Distance vs intensity

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Is it more beneficial to weight loss to run longer distances at a steady pace or shorter distance at a faster, more intense pace?
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  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
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    Doesn't matter what exercise you do.

    Weight loss comes from a caloric deficit.
  • erimethia_fekre
    erimethia_fekre Posts: 317 Member
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    I feel interval running is best for endurance. You'd be able to run longer that way. This isn't really with the focus of weight loss in mind, that will come naturally
  • urloved33
    urloved33 Posts: 3,323 Member
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    if you have to choose its longer the better even if its slow.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    Try to look at fitness for the sake of fitness rather than weight loss. Yes, regular exercise can help with weight management in that it increases your calorie requisites...this makes it easier to maintain a healthy weight when in maintenance and helps you more easily maintain a reasonable calorie deficit for weight loss...for example, without exercise I could only eat around 2000 calories to lose about 1 Lb per week...with regular exercise, I can eat upwards of 2,500 calories and lose about 1 Lb per week...

    I cycle roughly 80 miles per week...run a 5K or two every week...lift 2-3x per week...walk my dog...do some hiking, etc. I have lost weight, maintained weight, and gained weight doing all of these things...the difference being how much I was eating.

  • kwtilbury
    kwtilbury Posts: 1,234 Member
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    Doesn't matter what exercise you do.

    Weight loss comes from a caloric deficit.

    And how do you create a caloric deficit?

    To the OP: I haven't spent a lot of time researching it, but the popular theory now is that higher intensity training sessions offer more fat/calorie burning benefit over steady-state cardio because of the "afterburner" effect. Your metabolism is elevated for longer periods of time after training.
  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
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    kwtilbury wrote: »
    Doesn't matter what exercise you do.

    Weight loss comes from a caloric deficit.

    And how do you create a caloric deficit?

    To the OP: I haven't spent a lot of time researching it, but the popular theory now is that higher intensity training sessions offer more fat/calorie burning benefit over steady-state cardio because of the "afterburner" effect. Your metabolism is elevated for longer periods of time after training.

    Buy doing a master cleanse with herbalife of course..
  • Travistarrant426
    Travistarrant426 Posts: 11 Member
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    Depends on your level of fitness however both will make you lose weight as long as your calorie intake and training lead you into a caloric deficit.
    As for the question, everyone's bodies respond differently to different types of training therefore I would experiment with both and decide what you feel is aiding you the best.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    kwtilbury wrote: »
    Doesn't matter what exercise you do.

    Weight loss comes from a caloric deficit.

    And how do you create a caloric deficit?

    To the OP: I haven't spent a lot of time researching it, but the popular theory now is that higher intensity training sessions offer more fat/calorie burning benefit over steady-state cardio because of the "afterburner" effect. Your metabolism is elevated for longer periods of time after training.

    this is most efficiently done through energy consumption...i.e. how much you're eating. it would be very difficult to consistently do enough exercise day in and day out to effectively lose weight. there are loads of people who have their fitness down, but their bodies never change and they never lose weight...because they're still eating too much. you can't out exercise a bad diet.

    if exercise was all about creating a calorie deficit and losing weight then nobody in maintenance would exercise now would they? I ride about 80 miles per week in maintenance just like I did when I was losing weight...I just eat more now to maintain...
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    Is it more beneficial to weight loss to run longer distances at a steady pace or shorter distance at a faster, more intense pace?

    As long as you're running, not walking, distance determines calorie burn, not intensity or speed. If you run a mile in 7 minutes, or you run a mile in 10 minutes, as long as you're running, the calorie burn is the same. The benefit that intensity has it that it conditions your cardiovascular system and your heart.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    Doesn't matter what exercise you do.

    Weight loss comes from a caloric deficit.

    What a terrible, vague answer to a specific question...
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,668 Member
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    AJ_G wrote: »
    Is it more beneficial to weight loss to run longer distances at a steady pace or shorter distance at a faster, more intense pace?

    As long as you're running, not walking, distance determines calorie burn, not intensity or speed. If you run a mile in 7 minutes, or you run a mile in 10 minutes, as long as you're running, the calorie burn is the same. The benefit that intensity has it that it conditions your cardiovascular system and your heart.
    Is this true? I thought intensity mattered. Otherwise, why wear an HRM for a more accurate calorie burn?
    Surprising, I'm not being sarcastic, I'm genuinely perplexed.

