• All new members please introduce your self here and welcome to the board:
    http://www.professionalmuscle.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259
Buy Needles And Syringes With No Prescription
M4B Store Banner
intex
Riptropin Store banner
Generation X Bodybuilding Forum
Buy Needles And Syringes With No Prescription
Buy Needles And Syringes With No Prescription
Mysupps Store Banner
IP Gear Store Banner
PM-Ace-Labs
Ganabol Store Banner
Spend $100 and get bonus needles free at sterile syringes
Professional Muscle Store open now
sunrise2
PHARMAHGH1
kinglab
ganabol2
Professional Muscle Store open now
over 5000 supplements on sale at professional muscle store
azteca
granabolic1
napsgear-210x65
advertise1
over 5000 supplements on sale at professional muscle store
over 5000 supplements on sale at professional muscle store
ashp210
UGFREAK-banner-PM
esquel
YMSGIF210x65-Banner
over 5000 supplements on sale at professional muscle store
over 5000 supplements on sale at professional muscle store
over 5000 supplements on sale at professional muscle store
over 5000 supplements on sale at professional muscle store
over 5000 supplements on sale at professional muscle store
over 5000 supplements on sale at professional muscle store
over 5000 supplements on sale at professional muscle store

HIIT vs LISS for Heart Health

BoredStiff

Active member
Registered
Joined
Jan 24, 2019
Messages
291
Don't care about fat loss at all, strictly speaking for heart health and overall health benefits, have any studies shown one to better than the other? Or from just your anecdotal evidence?

I'm talking 60 minutes of very brisk walking 3x a week vs 3 20 minute HIIT sessions (I can only handle about 10 minutes right now, 10-15 seconds full-out sprinting, 45 seconds of rest). This isn't sport-specific, I just never focused on cardio like a typical meathead for the last 15+ years and now that I'm in my mid-thirties, I want to be able to go for a hike and try stuff like rock-climbing etc. without getting all winded, and just all around be healthier.
 
I think that in general LISS is better, I would only do HIIT if I would not have time and I want to accelerate the loss of fat.

If you lift weights, I do not see the need or the benefit of HIIT.
 
According to the graphic on the cardio machines your heart rate needs to go over a certain fresh hold before it’s classed as cardio, it’s age pacific, age 30 is around 140+ heart rate for example

Cardio is short for cardiovascular aka heart

So I would go with hiit being better for heart health, I struggle to get my HR over 100 walking fast
 
I think it you are over 40 LISS is the better option. HIIT puts alot of stress on the heart in a short amount of time which is fine if you are young and healthy. As far as doing LISS on a treadmill, I have no problems getting my HR over 120 if I have the incline set at 6-7% and the speed at 3.2-3.4 during a 60 minute session. On the elliptical my HR gets as high as 140 for 60 minutes. Another reason I prefer LISS is that there have been several studies that prove LISS helps to generate new brain cells. When I saw this I thought " Well hell.....sign me up for that! Lord knows I could use a few new ones.... "
 
This is probably the worst for bodybuilding purposes but I feel best mentally/physically/energy wise when I gas myself for 30 minutes or so, so keeping whatever max pace I can for 30 minutes.

I usually do a combo of that and LISS when dieting, but if I'm having a stressful day I'll go for the 30 minute method.
 
I think it you are over 40 LISS is the better option. HIIT puts alot of stress on the heart in a short amount of time which is fine if you are young and healthy. As far as doing LISS on a treadmill, I have no problems getting my HR over 120 if I have the incline set at 6-7% and the speed at 3.2-3.4 during a 60 minute session. On the elliptical my HR gets as high as 140 for 60 minutes. Another reason I prefer LISS is that there have been several studies that prove LISS helps to generate new brain cells. When I saw this I thought " Well hell.....sign me up for that! Lord knows I could use a few new ones.... "

This is a big part of my personal debate. HIIT trashes me to the point where I sometimes feel it's actually taking too much out of my nervous system. 3.5 on an incline or going by feel on an elliptical I can keep myself out of breath enough, it's not the same lung-burn, "holy shit, don't puke" feeling from a HIIT session, but it's enough to where I can't hold a conversation very well.

But I question whether the intensity translates to real life. Because truth me told, 4 minutes of TABATA destroys me, nothing leaves me literally afraid of passing out because I'm gasping for air like 4 minutes of tabata...... but I'm not totally convinced that 4 minutes of cardio is actually doing much for me. It's similar to the fact that I can take a 5 pound dumbbell and do 500 curls and I'm probably going to have severe DOMS for a week but I'm not going to get any growth from it.
 
