"I'm keeping my heart rate in the lower 'fat-burning zone' inscribed on my gym's treadmill, but a friend told me I should be doing higher-intensity exercise. Help!"
(Carrie) Ah, yes, the old fat-burning question. I remember the days of teaching low-intensity long-duration (LILD) aerobics classes, dragging the cardio portion out to make sure enough time was devoted to fat-burning. Let me answer this first in a nutshell: it doesn’t matter whether you’re doing low intensity exercise or high, you’re burning fat either way; and not just fat, but carbs, as well. It’s true that with low intensity work, you burn a higher percentage of fat calories. But with higher intensity work, you burn more calories overall, and therefore, more fat when given the same amount of time. What this means to you is that you have a choice: spend more time working out at lower intensities to get your desired results…or sweat it out a bit more, cut your workout time in half, and still get the results you want—and then some. Ryan, which would you choose?
(Ryan) Low-intensity, long-duration aerobics classes? Sounds like torture! Anyhow, Carrie’s right. Not to get too scientific, but up until recently, researchers looked only at fat and calories burned during a workout. So, logically, longer workouts were recommended. However, all that’s changing. We now know that certain types of workouts—higher-intensity, short-duration—can cause you to burn calories and fat for days after the workout, nutrition choices considered of course. At the end of the day, or two, the more intense workouts outperform the low-intensity ones. So, like Carrie says, it comes down to personal choice. Like it long and slow? Go for it. Prefer a quickie? I won’t stop you. Hell, you might even alternate the two for a more well-rounded fitness program.
