“If you’re not failing in your workouts, you’re not trying hard enough.”
“If you don’t fear your workout, it’s not hard enough.” “Not sweating? Push harder.”
Intense, sweat-drenching workouts may be best to put your metabolism into overdrive for the next 14+ hours, according to a new groundbreaking study.
Like most of us, you’re probably workout out to help you lose lbs and firm up. Unfortunately, our wimpy ways of exercise these days just isn’t cutting it, says David Neiman, DrPh., Director of the Human Performance Lab at Appalachian State University, and one of the study authors. “We need to be pushed again to get lean with exercise. A 45-minute vigorous workout can help you get three times the net calories burned compared to a 45-minute walk.”
The study, published in the American College of Sports Medicine’s peer-reviewed journal, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise used a metabolic chamber (the gold standard for measuring energy expenditure) at the University of North Carolina. The researchers enrolled 10 male subjects aged 22-33 years old. On the test day, subjects exercised vigorously on a cycle ergometer in the a.m. at 70% of their VO2max for 45 minutes. The researchers were able to monitor the subjects’ metabolic rates, energy intake and expenditure over the next 24 hours while they were in the chamber. The subjects also completed a comparison 24-hour period in the metabolic chamber with no a.m. exercise to compare differences in energy expenditure between the exercise versus non-exercise days.
The researchers found that the men burned some 519 calories during the 45-minute exercise session and then burned another 190 calories from the exercise in the next 14+ hours.
[sws_pullquote_small align=”sws_pq_center” textalign=”left” linecolors=”b3b3b3″ fontstyle=”normal” textcolor=”356e1b”] The researchers calculated that the vigorous exercise session plus the post-exercise increases in metabolism equaled about 750 calories over the 24-hour period. [/sws_pullquote_small]
If you completed a 45-minute walk, you’d burn about 250 calories and experience no increases above baseline in metabolism post-exercise. Spending your 45 minutes going harder can result in burning 3 times as many calories over a 24-hour period.
If you think you’re too out of shape for this type of workout, you’d be wrong. “We found that even the subjects who were overweight and out of shape reaped the same benefits. So unless your doctor says you cannot do vigorous exercise, this is something most people can do and could have an impact on achieving a healthier weight,” concluded Neiman. However, one thing that can undo all the good of this metabolic effect is if you think you can “reward” yourself with food after you’ve crushed your workouts. It’s too easy to eat hundreds of calories with just a few bites of something decadent so it’s always best to stick with your diet + intense exercise if you really want to see results.
Bottom line: There’s no free lunch when it comes to getting fit and lean. Do whatever exercise you like that you can really push yourself to the point where you’re seriously sweating and it’s impossible to carry on a conversation. Try boot-camp style workouts, Crossfit, a spin class or track workouts. Not only will you burn lots of calories during a short period of time, you’ll get the metabolic boost post-exercise too.
Share What YOU do to Get Your Sweat On! Leave a comment below.
–Julie
Every other day I switch between cardio and weight training. However, I’m not a fan of just weight training without doing some form of cardio. Therefore, on weight training days I do a workout that combines interval cardio with weight training in between. For example, I’ll star off with a 5 minute warm up jog, followed by a 1.5 minute medium paced run ending with a .30 second sprint at the highest speed I think I can run with good form and before I fall off! Then I go right into performing one 10-12 rep set of 3-4 different weight training exercises. Then right into another jog and sprint followed by weights. I repeat this 6-8 times in about an hour. This gets my body pumping and sweating! It challenges my muscles to work harder and keeps my heart rate up during weight training to help burn more calories. It’s definitely my favorite type of workout and it makes weight training more fun!
Hi Julie
great post!
I notice when I elect to challenge myself with 3-5 high intensity workouts that my weight just natually drops about 10 pounds. During the summer, I ride my road or mountain bike 1-2 hours (or more on weekends) and that extra weight falls off. During winter months I try to get to spinning class at least twice a week and rest of days I walk dog or do weights. Nothing works like my summer routine. I always feel stronger with that 10 pounds lost. This study will motivate me to push harder and keep progressing.
I will share this info with my weight loss clients too, and challenge them to “step it up a notch.”
Best, Eva RD in Daly City CA
you girls are amasing!