HIIT vs. Steady-State for Fat Loss: Can EPOC Really Explain the Benefits of Intense Interval Training (HIIT, SIE, HIE)?
HIIT has been touted to work its fat burning magic by increasing post-exercise oxygen consumption aka EPOC, a marker of the amount of fat you burn after your workouts. Eventually, however, only the total oxygen consumption and energy expenditure count and this is where the putative mechanism behind the fat loss effects of HIIT lacks scientific backup. Higher excess postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) after high-intensity interval exercise (HIIT / HIE) and sprint interval exercise (SIE) has long been touted to explain the greater fat loss scientists observed in several studies which compared the fat loss effects effects classic "cardio" aka steady-state exercise (SSE) to interval training (HIIT / HIE). To elucidate whether that's a reasonable and, more importantly, sufficient (meaning: "Is the increased energy expenditure high enough to explain the fat loss, even if the steady state exercise consumes more energy and fat on total?") explanation for the p...