Just thought I'd add that although the HIIT training can burn equal or greater levels of fats than steady state aerobic training (efficiency vs. volume), it does not illicit the same cardiovascular response and adaptation.

So basically, HIIT is more valuable for those who are more focussed on fat loss than cardiovascular adaptation.

What about the Tabata study that looked at the impact of HIIT on cardio fitness / adaptation specifically ?

My understanding was that when the cardio fitness impact of the Tabata HIIT protocol was compared to the cardio fitness impact of doing 60 minutes of steady moderate cardio ( i.e at 70% VO2MAX ) or " steady state aerobic training " - after 6 weeks - the 60 minute protocol showed an increase in VO2MAX and no real improvement in anaerobic capacity whereas the HIIT protocol showed a greater improvement in VO2MAX ( compared to the 60 minutes protocol ) as well as an improvement in anaerobic capacity.

Wouldn't the Tabata study therefore suggest that it may be possible to achieve a cardiovascular adaptation via HIIT at least close to similar - if not better than - the cardiovascular adaptation you might see from " steady state aerobic training " ?

What are your thoughts on the Tabata study ?

Also, how would you compare the impact of HIIT vs steady state aerobic training on a specific sought after " adaptation " - namely, using cardio training to raise one's lactate threshold ? What is the most optimal cardio protocol to raise your ' lactate threshold ' in your view ?

Wrangell, I haven't read the Tabata, but I've seen other studies that swing the other way where little cardio adaptation occurred from HIIT type training. I'm trying to see if I can't find any of them so I can give a look at how the testing was conducted. I don't have access to the Tabata research, other than abstracts, do you have a link to an accessible version of the fulltext?

Nope.

Just saw the Tabata abstract and have also seen Tabata mentioned ( by way of reference ) a number of times in books, mags, on-line etc. as one of the ' landmark ' HIIT studies that suggested HIIT training could yield significant benefits to V02 max and anaerobic conditioning.

I'm having trouble finding it, but I had read an research article summarizing several research studies that had stated VO2 max increases derived from HIIT were due to improvements in both lactate threshold and overall anaerobic capacity, not from aerobic adaptations that would be beneficial to preventing CVD. Unfortunately I read that a while back and haven't been able to find it again, so I know I'm not helping anything .

Granted we've gone a way off topic, but it's a pretty safe bet that good exercise program should contain elements of both steady-state aerobic and HIIT training.