Last edited:
if you just want to be able to go for a hike and climb a wall.....then just go hiking and climbing.
u sayin u have to TRAIN for recreational activities?
goddam. just do it, man.
thats like me thinking i gotta ride a trainer before i go out road biking.
 
Great writing you did there Jeff.

I do wonder, you talk about hiit being the best for cardiomyopathy and LVH (if variabels like bp are healthy) induced by aas. Would hiit still be 'safe' if you're on/ use supraphysiologic levels of hormones? Am I thinking too bro that the combination would induce growth from the heart? Or does it not work that way?:eek:
It's a fair point. There's a direct, androgen-receptor mediated effect of AAS on cardiomyocyte growth. So in principal, the high-intensity exertion of the heart could induce growth of the myocardium in AAS (ab)users but not those with physiological androgen levels. That is even if blood pressure is normal.

There's no studies looking at the interaction of androgen levels and HIIT safety. And in the absence of scientific evidence, it's OK to rely on common-sense broscience reasoning.

Here's my broscience take on it: The reason HIIT in hypertensive patients leads to maladaptations is due to pressure overload. The heart muscle has to contract against a higher resistance in the presence of hypertension. If you do low intensity cardio, you get all the health benefits of cardio while not overexerting the heart. But if you make the heart beat very fast against that high resistance, this is gonna cause a lot of damage and thereby impulse for growth.

But if there is no hypertension, then the exertion for the heart from HIIT is more like cardio than it is resistance exercise: Your heart is beating fast, but against a low resistance. So even if there's very high activation of the heart's androgen receptors, the underlying stimulus is not strong enough to lead to significant hypertrophy. Much like you're not getting huge legs by taking a shit ton of gear and just riding the bicycle.

But again, that's just speculation. What I can say with high confidence is the following:

1) If you are on TRT or natural, and your blood pressure is in range, HIIT is superior, hands down.

2) If you are blasting AAS and have uncontrolled hypertension, then HIIT will fuck up your heart.

3) If you blast AAS but keep your blood pressure down, then probably, HIIT is safe and superior to moderate intensity cardio. But if you want to be on the safe side, stick to moderate intensity cardio, so something like 60 to 70% of maximum heart rate for 30 min.

4) Low intensity cardio is trash. It will help with things like weight loss, has positive metabolic effects, and does help a little bit with cardiorespiratory fitness. But it won't do nearly as much in terms of heart health as more intense, shorter duration exercise.
 
Not very well versed on cardiac physiology; but I do know the vascular changes (angiogenic) as a byproduct of VEGF stimulation that happens through cardio produces positive changes in the heart. LVH thus in athletes (think endurance) is different than hypertensive cardiomyopathy (which also has LVH).

The myocardiac tissue also strengthens on top of this with cardio vs sheerly thickening with hypertension which leads to permanent dilation.

All these benefits are contingent on heart rate (hitting a certain threshold to stimulate those angiogenic factors); so yeah HIIT is pretty kewl, but: anyform of cardio > No cardio

That thread Jeff created for heart health is pretty awesome; should be stickied on here (god I wonder how much cool info gets lost with time here...).
 
if you just want to be able to go for a hike and climb a wall.....then just go hiking and climbing.
u sayin u have to TRAIN for recreational activities?
goddam. just do it, man.
thats like me thinking i gotta ride a trainer before i go out road biking.

I'll just assume you're having a bad day. Like I said, I'm not sport-specific training, I'm training to be in all-around great cardiovascular health. Meaning even if in the next six months I go nowhere outdoors, I still know my cardiovascular system is in optimal shape. I don't have time to go hiking regularly, I work, I bodybuild and have other commitments. if I did I wouldn't be asking this would I? But if I get an invite to go on a trail run or a bike ride or whatever, I want to be ready and able to do it.

And let's get real, how many bodybuilders have you seen turning red and out of breath just giving an interview? That's my point, I don't want that to be me, and I'm simply asking if one form of cardio is optimal for health over another. If that question upsets you for some reason, perhaps go participate in another thread which DOES interest you?
 
It's a fair point. There's a direct, androgen-receptor mediated effect of AAS on cardiomyocyte growth. So in principal, the high-intensity exertion of the heart could induce growth of the myocardium in AAS (ab)users but not those with physiological androgen levels. That is even if blood pressure is normal.

There's no studies looking at the interaction of androgen levels and HIIT safety. And in the absence of scientific evidence, it's OK to rely on common-sense broscience reasoning.

Here's my broscience take on it: The reason HIIT in hypertensive patients leads to maladaptations is due to pressure overload. The heart muscle has to contract against a higher resistance in the presence of hypertension. If you do low intensity cardio, you get all the health benefits of cardio while not overexerting the heart. But if you make the heart beat very fast against that high resistance, this is gonna cause a lot of damage and thereby impulse for growth.

