Calories burnt during exercise.

Floricienta

I usually hit the gym after work in the afternoon and work out hard, try to get everything done as quickly as possible so I don't really take breaks -- on good days. On 'bad' days, by the time I make it to the gym I'm so tired that I can't stop yawning and that's when I try to take it easy and lower the intensity for example from speed 5.5 to 4, etc. I do try to workout a little bit longer on those days so that I can burn a decent amount of calories, or close to what I would burn on good days. I was thinking about this the other day and got curious, is there any difference between burning say 100 calories in 10 min and burning those same 100 cals in 20? does working out harder have any positive effects to our bodies other than endurance related benefits? and also, does being DRENCHED in sweat ALWAYS mean you had a great workout???

kao708

My initial reaction is to say that a calorie burned is the same no matter how long it took you to burn it. That being said I would imagine a higher intensity workout is probably more beneficial for your overall cardiovascular health. In the overall scheme of things, though...a calorie is a calorie! Good luck and good job working out even when you don't want to. That is the hardest thing to do!

jennifer3998

I *think* the more intense you workout, you may experience longer term benefits as far as burning calories afterwards. But in general a calorie is a calorie.

I did, however, have a trainer who once told me that how much you sweat is a pretty good indication of how hard you have worked.

But I'm not claiming to be an expert!! Good questions though!

jennifer3998

My initial reaction is to say that a calorie burned is the same no matter how long it took you to burn it. That being said I would imagine a higher intensity workout is probably more beneficial for your overall cardiovascular health. In the overall scheme of things, though...a calorie is a calorie! Good luck and good job working out even when you don't want to. That is the hardest thing to do!

Ha! Look at that - we said almost the exact same thing! We must be so smart lol.

Azdak

Higher intensity exercise can have some additional benefits for fat loss and fitness improvements, but in the scenario you describe, the answer would be "no difference".

There is also a difference between "burning calories" and "improving fitness". You can actually burn a lot of calories without substantially increasing your fitness level. It would just take a lot of activity. In your case, on days where you are fatigued, you can do some "active recovery" and burn some calories.

Floricienta

Thanks for replying, ladies!!