Does high-intensity interval training (HIIT) improve peak aerobic capacity and cardiovascular risk factors in healthy adults and those with cardiovascular diseases?
HIIT is a time-efficient alternative to MICT that provides equal or greater improvements in aerobic capacity and cardiovascular risk factors in both healthy individuals and cardiac patients.
Although moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) has been the traditional model for aerobic exercise training for over four decades, a growing body of literature has demonstrated equal if not greater improvement in aerobic capacity and similar beneficial effects on body composition, glucose metabolism, blood pressure, and quality of life from high-intensity interval training (HIIT). An advantage of HIIT over MICT is the shorter time required to perform the same amount of energy expenditure. The current brief review summarizes the effects of HIIT on peak aerobic capacity and cardiovascular risk factors in healthy adults and those with various cardiovascular diseases, including coronary artery disease, chronic heart failure, and post heart transplantation.
Jerome L. Fleg (Wed,) studied this question.