  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    AJ_G wrote: »
    Is it more beneficial to weight loss to run longer distances at a steady pace or shorter distance at a faster, more intense pace?

    As long as you're running, not walking, distance determines calorie burn, not intensity or speed. If you run a mile in 7 minutes, or you run a mile in 10 minutes, as long as you're running, the calorie burn is the same. The benefit that intensity has it that it conditions your cardiovascular system and your heart.
    Is this true? I thought intensity mattered. Otherwise, why wear an HRM for a more accurate calorie burn?
    Surprising, I'm not being sarcastic, I'm genuinely perplexed.

    Thermodynamics is thermodynamics. If you do the same amount of work, it requires the same amount of energy. The difference between running and walking is that when you run you actually have to lift yourself off the ground as opposed to just transferring your weight from one foot to the next with walking. That's where the added energy cost from running comes from, but as far as running at different speeds, as long as the same amount of work is done, the same amount of energy is required.
  • MissJay75
    MissJay75 Posts: 768 Member
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    I prefer to workout at a more intense pace. That way I can have a shorter workout. Leaves me more time for other things, like eating. :smile:
  • 7lenny7
    7lenny7 Posts: 3,493 Member
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    Doesn't matter what exercise you do.

    Weight loss comes from a caloric deficit.

    And of course, burning more calories is one of two ways to create that deficit.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    kwtilbury wrote: »
    Doesn't matter what exercise you do.

    Weight loss comes from a caloric deficit.

    And how do you create a caloric deficit?

    To the OP: I haven't spent a lot of time researching it, but the popular theory now is that higher intensity training sessions offer more fat/calorie burning benefit over steady-state cardio because of the "afterburner" effect. Your metabolism is elevated for longer periods of time after training.

    Perhaps you might want to do some more research into epoc.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    Is it more beneficial to weight loss to run longer distances at a steady pace or shorter distance at a faster, more intense pace?

    It depends.

    If I ran the same distance and i had a choice then id run it faster because id get, get more benefit to VO2 as well as some extended calorie burn. EPOC effect is often exaggerated.

    However if i ran it at a slower pace id burn slightly fewer calories overall with less extended burn, but id be able to recover from it more easily. Recovery is an importnat factor becayse I would be able to do the runs more often or go for further distances, which would burn greater calories.

    Noywithstanding being cautious about using exercise for calorie burns as you have to do a lot for it to start being significant. 250-500 cals would be20 mins to an hour.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    Is it more beneficial to weight loss to run longer distances at a steady pace or shorter distance at a faster, more intense pace?

    What specifically are you trying to accomplish, with what plan?
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited August 2015
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    AJ_G wrote: »
    Is it more beneficial to weight loss to run longer distances at a steady pace or shorter distance at a faster, more intense pace?

    As long as you're running, not walking, distance determines calorie burn, not intensity or speed. If you run a mile in 7 minutes, or you run a mile in 10 minutes, as long as you're running, the calorie burn is the same. The benefit that intensity has it that it conditions your cardiovascular system and your heart.
    Is this true? I thought intensity mattered. Otherwise, why wear an HRM for a more accurate calorie burn?

    HRMs for calorie burns are an invention from the fevered imaginations of marketing departments.

  • MissJay75
    MissJay75 Posts: 768 Member
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    *shrug*

    I've been using a HRM to help me determine calorie burn for 18 months. I eat back all my exercise calories, and I have lost and then maintained at exactly the calories MFP says, which could not happen if the HRM wasn't accurate.
  • KittensMaster
    KittensMaster Posts: 748 Member
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    Is it more beneficial to weight loss to run longer distances at a steady pace or shorter distance at a faster, more intense pace?


    Throw a few faster periods in the mix and try your best to keep the time up

    I ride my bike avg 120 miles a week. There is a speed threshold for calorie burns per mile but the big thing for me is to keep it between 90 and 120 minutes at a cardio level with an occasional sprint.

    You will get slightly different benefits from long term higher intensity cardio than lower.

    My heart rate when I wake is in the high 40's now as a result of few months of riding lots of 19+ mph miles.

    If you can vary your workout to an intense fast day, then slower longer day, then and interval day it may be less boring and will burn calories and condition your body

    Good luck with it. Lots of options. Try and few and see what you like best.