Transcript: Wait, Is HIIT Just a Marketing Label? What Fitness Buzzwords Actually Mean
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Famous Ashley Grant introduces the episode and hands it over to guest voice note contributor Annie Landry.
Wait, you're telling me all these class names are just marketing labels? What's up, you guys? Famous Ashton Grant here. Welcome to More Movement, Please, the podcast where I hope to inspire you to move your body more. Today I have another exciting voice note, and this one comes to us from Annie Landry, and here's what she had to say. Hi, I'm Annie Landry. If you're a woman over 35 trying to figure out the best way to work out, You've probably heard a lot of buzzwords lately. HIIT, LIS, fat -burning zones, metabolic conditioning, hormone -friendly workouts. And somewhere in all of that, you're just wondering, okay, so what actually works for my body right now? Today, we're going to simplify this. Because here's the truth. There's no universally standardized definition of terms like HIT and LIS in the fitness world. There are more like marketing labels than strict scientific categories. What one trainer
Annie Landry argues that terms like HIIT and LISS have no universally standardized definitions in fitness and function more as marketing labels, then breaks down what each term loosely means in practice.
calls HIT, another might just call circuit training. What someone else calls LIS might just be walking. So let's break it down. HIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. In theory, it means short bursts of very hard effort followed by recovery. True HIIT, from an exercise physiology standpoint, usually involves near -maximal effort. Most people think of sprinting when they think of HIIT, but it can be weightlifting or, yes, even dance or Pilates if you've ever taken one of my classes or trained with me. Then we have LIS, low -intensity steady state. That's your sustained, lower -effort movement. Walking, easy cycling, inclined treadmill.
something you can do while breathing through your nose and having a conversation. But some in the fitness industry refer to running as list training as well, so you can see how these definitions can get tricky. Now here's where this becomes powerful for women over 35. As we move through our mid -30s and beyond, recovery capacity changes. Stress load matters more. Hormonal shifts are more dramatic, and piling on intense workouts every single day can backfire. That's why I love combining short, intentional, high -intensity sessions with consistent walking. The HIIT, or higher -intensity intervals, help maintain muscle, power, bone density, and metabolic health. The walking, your LIS, supports recovery, blood sugar regulation, stress management, and overall daily expenditure without spiking cortisol through the roof. It's not about choosing one. It's about pairing them strategically. Because the goal
Annie explains that hormonal shifts and recovery capacity changes after 35 make daily high-intensity training risky, and that pairing short intense sessions with consistent walking supports strength, recovery, and longevity.
isn't to train like you're 22. It's to train in a way that supports strength, longevity, and feeling amazing in your body for decades to come. So you heard it here first. Basically, all the different names that you hear for various classes, you could basically just chalk up to their marketing labels. So is it Zumba or is it just Latin dancing? Is it Latin dancing or is it dance fitness? Is it dance fitness or is it just shaking your ass to the music? You know, it's funny thinking about this because whenever I've heard different people refer to different things, it's all just. different forms of movement right and yes some of it is high intensity some of it is strength training some of it is just cardio some of it is just just different types of movement and so regardless of what you're calling your workouts the key is that you need to be moving your body And I do like what Annie was saying about how if you
Ashley riffs on the marketing label idea using examples like Zumba vs. 'shaking your ass to music,' then shares her own practice of taking Wednesdays and Sundays for walking, yoga, or stretching so her muscles get a break before the next hard session.
just always are going high intensity, it can backfire. Whenever you're spiking your cortisol levels, it can actually raise your stress. And it not only raises your stress, sometimes it actually defeats the whole purpose of what you're trying to do, which is trying to strengthen your body and help you lose weight. So I think that's part of why it's so important to have the active recovery days. It's one of the reasons that I was so adamant about making sure that I have active recovery days, because I know that if I just go high intensity all the time, time, it's not going to help my body. Sure, I could get used to, you know, moving the way that I move every single day. But having the days on Wednesdays and Sundays where I walk or just do yoga or just more stretching, that's really beneficial to me. It makes me feel like my muscles are getting that break that they need so that, you know, whenever I actually do put in the work the next
time that I go to work out, it's actually doing something. And so that's the big message I want to send with you today is that, you know, You don't have to just go high intensity all the time. You can pair it with low intensity stuff as well. And that might actually help you. more. It just depends on your body. So it all goes back to, you got to listen to your body, right? And so I hope this message was helpful. Thank you, Annie, for leaving your voice note. And if you want to be on the show as well, I would love to hear from you. Head to famousashtagrant.com backslash fitness. You'll find a form there where you can reach out to me and leave a voice note, whether you want to share your fitness journey, or if you are in the fitness industry and you want to share a tip with my lovely movers and shakers, I would love to hear from y 'all.
Famousashtagrant .com backslash fitness. Onwards and upwards, my friends. Have you worked out today?