40 min walk same as four 10 min walks?

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juliaky84
juliaky84 Posts: 72 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Are the benefits the same? I've been told the body goes into fat burning mode after 30 minutes of cardio, so if that's the case wouldn't it be better to walk for 40 min rather than smaller chunks of time?

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  • sheldonklein
    sheldonklein Posts: 854 Member
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    It's the same in terms of calorie burn, but not in terms of cardio benefits.
  • qubetha
    qubetha Posts: 83 Member
    edited September 2015
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    sheldonklein wrote: »
    It's the same in terms of calorie burn, but not in terms of cardio benefits.

    I'm not refuting as such because I don't actually have an evidence but are you sure it's exactly the same in terms of calorie burn? when I start walking my heart rate takes at least 2 minutes or longer before it reaches equilibrium and the walk certainly feels easier for that period. Surely overall the average heart rate over 4 x 10 minute walks would be lower (and thus also calorie burn) than for a single long walk where heart rate would only ramp up once?

    I thought heart rate was an indicator of calorie burn?

    Genuinely curious.

  • Werk2Eat
    Werk2Eat Posts: 114 Member
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    I run 7 miles at 7 miles/hour a clip. I can tell you from experience my HR monitor goes from 90ish (start) to about 160 bpm after 2 miles and stays a constant 168-175bpm after 3 miles. So in my tests you burn more as you exercise longer.
  • sheldonklein
    sheldonklein Posts: 854 Member
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    I was imprecisely precise in my response. Can I rephrase it as "it doesn't make s lot of difference in terms of calorie burn, but a big difference in terms of cardio benefits."?
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
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    sheldonklein wrote: »
    I was imprecisely precise in my response. Can I rephrase it as "it doesn't make s lot of difference in terms of calorie burn, but a big difference in terms of cardio benefits."?

    This is what I thought too.

    But if you only have time for four 10 mins walks, something is better than nothing.
  • allenpriest
    allenpriest Posts: 1,102 Member
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    It also makes a difference how fast you are going. 4 intense 10 minute walks may do more than a really slow 40 minute stroll
  • kevinanderson520562
    kevinanderson520562 Posts: 31 Member
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    Also, you may not be fit enough to walk for 40 mins but still want that much exercise. When I started I could barely make it a quarter mile so I would walk until I couldn't. Take a break and start over.
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
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    Yes. 4 tens same as 1 40. Walking is automatically fat burn because it is low intensity. 30 mins irrelevent.

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