Apologies it has been a few weeks since my last blog post. I have had a serious lot got going on in my life, most of it positive. Watch this space for some exciting announcements coming very soon.
One thing which generally doesn’t change much, regardless of how busy I am, is my training. After many years of working on my body, I have a pretty good idea of what elicits the best results with the least amount of effort – what I call ‘bang for buck’ sessions.
Considering the number one goal of a huge percentage of gym goers is fat loss, I am constantly frustrated by how many people I see trudging away on CV machines (treadmills, cross-trainers, steppers etc.) at low to moderate intensity. Of all of the activities which you could be doing on a gym, for most people this is far from the most effective way to challenge your body and illicit change.
Many gym members do not change their shape from one year to the next, and the majority will end up bored, injured or quit before they make significant progress. Whilst I do not subscribe to the ‘anti-cardio’ message now commonly being repeated by misinformed trainers, (any exercise tends to be better than no exercise), regardless of your goal it makes sense to use your workout time efficiently.
I am going to give you four very good reasons why, without other dietary or exercise interventions, low to moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise will almost certainly never get you to your goal!
1. Minimal fat burning. This is an argument which I have fairly often with people who believe in the ‘fat burning zone’ promoted in the media and on many CV machines. The fat burning zone is said to be between 60% and 70% of maximum heart rate, the implication being that if you get your heart rate out of this zone, then you are no longer burning fat. This is just plain wrong!
Whilst it is true that lower intensity exercise burns a higher percentage of fat, at the end of the day to change our body shape it is overall caloric expenditure which we are after. Walk at a slow pace, and up to 80% of the calories you burn could come from fat, whereas if you were to sprint all-out this figure may be as low as 15%. This is where the misunderstanding starts, so let’s do the maths.
30 minutes walking on a treadmill @ 3mph (70% calories from fat) = 105 calories
30 minutes running on a treadmill @ 6mph (30% calories from fat) = 105 calories
A quick look would tell you that you might as well take it easy and just walk as it would burn the same amount of fat…….but the walk only used 150 calories in total, whereas the run used 350. Which one do you think will have the most effect on body composition?
And please don’t think that I have anything against treadmills in particular, as the same applies to pretty much all cardiovascular equipment in gyms, yes including my beloved indoor cycling. I am not ashamed to admit that I don’t remember the last time I taught a true ‘recovery workout’ in an indoor bike class.
Low intensity aerobic exercise is just not the most efficient way to take people towards their fitness or fat loss goals. Whilst it most definitely has its place in a rounded fitness programme, it’s not optimal when it is the only thing which you are doing.
2. There is no ‘afterburn’ effect. You might have worked off a couple of hundred calories during a 30-40 minute workout where you barely broke a sweat, but no sooner do you finish than your metabolism has returned to pretty much resting levels.
It takes higher intensity interval or circuit type training to bring about a change in what is called EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption), where there is a small but significant rise in calorie expenditure for 24-36 hours after the workout. Exercise at a high enough intensity and that could account for 100-200 calories worth of additional energy expenditure whilst you are resting.
It appears that EPOC only starts to rise at moderate to high intensity and is dependent on the time and size of that increase. I will be the first to admit that higher intensity training is more mentally and physically demanding, but if its results which you are after then it is absolutely the best way forwards.
You do need a base level of fitness before higher intensity training is advisable (and perhaps clearance from your doctor if you have medical concerns), but once you have been slowly building up the duration of your workouts for 6-8 weeks, it’s time to do some workouts at higher intensity.
3. It’s not time-efficient. To burn 300 calories whilst walking on a treadmill, you would probably have to stay there for over an hour. I don’t know about you, but I have better things to do than spend my non-working hours going nowhere like a hamster on a wheel. It is quite possible to burn off more calories (and fat) in a correctly structured 20 minute workout than one which takes three times that long.
Add to this the research showing that too much exercise actually stresses the body and can have the opposite effect to the one we are looking for with body composition, and I do wonder if the people who are proud of the many hours which they spend in the gym may actually be doing themselves more harm than good.
The best way to increase your fat-burning potential is to work at higher intensities. For most people this involves either resistance training, or aerobic/anaerobic intervals with periods of intensity and recovery. I am a lover of metabolic circuits, where I can get strength building, fat burning and a great cardiovascular workout all rolled into one. If you live in the Plymouth area, check out my website at www.merlinfitness.com to see my Metabolic Magic class schedule.
4. It’s boring! Perhaps this might be the best reason to avoid doing too much lower intensity exercise, particularly in a gym. Personally I can’t think of anything worse than spending hours of my precious life staring at a wall (or worse still daytime television) whilst I do a workout. For me, the gym is a place which I go, hit it hard and get out.
Lower intensity exercise still has many benefits (social, psychological, physiological, cardiovascular etc.), but I believe that these are best accrued by getting that type of workout done outside in the fresh air. Within the stale confines of a gym, it is easy to find yourself clock watching and going through the motions, rather than gaining any enjoyment from what you are doing. How much better to take a long walk or bike ride in the countryside with some friends?
So there you have it. If you are a ‘cardio-junkie’, especially one who spends a disproportionate amount of time plodding away on an electronic machine, it might be time to break out and see if there is a more efficient way to get the results which you are after. If I see one more ‘weight-loss’ programme written by a supposed personal trainer which tells a client to do 20 minutes on a cross trainer, 20 minutes on a treadmill and 20 minute on a recumbent bike, all at identical low/moderate intensity, then I think I will scream!
As always, please feel free to add your comments below.
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