make you fatter.
Right……
A lot of this is simply a gross overreaction to the exceedingly high emphasis on cardio, some of it is based on recent research (much of which is being taken out of context). A lot of it is aimed at selling product.
Unfortunately, this advice, uncritically applied is leading people down some very very bad roads and is causing some real problems.
Now, this is something I’ve written about before, there’s a two part series examining the topic in the article archive.
Read Steady State and Interval Training: Part 1.
Read Steady State and Interval Training: Part 2.
This is also a topic I discuss (especially within the context of extreme leanness) in some detail in my Stubborn Fat Solution, which includes protocols aimed at fat loss that incorporate both steady state cardio (the stuff that apparently makes you fatter) and intervals. It’s mainly a matter of how they are used that is at issue here.
And that’s the topic of the following series of articles.
The series continues in: Endurance Training and Obesity: Effect on Substrate Metabolism and Insulin Sensitivity.
Glad to see a revisiting of this topic from the newsletter, one of my favorites actually. Hopefully some good guru bashing can be disseminated to the masses here. [grin] It’s obviously too “common sense” for any T-bros to grasp the deep conceptual theory behind the reality of things on this subject. Still, though, there might be some people out there who’ve been hearing this argument put forth by the “expert coaches” and want to see some solid evidence to put an end to the bull…
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