A new study affirms the effectiveness of combining intermittent fasting and high-intensity training. Here’s what to know
Optimize metabolism and improve body composition? The solution may be at hand. Indeed, the solutions, given that it involves combining two popular wellness practices: intermittent fasting, a calorie restriction strategy during certain periods of the day, and HIIT, a high-intensity cardiovascular training. One study suggests that the pairing could trigger a favorable metabolic response in the body. But how exactly does it work?
The basic idea is that intermittent fasting creates a metabolic state conducive to fat burning, while HIIT enhances the effect, pushing the body to use fat reserves as an energy source during the most intense moments of activity. This is supported by a group of researchers from the University of Sfax (Tunisia), according to which the adoption of intermittent fasting with meals limited to the interval between 8 and 16, combined with high-intensity functional training (during the fasting), can lead to significant transformations in body composition and metabolism, compared to just following a diet or an “intense” exercise regime.
For the study, conducted over 12 weeks, 64 obese women were divided into three groups: one focused exclusively on time-limited nutrition (diet only), another on high-intensity functional training (exercise only), and a third group that combined time-restricted nutrition with high-intensity functional training (diet + exercise). The latter involved 3 weekly sessions led by an instructor, each lasting one hour. These sessions included 8 sets of 8 functional exercises, including both aerobic and strength exercises, to be conducted in the afternoon/evening (one hour after starting the fast). To measure participants’ cardiometabolic health, researchers examined cholesterol, blood glucose, and lipid levels. And at the end of the study, all three groups showed weight loss, a reduction in waist/hip circumference, and positive changes in lipid and glucose levels. However, the fasting + exercise group showed an increase in lean mass as well as a favorable lowering of blood pressure, with values better than the exercise-only group and significantly higher than the diet-only group.
The study is based on a small sample size, and it is difficult to establish the precise impact of the exercise routine compared to that of intermittent fasting. But, strengthened by the result, the researchers say they are quite confident that “combining time-limited nutrition with high-intensity functional training appears to be a promising strategy to improve body composition and cardiometabolic health.” Therefore, always following favorable medical advice, intermittent fasting and HIIT training could be combined in the name of better physical shape.
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