Moderate Versus Intense Workouts – Which Is Best For You?

As you set out to begin your workout program, it’s important that you do at least get some cardio training into the picture as cardio will bring numerous health benefits that cannot be overlooked.

Cardio will reduce your stress level, promote good heart health, and help to increase the circulation and blood flow throughout the body. Plus, it burns calories and this can go a long way towards helping assist with weight control.

That said, as you add this cardio exercise into your overall workout plan, you might start to wonder whether you should be doing highly intense interval sessions or whether you would be better off keeping it more moderate paced instead.

Both types of workouts have their pros and cons, so it’s up to you to decide which will work best given your own situation.

Let’s have a quick look at the most important things that you need to know.

Intense Interval Workouts

The first big benefit to intense interval sessions is that they’re great for fat burning.  Not only will you burn more calories minute per minute doing the workout because you are working at such an intense level, but you’ll also continue to burn more calories for hours after the session is completed.

This adds up significantly overtime and can definitely influence the long-term fat loss rate that you see.

Another advantage to these workouts is that they’re fast.  You’re typically in and out of the gym in about 20-30 minutes, so for anyone with a busy schedule, they’ll definitely be preferable.

Finally, intense interval workouts tend to boost your fitness level more as well.  Any time you place an overloading stress on the body you’ll be seeing fitness improvements provided you do recover from that session, so intervals win out again.

On the down side however, these workouts are intense.  If you’re doing three or four lifting workouts per week, you may have trouble recovering from all this exercise without suffering from overtraining.

Secondly, they’re not suitable for beginners.  If you’re brand new to exercise, jumping into an interval program is not a wise decision.

Finally, they rely on glucose for fuel. Your body simply can’t utilized stored body fat fast enough to keep up the pace of this form of workout, so if you’re on a low carb diet, these simply won’t be an option for you.

Moderate Paced Sessions

So that brings us to the moderate paced sessions.  While these do take more time in the gym, they’re far superior for the beginner exerciser or someone who wants something less taxing on the body or something that utilizes no glucose.

You can really add as much moderate intensity cardio to your week as you’d like, provided you aren’t running the risk of overuse injury of course.

This form of cardio is quite easy to recover from, so doesn’t pose nearly the threat that intervals does.

So there you have the basic points to keep in mind with regards to both forms of exercise.  Choose wisely and you’ll select the form of workout that is going to bring you the most optimal success possible.