Do breaks during a workout affect calories burned?

Marchmallow
Marchmallow Posts: 124 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
The reason I ask is because I tried Turbofire and found the steps too quick to follow and switched to Tae Bo after 15 minutes, so that time between was a break, and then during Tae Bo because I'd done a 15 minute workout before that, I took a couple of breaks during that (only a few minutes, and the Tae Bo was a 52 minute video). So rather than being out of breath, I'm just very sweaty, achey and exhausted!

Replies

  • BlueBombers
    BlueBombers Posts: 4,064 Member
    I'm thinking because your heart rate goes down during this break...so then you have to work to get it back up again.

    When I do my weight lifting I take short breaks in between for this very reason.
  • Marchmallow
    Marchmallow Posts: 124 Member
    That's a good point!
  • journey_man
    journey_man Posts: 110 Member
    That's a good point!
    No it's really not. The body is not a car. There is no momentum, where ramping up to a certain heart rate requires more energy than maintaining that heart rate (if that were even the case for cars).

    Calories are a unit of energy. You move more you burn more. You move less you burn less.
  • Roadie2000
    Roadie2000 Posts: 1,801 Member
    Really it depends on your heart rate. If you are doing high intensity interval training you need to rest to prevent your heart rate from getting too high. If you are doing less intense workouts you can take shorter breaks or just decrease intensity for a while, butyou want to keep your heart rate somewhat elevated for maximum calorie burn.
  • Marchmallow
    Marchmallow Posts: 124 Member
    The workout was Tae Bo, which does get pretty intense. I had to take a couple of breaks when I physically couldn't lift my legs any more, and I didn't want to quit.
  • aurical84
    aurical84 Posts: 10 Member
    For what it's worth.... Most of my daily exercise is commuting to/from work on my bike. I compared the MFP calorie estimate entering the AM/PM commutes separately as well as entering the entire trip at once and there was no difference. I like this since it's easier for me to enter the exercise once after I get home at the end of the day.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,029 Member
    A break means stopping what you're doing, so in essence movement is ceased which means less calories are being expended. That said, depending on the type of exercise format, you may need a break to continue. Tabata protocol gives a 10 sec break between cycles. Power lifters take up to 5 minutes between sets. Most long distance runners take no break till their mileage is reached.
    Just know that the less breaks you take on exercise you done for about a month is an indication that your fitness is getting better.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

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