What Do You Mean Low-Intensity Training Isn't The Best For Fat Burning?

[Mr.X]

What Do You Mean Low-Intensity Training Isn't The Best For Fat Burning?

Author: Nick Nilsson

But how can this possibly be? Everywhere you look, it's always
said that long-duration, low-intensity training is best for fat
loss. All high-intensity work does is burn carbohydrates, right?

Wrong.

After reading this article, I guarantee you'll develop a new
respect for high-intensity cardio training for fat loss.

Low-intensity exercise is defined as working at a heart rate of
about 60% to 65% of your maximum heart rate (which is equal to
220 - your age = maximum heart rate, thus if you are 20 years
old, 220 - 20 = 200 max HR). High-intensity exercise is defined
as working at about 75 to 85% or more of your maximum heart rate.

Using the previous example for maximum heart rate (max HR=200),
working at 60% of your max HR would be 120 beats per minute and
80% of that would be 160 beats per minute.

There are several reasons low-intensity exercise is normally
recommended for fat loss.

1. It's easy - In many cases people who are trying to lose fat
don't always feel energetic enough to do hard training due to
the caloric deficit (a.k.a. diet) that they are on. In these
cases, just sticking to an exercise program can be hard enough,
never mind making the exercise itself challenging.

2. It's low risk - A personal trainer generally can't go wrong
by recommending low-intensity exercise to clients. Even the most
out of shape person can usually do low-intensity cardio training
safely. While this is certainly appropriate advice for novice
trainers, it does not necessarily apply to the more experienced
trainer when it comes to effective training.

3. It burns a higher percentage of calories from fat - this is
very true: exercising at a lower intensity does burn a higher
percentage of calories from fat than high-intensity exercise.
But, as I will explain, this does not necessarily mean you're
going to burn more fat.

Let's crunch some numbers to show you exactly what I mean when I
say high-intensity exercise burns more fat.

Low-intensity training burns about 50% fat for energy while
high-intensity training burns about 40% fat for energy. This is
not a huge difference.

Say, for example, walking for 20 minutes burns 100 calories.
Then 50% of 100 calories is 50 fat-calories burned.

Now say 10 minutes of interval training at a high intensity
burns 160 calories. Well, 40% of 160 calories is 64 fat-calories
burned.

By doing the high-intensity work, you've just burned 14 more fat
calories in half the time. Starting to sound good? There's
more...

---

Low-intensity exercise only burns calories while you are
actually exercising. That means the moment you stop exercising,
your caloric expenditure goes back down to nearly baseline
levels. Within minutes, you're not burning many more calories
than if you hadn't done anything at all.

High-intensity exercise, on the other hand, continues to boost
your metabolism long after you're done (often up to 24 hours
after, depending on the length and intensity of the training
session). This means you're continuing to burn many more
calories all day long!

---

Low-intensity exercise does nothing to build or support muscle
mass. Maintaining muscle mass is critical to an effective
fat-loss strategy as muscle burns fat just sitting there. Want
to keep your metabolism working to burn fat? Do whatever you can
to build or keep your muscle tissue.

High-intensity exercise has the potential to increase muscle
mass. Compare the body of a top sprinter to a top marathon
runner. The sprinter carries far more muscle mass. You won't get
big bulky muscles from high intensity training but you will get
shapely and more defined muscles!

---

How To Do It

Now that you've seen how effective high intensity training can
be for fat loss, how is it done?

The absolute easiest way to start this type of training is to
get on a cardio machine at the gym and select the interval
training program. As you'll see, you'll start off with a fairly
light warm-up cycle, then quickly jump up to a high intensity
level for a short burst. You will then drop back down to a low
level for a period of time, then back up to a high level again,
repeated several times and finishing with an appropriate
cool-down period.

The repetition of these intervals is the nuts and bolts of high
intensity interval training. You can also do it manually by
adjusting your intensity level up and down over short periods of
time.

For example, do 30 seconds at high power then 30 seconds at low
power. Repeat. It's very simple and very effective.

Another excellent method for doing high-intensity training is
called aerobic interval training. It is essentially the same
concept as the previously explained interval training but the
work intervals are longer with the intensity level somewhat
lower. A good example would be running at a pace that you can
only keep up for about 5 minutes then walking for 2 minutes then
running 5 more minutes, walking 2 minutes, etc.

High-intensity training can be applied to any form of
cardiovascular exercise. Anything from walking/sprinting to
swimming to bike riding will work perfectly. I would recommend
doing his type of training 2 to 3 times per week for best
results. As always, be sure to consult with your physician
before starting any exercise program.

---

Remember, what you get out of exercise is directly proportional
to what you put in. Work at high-intensity training for awhile
and see just how much better your fat-loss efforts go.

For more information on cardiovascular training, including
advice on activities you can do, reviews of different types of
cardio machines, other forms of cardio training, and some
well-explained, useful, basic physiology go to:

http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Info/Info.htm?news

About the author:
Nick Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online
exercise, fitness, and personal training company. Check out his
latest eBook "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of" at
http://www.thebestexercises.com or visit http://www.fitstep.com.
You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com or subscribe to
BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com.