But if there is no hypertension, then the exertion for the heart from HIIT is more like cardio than it is resistance exercise: Your heart is beating fast, but against a low resistance. So even if there's very high activation of the heart's androgen receptors, the underlying stimulus is not strong enough to lead to significant hypertrophy. Much like you're not getting huge legs by taking a shit ton of gear and just riding the bicycle.

But again, that's just speculation. What I can say with high confidence is the following:

1) If you are on TRT or natural, and your blood pressure is in range, HIIT is superior, hands down.

2) If you are blasting AAS and have uncontrolled hypertension, then HIIT will fuck up your heart.

3) If you blast AAS but keep your blood pressure down, then probably, HIIT is safe and superior to moderate intensity cardio. But if you want to be on the safe side, stick to moderate intensity cardio, so something like 60 to 70% of maximum heart rate for 30 min.

4) Low intensity cardio is trash. It will help with things like weight loss, has positive metabolic effects, and does help a little bit with cardiorespiratory fitness. But it won't do nearly as much in terms of heart health as more intense, shorter duration exercise.

Thank you sir, extremely informative. And I should correct myself when I say LISS I do mean a moderate intensity.
 
And let's get real, how many bodybuilders have you seen turning red and out of breath just giving an interview? That's my point, I don't want that to be me, and I'm simply asking if one form of cardio is optimal for health over another. If that question upsets you for some reason, perhaps go participate in another thread which DOES interest you?

If you do not want to be in that situation, I think the type of cardio you need to do is the last thing that should concern you.
 
For heart health 140 bpm is good. even 120 . 160 is getting up there...180 is pushing it...I havnt gotten over 180 bpm recently. Sometimes Im not concerned about bpm and just do my cardio.

I push myself doing cardio. That said, I do instinctive cardio.
 
Last edited:
Interesting thread. Perhaps someone knowledgable on BP meds and cardiac hypertrophy could chime in. i.e. renin angiotensin. I bring it up b/c some are shown to prevent cardiac LVH in AAS use from what I can recall. I wouldn't recommend just jumping on without close monitoring and it took me a while to be convinced but something to contemplate when cycling especially if you are one that gets high BP and red cell numbers.
 
Lazy people will tell you that LISS is better, but unfortunately for them, science doesn't care about their feelings. Assuming you're healthy, do a few HIIT intervals a week and you'll not only save yourself tons of time, you will improve your health. Don't do crazy amounts of HIIT. You need very little to improve your health. A good tactic is combining a small amount of HIIT with a small amount of some moderate cardio. Long amounts of cardio of any type isn't necessary.

(I am saying all of this assuming the person is healthy)

Or better yet, click the thread Jeff linked and study it.
 
Last edited:
Lazy people will tell you that LISS is better, but unfortunately for them, science doesn't care about their feelings. Assuming you're healthy, do a few HIIT intervals a week and you'll not only save yourself tons of time, you will improve your health. Don't do crazy amounts of HIIT. You need very little to improve your health. A good tactic is combining a small amount of HIIT with a small amount of some moderate cardio. Long amounts of cardio of any type isn't necessary.

(I am saying all of this assuming the person is healthy)

Or better yet, click the thread Jeff linked and study it.

Call me crazy but I like doing 60 min cardio sessions. The endorphin buzz I get puts me in a good state of mind for the rest of the day.
 
4) Low intensity cardio is trash. It will help with things like weight loss, has positive metabolic effects, and does help a little bit with cardiorespiratory fitness. But it won't do nearly as much in terms of heart health as more intense, shorter duration exercise.

How do you define "low intensity"?
 
Call me crazy but I like doing 60 min cardio sessions. The endorphin buzz I get puts me in a good state of mind for the rest of the day.

Nothing wrong with liking it and it’s certainly better than nothing. To be clear, I was talking about LISS, not medium intensity
 

Staff online

  • LATS
    Moderator / FOUNDING Member / NPC Judge

Forum statistics

Total page views
558,031,105
Threads
135,753
Messages
2,768,552
Members
160,341
Latest member
Sickxlost
NapsGear
HGH Power Store email banner
your-raws
Prowrist straps store banner
infinity
FLASHING-BOTTOM-BANNER-210x131
raws
Savage Labs Store email
Syntherol Site Enhancing Oil Synthol
aqpharma
yourmuscleshop210x131
hulabs
ezgif-com-resize-2-1
MA Research Chem store banner
MA Supps Store Banner
volartek
Keytech banner
musclechem
Godbullraw-bottom-banner
Injection Instructions for beginners
Knight Labs store email banner
3
ashp131
YMS-210x131-V02
Back
Top