If you were to ask the majority of trainers at your local gym what the best exercise is to lose fat, the chances are they will point you to the section of the gym filled with exercise bikes and treadmills.
For the past 20-30 years, trainers have been taught that to burn fat you need to do 30-45 minutes of low to moderate intensity aerobic exercise 3-4 times a week.
Of course, this is based on sound science and it's well documented that low to moderate intensity aerobics does burn a higher percentage of fat while you are exercising.
When you are exercising, your muscles need a constant supply of energy to keep on working.
This energy is supplied via a combination of glucose (the sugar energy stored in muscle and liver) and fat.
The intensity of your exercise determines what percentage of fat is burned.
Low intensity exercise -> you burn fatter than sugar.
High intensity exercise -> you burn more sugar than fat.
The problem is that this fact does not take into account what happens after you get off the bike.
In a study carried out at Colorado State University, men and women were given the task of exercising to burn around 500 calories.
Split into two groups, one group did low to moderate intensity, and the other did high intensity exercise.
As expected, the low intensity group took longer than the high intensity group to burn the 500 calories.
What is interesting is what happened three hours after the exercise.
While the metabolism of the low intensity exercise group had dropped back to almost normal, the high intensity group was still burning up energy, most of which was fat! Perhaps more exciting is that the high intensity group had burned more than double the amount of calories compared to the low intensity group.
This is due to the metabolism remaining high after the exercise.
Yes! They were still burning calories, mainly fat, for up to 24 hours after finishing their workout.
You can use this simple adjustment to the way you exercise to your advantage.
By upping the intensity you will get more fat burning that lasts well beyond the day you completed your workout.
For the past 20-30 years, trainers have been taught that to burn fat you need to do 30-45 minutes of low to moderate intensity aerobic exercise 3-4 times a week.
Of course, this is based on sound science and it's well documented that low to moderate intensity aerobics does burn a higher percentage of fat while you are exercising.
When you are exercising, your muscles need a constant supply of energy to keep on working.
This energy is supplied via a combination of glucose (the sugar energy stored in muscle and liver) and fat.
The intensity of your exercise determines what percentage of fat is burned.
Low intensity exercise -> you burn fatter than sugar.
High intensity exercise -> you burn more sugar than fat.
The problem is that this fact does not take into account what happens after you get off the bike.
In a study carried out at Colorado State University, men and women were given the task of exercising to burn around 500 calories.
Split into two groups, one group did low to moderate intensity, and the other did high intensity exercise.
As expected, the low intensity group took longer than the high intensity group to burn the 500 calories.
What is interesting is what happened three hours after the exercise.
While the metabolism of the low intensity exercise group had dropped back to almost normal, the high intensity group was still burning up energy, most of which was fat! Perhaps more exciting is that the high intensity group had burned more than double the amount of calories compared to the low intensity group.
This is due to the metabolism remaining high after the exercise.
Yes! They were still burning calories, mainly fat, for up to 24 hours after finishing their workout.
You can use this simple adjustment to the way you exercise to your advantage.
By upping the intensity you will get more fat burning that lasts well beyond the day you completed your workout.
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