SubscribeBurn More Fat: Include a Rest in Your Workout
Instead of one continuous cardio workout - try taking a 20 minute rest break in the middle - it may burn more fat.
This is according to research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
Seven healthy men performed the following trials:
- A single bout of 60-min exercise (Single).
- Two bouts of 30-min exercise, separated by a 20-min rest between exercise bouts (Repeated).
- Rest for 60 minutes (control).
Results
The relative contribution of fat oxidation to the energy expenditure showed significantly higher values in the Repeated trial than in the Single trial during the recovery period. These results indicate that repeated bouts of exercise cause enhanced fat metabolism compared with a single bout of prolonged exercise of equivalent total exercise duration.
This gives credence to the idea that a short morning workout plus a short evening workout is better than one long cardio session.
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interesting, i thought you were supposed to keep your heart rate up.
ReplyInteresting, thanks for the info. I can't say that I'll be one to work out in both the morning and the evening, though, that's a little too much for me to fit in. I like the eat more, exercise less approach. :)
ReplyThis sounds like good news to me since I can never make it through a whole hour of cardio without my knee and hip joints complaining - I have some ongoing problems with them. I was already considering doing something in the morning (to add to my evening workout) so this settles it. Hopefully it'll work for me too.
ReplyThis is indeed interesting as we've known for a while that intermittent exercise is at least AS beneficial as prolonged exercise. The fact that this study shows a GREATER benefit is encouraging for those that only have shorter spurts of time throughout the day.
I think that this is important as many people take a dichotomous approach to exercise ("If I can't go for a full hour, what's the point?"). I think if people are conditioned to know that even little spurts are effective, it may help curb this kind of mentality.
Replyawesome, I like to run at 330am before I go to work at five, then I do my strength training after I get home, so this works for me
ReplyOkay... that's just wrong! lol...good for you!
ReplyI used to do my running in the morning before work, then I'd do a short elliptical training/jump rope session after work to split up my routine. I don't know if I burned any more calories doing that, but I kind of would rather just knock the whole workout out at once so I don't have to think about doing it the rest of the day. It's definitely an interesting study though.
ReplyThis is indeed really interesting.
I don't want to shower twice, and my cardio only tends to last 30-45 minutes, so I probably won't change what I'm doing. However, I do often go for additional non aerobic walks during the day or early evening, and I wonder if this has any impact on metabolism or if it's strictly aerobic stuff that boosts fat burning. Hope they keep studying this more!
ReplyThe study had people doing 30 minutes with a 20 minute break, then an additional 30 minutes. Of course I can't be sure of this, but I would think if you space out the two workouts too far apart, like AM and PM, you will not get the synergistic benefits. I do think that 60 minutes followed by a 20 minute break, then an additional exercise period will give the added benefits. I don't know why they chose 20 minutes. My first thought was, it was all due to the increased metabolic effect of the first workout during the break, and then building on that. I wonder how the effects they found compare to a straight 80 minute workout?
ReplyI would like to see something that compares two separate bouts of Interval Training sessions.
And yes, Dr J you are correct -- extrapolating this study out to a "morning and evening" workout is a stretch (no pun intended).
ReplyLong time reader, first time poster.
I'd like to know more about the heart rates of the subjects during the exercise. From what I've read, optimal fat burning HR is much lower than the cardio HR (which burns carbs?). Could it be that the rest allowed the subjects to stay in the fat burning HR zone for more time during the whole 60 minutes?
ReplyHeart rate was at 60% of max. The rest periods involved the subjects sitting still on chairs for 20 minutes.
ReplyI've found that if I take a break during a workout, my workout is finished. I need at least a couple hours to recover before I can workout again.
ReplyIt`s good to work out for as long and as intense as you can. But the workout should be for fun, not a burden. This research is good news for all those who are scared of the intensity and difficulty of a workout.
ReplyThat's what I'm wondering. 20mins is nothing like working out at 6am and then again at 6pm.
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