id love your opinion...

sweetie89207

what in your opinion is better and why?

-exercising 3 times for 20 minutes a piece
or
- exercising 1 time for an hour

and with each one ending with the same calorie loss whats better and why in your opinion?

thanks!!!

BrentGetsFit

IMO they're the same. It depends on your schedule, what works best? What can you fit in and when? AS long as you're getting the workout and burning the calories it's all good.

caitlinclock

I think they're both great. I've heard the first option is better for your metabolism but I tend to do the second since at least I'm doing something and it is personally easier for me at the present time.

TaneeisFitforLife

Breaking up the time or doing it all at one time....same. You are fitting in the time and that's what counts!

sweetie89207

awesome thanks...i thought they were the same...but i have heard the long you go the better you can activate your metabolism to continue to work...who knows maybe that was b.s. hahaha...thanks tho!

navy4you2

Doing the hour in one blast is that your heart rate stays up for a longer period of time. If you do the split 20min then it will require you to work out enough to get your heart rate up and then do your 20 minute workout, cool down and then come back and do it all over again. With the 60 min workout you are doing your warm up, cool down and keeping your heart rate in a zone longer.

sweetie89207

Doing the hour in one blast is that your heart rate stays up for a longer period of time. If you do the split 20min then it will require you to work out enough to get your heart rate up and then do your 20 minute workout, cool down and then come back and do it all over again. With the 60 min workout you are doing your warm up, cool down and keeping your heart rate in a zone longer.

ok that makes sense... thanks

groucherella

Honestly, you'll find arguments that support either opinion. But in my amateur, non medical opinion, I'd say that working out multiple times a week is better than once no matter the interval.

TaneeisFitforLife

I do a lot of HIIT and typically will do 10mins at a time. Raises my HR up effectively.

If you are just starting out I do believe any kind of exercise is good exercise. Making it a habit is more important at first than anything else

TrainingWithTonya

Depends on what kind of exercise you are doing and what you are trying to do with your workouts. If you are looking at what will burn a higher percentage of calories from fat, then one long session is better then 3 short ones because you pull more from fat storage for fuel for longer duration cardio activities. If you are just looking at calories burned, however, 3 short workouts a day will burn more because A) you can go at a higher intensity and if you do heavy weight training for those sessions, then you will actually raise your metabolism for several hours after each workout because of the need for the body to repair muscle and replace the fuel used during the workouts. Personally, I like to do a variety so that one day I get one type and the next I get the other so that I get a good well rounded program and optimize what my body uses for fuel.

tross0924

If you're talking per week i'd say 3 - 20 minute sessions is better, but if you're talking the same day they're largely the same with a slight edge going to the hour long version. The longer you keep your heart rate up the better it is for your cardiovascular health.