low intensity vs high intensity?

jamieraegem

I have been trying to run now for about 5 wks and I was building up my speed therefor running with a higher heart rate. A couple of weeks ago i saw a trainer to help me develop a workout plan and he told me I needed to slow down my running because to burn fat calories I needed to reach a lower heart rate. However I haven't felt as strong doing this and I really want to build up my endurance. Should I listen to the trainer and slow down or keep going at a faster pace (which overall is burning more calories)?

visiologist

Your trainer is working with out-dated information.

It HAS been demonstrated that during exertion, the body will tend to burn a higher percentage of bodyfat at lower exercise intensities. This lead to the concept of the "fat burning zone" and everyone worked real hard to try to keep their heart rate in "the zone".

However...

That turned out to be only a PART of the big picture. Your body burns calories 24/7, not just during exercise. When you exercise, your body turns into a more aggressive fat burning machine for a while, well after your workout is over. If you workout MORE intensely, there is an even greater fat-burning effect when the workout is done. Studies these days are repeatedly showing that the most effective and time-efficient way to shed bodyfat is to do "interval training". In interval training (often called HIIT, for High Intensity Interval Training), you ramp up to sprint intensity, and then recover by exercising a lower intensity. You repeat this throughout the workout. Usually the ratio of time spent in low to high intensity is maybe 3 to 1. In other words, say 90 seconds of slow to medium pace, followed by 30 seconds of sprinting, then another 90 seconds of slow... etc. Usually you ramp intensity up from low to high, so you don't all of a sudden burst into a sprint, but there are many ways to approach it.

Even if you decide not to do intervals, anything you can do to increase your average intensity level will increase the amount of bodyfat you burn. This also allows you to spend less time exercising because you're getting more work done in less time.

You are on the right track. Just don't let that trainer derail you!

Mike

hiddensecant

Interval running is better at burning fat than either, hehe. That shifts your heart rate into several different zones for brief periods of time. It's also great for improving endurance and overall run-time.

Azdak

I have been trying to run now for about 5 wks and I was building up my speed therefor running with a higher heart rate. A couple of weeks ago i saw a trainer to help me develop a workout plan and he told me I needed to slow down my running because to burn fat calories I needed to reach a lower heart rate. However I haven't felt as strong doing this and I really want to build up my endurance. Should I listen to the trainer and slow down or keep going at a faster pace (which overall is burning more calories)?

And you paid money for this "advice"? Oy.

Focus your exercise plan on becoming fit and creating a good balanced routine. Develop an eating plan that monitors intake and creates good eating habits. You will lose weight.

Don't let your exercise routine become consumed by a "diet plan". As you become more fit, you will increase your level and burn more calories--as well as feeling great about yourself and even more motivated.

Running is one of the best aerobic exercises for weight loss because it burns more calories per unit of time than most other exercises. Cross Training is good because it breaks up the routine and helps avoid overuse injuries. Strength training is an essential part of the plan as well.

For cardio training, I would recommend the following:

1 longer, slower run--55%-65% effort, 60+ min
2 medium, moderate runs--60%-70% effort, 40 min
2 shorter, higher intensity runs--65%-85% effort, 25-30 min

The shorter runs can be either focused, "race" type intensity, intervals, hill workouts, whatever.

If you are not up to 60 min runs, find out your longest duration and change the time intervals, but keep the same proportions.

If you want to do other workouts, consider doing the 2 "medium" workouts with another activity (cross trainer, stair climber, class, spin), or 1 medium and 1 short (maybe a more intense class--the class may last 60 min, but have 20 or so minutes of higher-intensity work).

Here are some workouts I am doing now:

Endurance run: 60 min (I am ready to do more, but I have trouble keeping the speed low--I always want to try to beat my previous distance, calories, etc).

Hill Interval: I set my treadmill on the "random hill program" and do 8 min run/2 min walk intervals x 6. For the runs, I vary the challenge--some go faster but on level 1 or 2, others at slower speed, but higher hills.

Speed interval: 10-20 min warmup (slow jog, stair climber), then 4 min intervals, followed by 2 min walk x 6-10. The run intervals are done at speeds 1.0 to 1.5 mph faster than my endurance run.

Performance 5K run: I try to simulate a 5K race on the treadmill, so it is a sustained race pace effort.

I am trying to do one of each of these per week, although the last two, I have done 2 endurance/wk and skipped the speed interval (I have gotten a little fixated on calorie burn).

I also do 45 min stairclimber workouts and 30-40 min on cross trainer on days that I strength train.

I have been averaging 6 cardio workouts/wk (3 or 4 runs) for the past 11 weeks, gradually increasing time and intensity to the above levels.

jamieraegem

thanks for the advise everyone! i decided to go back to what was working for me, which was high intensity! i cant run 60 min quite yet but i will get there soon enough. Right now I can go about 40 minutes before i need to rest for a second and regroup! however its getting easier and easier. i remember when i couldn't run more than 3 minutes without getting winded!

vanimami

Interval running is better at burning fat than either, hehe. That shifts your heart rate into several different zones for brief periods of time. It's also great for improving endurance and overall run-time.

Agreed, this is what I have been doing. I usually run about 4-6 miles at the same pace, but I've been readign so many other articles that say to run intervals. so every 3-5 minutes I will start sprinting for 30 sec to 1 minute, which has been shaving time off of my runs. You may want to go to runnersworld.com to see waht kind of running advice it can offer.