Originally Posted by
bakerjw
I read an article by a woman triathlete who was trying to lose that type of weight. She was calorie conscious and regularly training but couldn't get rid of it. The article referenced a study that used 2 groups of women. One group did 45 minutes of high resistance training and the other did 20 minutes of interval training. The study measured HGH levels and found them elevated in the interval group.
The interval training group lost more weight overall. I will say that it supposedly had to do with fast twitch muscle as opposed to slow twitch muscle. I will say supposedly because that is a source of controversy.
I will try to find that article as I found it quite interesting.
ETA a couple of interesting links. Lots out there. Although I believe that a strong base is desired which comes by time in the saddle, intervals and hill repeats have a great benefit.
4 weeks of high-intensity interval training does not alter the exercise-induced growth hormone response in sedentary men
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4363223/
11 Research-Backed Reasons You Should Be Doing HIIT Instead of Traditional Cardio
https://www.trainforeverstrong.com/1...tional-cardio/
That second link is a sales pitch, and I know that some of the research it cites has not held up to later studies. Also, it's contradicted somewhat by your first link.
The "boost metabolism" claims that are being made for HIIT are wildly overstated to market HIIT as a 30 minute a day weight loss program. It's only about a 250 calorie bump per day from a half hour of traditional cardio, and doing HIIT every day is not recommended for sound medical reasons.
For me, the advantage of biking over other workouts is that biking is fun, therefore I can do more of it. I find that the more I ride around, the more likely it is that I will just end up places I really WANT to ride fast, and that's sufficient to push up the calorie burn.
There's no miracle here, doing anything for only 20 minutes a day is really not going to burn much fat.