The Fitness Wars Are Futile
By Paul RogersI’ve put up a permanent page called Fitness Wars because I thought it should be a little “sticky.” It discusses the very strange culture of strength trainers who seem to react to cardio and aerobics with a crucifix held at arms length.
It’s a very odd response to a very important component of health and fitness conditioning and wellbeing programming.
Anyway, I’ve explored some of the origins of this antagonism and I take a look at aerobic conditioning in this context.
Burn That Belly Fat With High-Intensity Training?
By Paul Rogers
Photo: Soldiersmediacenter. Jarad Bargas
A recent study by researchers at the University of Virginia found that high-intensity exercise training disposed of more belly fat in obese middle-aged women than lower-intensity training of the same energy expenditure.
The idea that doing high-intensity interval training burns off stubborn fat and visceral belly fat has been around for quite a few years. The premise has always lacked strong evidence in my opinion — or at least reasonable qualification. Any number of internet training and fat-loss gurus are promoting this idea.
What is High-Intensity Training?
First up, we need to get the concept straight. What exactly is the ’interval training’ or ‘high-intensity training’ or ’high-intensity interval training (HIIT)’ that we hear so much about?
Interval training is intermittent training, often near your maximum, in which you do a lap of an oval, or a spin on a bike, or 60 seconds on a treadmill very fast, then you recover, and do it again several times. That’s simple enough.
For example, I’m a masters sprinter and in training I might do 10 x 100 metres at 95% capacity, or 10 x 40 metres at 100% capacity. This is high-intensity interval training in real life. But I’ve been a marathoner and triathlete as well (don’t ask), and high-intensity training for those disciplines is mostly entirely different; say, 2km fast, 2km slow, 2km fast; or 6 x 400 metres at 90% capacity, or even, I might add, 5km at race pace, which is still high-intensity training, even if not interval training. And further, I know that if you run 40 to 60 miles a week in marathon or triathlon training you’ll burn fat . . . lots of it. So what’s this HIT stuff all about?
Early Investigations Were Not Adequate
One problem with some of the earlier studies was that they did not set a rule for what constitutes ‘high intensity’. The study I quoted above used lactate threshold to determine this, an excellent idea. And few earlier studies actually compared the different intensities for the same energy expenditure, which is what needs to be done to get a reasonable comparison.
You can’t just do 6 spins on a stationary bike for 30 seconds flat out and expect to burn the same amount of calories and fat as someone who does 30 minutes on the treadmill at 85% capacity, or even a 90-minute run at slow pace for that matter. Energy expenditure, which just about always includes some fat and glucose burning, is going to be a product of intensity X time for any physical activity.
In that event, the best approach for fat loss and fitness goals is likely to be a combination of interval training, weight training and cardio at different intensities. Big surprise eh? No, that’s right, it’s not. It almost reflects the recent exercise guidelines issued by the US government for general health and fitness.
Persistent Abdominal Fat and How to Shed It
What the study above suggests is that high-intensity training just might be superior to to lower-intensity training, for equal energy expended, in removing belly fat, especially the visceral fat wrapped around the internal organs that has been shown to increase your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Naturally, you have to include a nutrition program with some calorie restriction as well.
Even though the study involved a small number of women, 27, it seemed to be well designed. And yet men might respond differently, as might the young or post-menopausal women. It’s an idea that has promise for designing exercise programs for the overweight and people with metabolic syndrome and diabetes and is well worth watching in the future. The main problem is one that is not going to be easily solved: that unfit, obese people are unlikely to take on high-intensity training by themselves and stick to it, despite what you see on The Biggest Loser.
Having said that, there is plenty of evidence that aerobic, cardio type programs help people lose fat in general — even some visceral fat — and aerobic exercise has additional benefits for cardiovascular protection. A combination of weights, cardio and HIT is likely to be the superior program if it can be tolerated.
The Best Type of High-Intensity Training for Obesity?
Heavy people exert quite a shock to the knees when they run long or hard. It’s a real injury concern. Running is often out of the question for obese people, let alone high-intensity running. For this reason, I favour cycle spin classes on a stationary bike. Doing this exercise in a group has advantages. The instructor will encourage hard work, but it’s possible to set your own pace by adjusting resistance and peddle cadence if you get overwhelmed. You’ll get some high-intensity work threaded with lower-intensity cardio — an excellent workout combo. A medical checkup is highly recommended for anyone moving from a sedentary lifestyle to high-intensity training.
When Aerobic Fitness is Not Aerobic Conditioning
By Paul Rogers
Photo: Ernst Moeksis
Aerobic fitness is measured by the volume of oxygen you can process in any given time. This is called your VO2 maximum or VO2max. It’s mostly measured in millilitres of oxygen used per kilogram of bodyweight per minute.
An elite marathon runner might have a VO2 of 80 and an obese, sedentary and very unfit person of the same age around 35.
