Research

Mixed

Six weeks of either High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) or Moderate Intensity Training (MIT) significantly improves insulin sensitivity, reduces blood lipids, decreases body fat percentage, and improves cardiovascular fitness in sedentary overweight or obese young men.

If you are a sedentary young man who is overweight, starting either high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or moderate-intensity continuous training (MIT) for just six weeks can significantly improve your insulin sensitivity, lower bad cholesterol, reduce body fat, and boost your cardiovascular fitness. While MIT showed a slight edge in improving maximum oxygen uptake (VO2peak), both methods were effective for overall cardiometabolic health. Choose the one you can stick with, knowing that even a small amount of exercise (as little as 1 hour a week for HIIT) yields benefits.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Participation in HIIT or MIT exercise training displayed: 1) improved SI, 2) reduced blood lipids, 3) decreased % body fat, and 4) improved cardiovascular fitness.
Gordon Fisher et al. · PLoS ONE · 2015

Why this rating

Randomized controlled trial with a small sample size (n=28) and short duration (6 weeks), limiting generalizability.

Source

High Intensity Interval- vs Moderate Intensity- Training for Improving Cardiometabolic Health in Overweight or Obese Males: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Gordon Fisher et al. · PLoS ONE · 2015

DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0138853

rct · n=28Cited 240×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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