Cardio workouts

My goal is to burn fat but maintain my muscle mass. Currently I am doing 20-30 minutes of strength training 4 days a week. It's usually fairly intense and I get a good heart rate going.

However, I'm unsure about what kind of cardio to do after lifting. Is it better to do a relatively non-intense steady state workout or something like HIIT? The research seems really confusing to me. Also, any input about duration would be helpful too.

Depends on how much time you've got to work out, really. If you've got less than 30 minutes HIIT is the way to go, but if you've got more time than that something less intense that you can sustain for the time you've got is better.

 I.e. if you can squeeze in a 40 minute workout on your lunch break 20-30 minutes of strength and the rest intervals is good, if you've got more than an hour to kill 20-30 minutes of strength plus 45+ min. of steady state is better in terms of your goals.

 So "better" depends on the twin variables of what your personal goals are, and how much time you've got to train to reach them.

I have time to do the longer workout. I guess "better" to me would mean which workout is going to result in more fat loss and an increase in NEAT.

Can you explain why the 45+ minute steady state would be a better option?

 At less than 30 minutes intervals will burn more calories. At around 30-45 min. it's roughly even, with the intervals providing greater gains in cardio fitness so there's still a slight advantage. At 45+ minutes the intervals become so relaxed that steady state actually burns more calories; to sustain interval training for as long as 45+ minutes peak intensity becomes so low that steady state will burn more total calories.

 Given that fat loss is only about energy balance, doing the workout that results in the greater total energy expenditure on top of the requisite lifting for preserving RMR and muscle is better. Which means that you'd pick the higher workout intensity you can sustain over the course of the available time if the goal is fat loss ;)

Okay I think I have it. Thanks for your help. :)

Ok now my question is what kind of workout can I do that is going to last 45 minutes? That is a pretty boring treadmill experience. Any ideas on how to spice it up?

Go outside.

Try the cross trainer - it allows you more stability, minimum impact, and you can actually have a book to read since you're more stable than on the threadmill. Add a lot of resistance rather than an higher cross ramp or going fast and PUSH. You'll see your heartrate go up fast and stay high through your workout, and you'll actually be working against a weight (strenght training), so you'll be building more muscle - cardio + muscle = a pretty neat exercise packed in one. I burn 750 cal , staying in the high end of my cardio interval throughout my workout, for 60 minutes on the cross trainer. And my muscle feel it too - people on the cross trainer usually think that going fast = more effort, which is completely wrong.

you can always switch between HIIT and endurance to keep the challenge up.

check out the exercise section on here: there is a half our no equipment circuit plan (ie spring, run , job sprint type thing)

emilie_f: my trainer tells me that if i can actually read (not look at pics) a book i m not working hard enough. but it sounds like you work hard?

Thanks for the ideas. I really like running outside if I can so that is my first choice but the weather isn't quite warm enough for me yet. I will probably switch it up doing HIIT and the longer steady state workout depending on what I feel like that day.