You mainly get very high VO2 by doing aerobic or cardio training for lengthy sessions, usually in one block; say, an hour or running, cycling or similar activity. But . . . you can also get a reasonably high VO2 — but not as high as a marathon runner — by doing higher intensity exercise for less time. This might involve sprints or middle distance intervals at high intensity, or even workouts like this one in the gym without running at all. Training for team sports can provide this sort of aerobic fitness. Typical VO2 in elite athletes in sports like football (soccer) might be around 60 to 65, with some individuals even higher.
Why You Need Cardio for Health
‘Cardio’ like walking or slow jogging on treadmills is often recommended in heart rehabilitation programs or for the very unfit in order to build up heart and lung fitness. This is much less stressful than doing higher intensity intervals for a shorter time. And regular, moderate-intensity, sustained aerobic exercise conditions other aspects of your body other than your ability to to get fitter faster, which is perceived as one benefit of interval training.
Aerobic conditioning of the longer, slower type builds the small blood vessels called ‘capillaries’, in muscles, — the heart is a muscle — and these are encouraged to grow throughout muscle tissue to facilitate oxygen supply at times of high demand. With this sort of conditioning, your heart has extra blood supply and it gets bigger and stronger as well. For example, in one study, two groups were trained, one doing continuous, cardio type exercise, and the other shorter intervals of higher intensity. The longer, slower cardio group added twice as much capillary capacity as the interval trainers.
This might even be important if you were unfortunate enough to suffer a heart attack. The extra blood supply, called ‘collateral supply’ could save your life.
You will get some of this capillary conditioning with interval training, but the big benefits mostly come from regular, sustained aerobic type exercise — jogging, running, cycling swimming for 30 minutes or more at a session. Naturally, the higher-intensity interval type exercise will improve your anaerobic performance if you need this for sports.
If you’re training for health and fitness, don’t put all of your eggs in the weight training and high-intensity interval training baskets. Find time to fit in some good, old-fashioned cardio.
Effect of interval versus continuous training on cardiorespiratory and mitochondrial functions: relationship to aerobic performance improvements in sedentary subjects. Daussin FN, Zoll J, Dufour SP, et al. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2008 Jul;295(1):R264-72. 2008
EPOC, Afterburn and Weight Loss - Does It Work?
By Paul RogersSoldiers in Iraq. Soldiersmediacenter. Jarad Bargas
When we exercise hard or long, or both, we use the body’s resources in certain ways in order to achieve this level of performance. Glycogen (glucose) in muscles and liver is used up, lactic acid builds up in muscles, muscle gets damaged and broken down for energy, other energy systems are exhausted. It’s a demolition job and repair is required when you finally stop exercising. Oxygen is the driver of this process, and without it being supplied at the level that can drive your intensity of effort, you slow down and even stop — exhausted. Yet oxygen is also the driver of the repair process.
Anaerobic exercise causes oxygen debt
The body has a way of enduring for a few minutes when it really has insufficient oxygen for your exercise needs. This is called anaerobic exercise. You know when this is happening because you start to get out of breath and slow dramatically. This can only go on for a few minutes at top effort.
However, after you stop, your body then tries to get everything back to normal. To do this, it uses oxygen in the repair and replenishment process and to repay the debt — more than it would normally if you had not exercised that day or for as hard or long. This increased oxygen use is called “excess post-exercise oxygen consumption” or EPOC. It’s sometimes called “afterburn”, which is not a bad way of thinking of it. Short term oxygen debt recovery happens just after you stop and until you get your breath back. Longer-term EPOC continues for several hours, perhaps more than 12 hours, until glycogen is restored, lactate is removed and muscle is repaired and replenished by amino acids.
How EPOC can help you
EPOC often gets discussed in terms of weight loss programs because the excess oxygen use stimulates metabolism and, theoretically, it’s good for weight loss, which is probably true, except it’s not all a bed of roses stimulating EPOC, and it’s not necessarily the best option.
The thing is, you have to work hard for the afterburn effect. You need to exercise at high intensity or for a longer time at moderate intensity. EPOC occurs when you degrade body systems and use resources. A brisk 30-minute stroll around the block with the dog or a leisurely chat and pump at the gym and a nice cup of coffee in between won’t do it either. You will read in various places how EPOC only comes from high intensity exercise. This is not necessarily true. There is likely a minimum amount of work to be done, but no one really knows what this is. It could just as easily result from moderate intensity cardio for a longer period of time. You can probably do it lifting weights, running sprints or running for an hour, but in the end, you have to work hard whatever you do.
EPOC versus energy consumed during exercise for weight loss
It’s no use doing lots of high-intensity intervals for 20 minutes, exhausting yourself, then expecting EPOC to make you thin like a cheetah after you stop. You also have to consider how much energy (calories) you expend during the exercise. While the interval training might be time efficient, you’re probably not going to burn the same calories during that exercise as the guy or gal that runs for an hour at 5 minutes/kilometre pace (8 minute/mile) pace. EPOC can’t make up for an imbalance of calories burnt during exercise.
The best exercise program for weight loss
Stop worrying about the afterburn. (As if you ever did.) Mix your training up with weights, aerobics, and sprint or interval training if you feel fit enough for it. Read more in my article: The Best Fat Loss Strategy That Really Works.
