Cardiowell supported · human dataDiscovery of the day
A Cochrane review pooling 58 trials in 2075 sedentary adults found HIIT raised VO2max by 5.98 mL/min/kg and trimmed waist circumference versus doing no exercise, but improved VO2max by only 1.39 mL/min/kg more than steady moderate cardio, with no clear differences between the two on blood pressure, waistline or triglycerides.
- Study design
- Meta-analysis
- Journal
- Cochrane Database Syst Rev
- Evidence
- well supported
What it shows: About as trustworthy as exercise evidence gets: a Cochrane sweep of all the studies on this, pooling 58 trials in 2075 sedentary adults, though every trial was small and every session was supervised. Certainty for the HIIT versus steady cardio comparison was rated low, so that small fitness edge could yet shrink or grow.Meta-analysis · Cochrane Database Syst Rev
High-intensity interval training for reducing cardiometabolic syndrome in healthy but sedentary populations. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2026Read the study →