If you have gone too hard, LISS might even be the answer. “Regular low-impact exercises can enhance flexibility, balance and coordination,” says Morgan. “Since they also aid in active recovery, many athletes use low-impact workouts to help the body heal and strengthen between more intense workouts, improving physical performance.”
Can 25 minute workouts get you shredded?
“I’m a fan of the saying, ‘No pressure, no diamonds,’” says Blairito Provan, a trainer at F45 Chelsea. “Twenty five minutes is not a long time to create those physical wins, but if you’re working within a lower heart rate zone of 50-60 % of your max for 45 to 60 minutess, you will start to use fat as your primary energy source (rather than glycogen/carbs in a more intense HIIT session).”
In other words, it just takes longer. “You need to ask yourself, do I want to be on the ski erg for that long?” asks Provan.
A 2014 study found that HIIT is best at torching calories, but LISS combined with a good diet can lead to good results. “It’s cliché, but it is very much down to what you eat outside of the 30 minutes you are training which will dictate results,” agrees Roo Allen, head coach at Instate Fitness.
Whichever way you lean, you should consider exercise a lifestyle choice, not a weight-loss tool.
For best results, don’t ditch your usual workout, but use steady state days as a way to add variety to your usual program, and shock your system. Train smarter, not harder, by mixing it up. There’s even research to prove that doing so will make you more enthusiastic about training, full stop.
“Variation is the spice of life,” says Provan. “Your body is incredibly smart, but we need different stimuli for the neurological pathways to be kept on their toes. This will stop us from plateauing in results and growth.”
You don’t need to drastically lengthen your sessions, either. “I think being time efficient when training is an important factor. If you’re training properly and focusing on your session, you shouldn’t need any more than 60 minutes,” says Allen.
Keep lifting weights
Maintaining muscle mass is as important as protecting your joints. It too protects us as we age and helps with a variety of functional and postural movements, so even within a steady-state program, you should still incorporate controlled weightlifting.
What’s more, there is some truth that endless cardio will affect your ability to build muscle – it’s the reason why ultra runners are so slender. But if you want to ditch heavy, face-bursting weight sets, Provan recommends focusing on time under tension to build size, rather than volume.
“Strip it back and hit the negative phase with a longer hold (typically 3-4 seconds),” he suggests. “For a bicep curl, squeeze the bicep at the top of the concentric movement and lower it back down slowly. Full control, full return, without having to rinse the dumbbell rack for 20 different weight options per session. Nobody has time for that.”