A 3-Day HIT Fitness Program for Busy People
By Paul Rogers
Fast cat from Polandeze
The American College of Sports Medicine physical activity guidelines include the following recommendations for general health and wellbeing:
- Moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days a week, OR,
- Vigorous intense cardio 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week, AND
- 8 to 10 strength-training exercises, eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise, twice a week.
Note that they recommend you can substitute 3 days a week of higher-intensity exercise for 5 days of moderate intensity — plus two weight training sessions in either case.
Just recently, as reported in Heartwire, a research group from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Circulation July 7, 2008) showed that high-intensity exercise for 3 days a week for a total of 2 hours might produce better results in people with ‘metabolic syndrome’, a condition that is measured by excess weight around the waist, high blood triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol.
This is exactly how I train now after many years of running and gym for 5 days a week. It’s tougher, and it’s best to have some measure of fitness leading up to this, but it does save time. This is my program now: it’s pretty simple and I make adjustments to suit from time to time. Running is done at a local sports field. Weights are done at a fitness centre and gym. I always take at least one day break between sessions.
It’s a little more than what might be done for general health and fitness, but I train for various recreational sports as well.
- Day 1. Track:: 20 x 60m; 90-95% effort, explosive start; jog/walk back, 10-20 seconds rest, repeat, recover at number 10. Weights:: Same day, go straight to gym before cooldown, 10 exercises upper body — rows, curls, pulldowns, pullups, dips, abs, pushdowns, shoulder or bench press.
- Day 2. Full body workout and HIT at gym:: stiff-leg deadlifts, squats or leg press, calf raises, rows, dips, pulldowns, curls, abs, pushdowns, shoulder press, overhead press. Cardio HIT:: treadmill, 10 minutes continuous at 85%; mini-trampoline, two and one-legged high bounces, high-knee sprint intervals, 10 minutes.
- Day 3. Track:: 10 x sprint starts, sometimes with spikes, 40m, 100%, plenty of rest; form runs 80m x 10, 85%. Gym as for Day 1.
From that, you can get the general idea of a 3-day program even though it doesn’t have to be quite as intense or as long. The main point to note is that it needs to be at an intensity where you are sweating profusely and can hardly talk during the tough bits. You don’t have to be superfit to start like this, but it is wise to get a medical clearance. It is best to work up to it with a more gradual approach, one of the main problems being injury to the muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints.
10 Ways Exercise Prevents or Manages Diabetes
By Paul Rogers
Trials in the US, Finland and China have shown that moderate weight loss combined with an exercise program can ward off impending type 2 diabetes by getting blood glucose (sugar) under control and generally improving markers for this disease of glucose, fat and insulin metabolism. Diagnosed diabetics also benefit from regular exercise in a similar way.
Here’s how exercise helps:
- Physical activity helps you manage weight. You need to include a sensible eating program, but weight loss improves your ability to process glucose and ward off diabetes.
- Exercise uses glucose stored in muscle and, over time and with increased fitness, enhances the amount of glucose you can store, lowering blood glucose in the process.
- Weight training uses muscle glucose more than fat, as does other high-intensity exercise. Regular sessions of weight lifting lower your blood glucose and open up the “gates” for glucose transport.
- Weight training also builds more muscle. More muscle provides additional storage capacity for glucose.
- Glucose transport to muscle during exercise does not require insulin. In fact, insulin goes quiet during exercise in people with normal metabolism and not injecting insulin.
- Physical activity enhances insulin sensitivity even when you’re not exercising. Insulin sensitivity is the ability of insulin to store glucose.
- Day to day, exercise gives you improved glucose storage when you’re exercising, and improved glucose storage when you’re not. You get a synergy of effect when you exercise.
- Cardiovascular fitness is a result of aerobic conditioning. Cardio type exercise is best for this. Heart and lung fitness is associated with protection against diabetes and heart disease. The fitter you are, the better your chances — even allowing for some excess weight.
- Faulty fat metabolism and high levels of fat (triglycerides) in the blood raise your chances of getting diabetes. Exercise of any sort can help normalize blood fat levels. Look to be under 150 mg/dL or 1.69 mmol/L. When you’re really fit and healthy and have low overall body fat, this number will be closer to 100 mg/dL (1.1 mmol/L). You should aim for this.
- Regular exercise, especially higher-intensity exercise, increases your metabolism when you’re not exercising. This not only helps lower blood fats and glucose, it helps you reach and maintain normal weight.
The Best Fat Loss Strategy That Really Works
By Paul Rogers
It depends. It depends on how fat you are, how mobile you are, how much exercise you can do and not break, or get bored, or how well you can stick to a modified eating pattern. Many will need to start more moderately than this. But if you’re up for it, you can lose weight, rapidly, with this basically simple exercise and nutrition approach. No doubt.
In any case, here is the ultimate fat loss strategy — no ifs, no buts, no pussy-footing around. Get a medical to ensure you’re up for this. Can you do it?
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