How does interval training work? Wouldn’t x amount of calories burned be the same no matter how it happens?
admin | Dec 19, 2008 | 5 comments
Anthony G asked:
I’ve heard you can lose more weight through interval training, going fast for a certain amount of time and then having a recovery period. But if a person were to do cardio and burn a certain amount of calories either way, what would the benefit be?
Filed Under: Cardio
It be better for your overall cardiovascualr health, and will generally help you with your conditioning. its better for you to do it all at once. I think you would lose more, think of it this way:
Some one runs for 10 minutes and calls it a day. (hypothetical)
and relating to your question:
someone runs 2 minutes, rests, 2minutes, rest (X5 to 10 minutes)
It wouldnt be exactly the same right?
it appears that way on the outside, but not physiologically speaking. interval training boosts your metabolic rate AFTER you are done working out in a similar fashion that weight training does, as opposed to long distance (low intensity) running which only burns calories while you are running.
interval training boosts cardiovascular efficiency because it puts excess strain on your cardiovascular system and forces you to recover before your next interval. it also helps you to run faster for longer distances and teaches you to break through the wall when you get fatigued.
the intervals that i do for my workouts, is i’ll run at about 80-85% of what i think is my max for 2 minutes, then do a slow jog for 2 minutes to rest. this is a rough workout, so be prepared to do 2-3 intervals to start with for your workout, then increase as necessary.
Calories are calories. If you burn the same amount doing either of the two your still burning them. And in the end they equate to Fat lost over time.
One thing to remember though is this. Cardio does NOT build muscle. it may tone it. But its not gonna ad large amounts of lean muscle to you. Now strength training on the other hand, DOES build lean muscle. And there is somthing you should know about that. For EVERY pound of Muscle you put onto your body, you burn an EXTRA 101 Calories a day(Approx.). So look at it in the terms of Calories over time. If you put an extra 5 lbs of muscle on your body thats an extra 505 Caloties a day you burn doing absolutely NOTHING.
How do you like them apples?
I do sprints which I think are considered interval training I believe. I sprint and I let my heart rate come down a little bit but stay pretty high and then I do it again until I cant with any speed at all.
They are just as effective as long as you keep your heart beating and they take less time … they are more for speed and fast twitch muscles than jogging which developes the slow twitch muscles more.
I believe cardio would burn more calories but intense training would help you burn calories later after it was over.
Oh and muscle does burn calories but not as much as some will say. Otherwise why would everyone with some muscle eat themselves up because of all the calories they were burning? Actually the number about 95 or so comes from the number of calories burned per pound of muscle on the average person so adding one more pound of muscle doesnt mean you will burn 95 more calories while resting.
Try more like 10 – 20 more calories burned per day per pound of muscle … but it is significant.
Newt has the right idea. Between slow to moderate longer cardio sessions and shorter high intensity cardio sessions, the high intensity cardio sessions are superior in nearly every way, especially for fat loss.
As mentioned before, only with HIIT can you raise the metabolic rate after exercise, where the real fat burning takes place, even though the actual caloric expenditure through exercise over time may be more with slow longer cardio. HIIT increases EPOC, or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, as the body attempts to reach homeostasis (the state it was in before exercise). HIIT also increases VO2max and overall CV efficiency. Additionally, only through intense exercise can you attain the benifits of GH release, GH being a powerful fat burning hormone.
Look at the difference in body composition between sprinters and marathon runners. Marathon runners may be skinny, but actually have a higher bodyfat percentage than sprinters due to low muscle mass to bodyfat ratio. HIIT has more of a tendency to spare lean muscle tissue while causing the body to utilize more free form fatty acids for energy due to raised metabolism.