Not All Excercises Are Equal For Fat Loss

We all know the old saying about losing weight, eat less and move more. Unfortunately, this statement leaves too much to the imagination.

Eat less, should really be eat less junk food and more healthy options, including fruits and vegetables along with a balanced proportion of proteins and carbohydrates.

And move more is very true, most of us would do better by moving more. However, there is some fine print associated with this statement. So pull out your reading glasses and be prepared to view the little stuff.

Just moving more will not always give the results that you might expect. If you are after a better bill of health next time you go to the doctor, getting off the couch and walking more will certainly help.

With that said, certain forms of exercise will have very different affects, and various forms of the same exercise will give you different results.

Take running for example; there are two basic styles of running. One is distance or endurance running and the other is speed work or interval training.

Endurance Training For The Heart

Endurance training is fabulous for you heart and will do wonders for your blood pressure and cholesterol; unfortunately distance running does not chisel away the fat like most people think it will.

Running for distance slowly burns calories, but it does not leave an ongoing effect after the completion of exercise as well as interval training does.

Interval Running For Fat Loss

Interval running is when the focus is on speed or effort and recovery. An example would be run at a 7 out of 10 effort for a couple minutes, then run at a recovery pace for a minute, run at an 8 out of 10 effort for another couple minutes, then recover. And repeat for about 25 minutes with varying intensity.

The idea is to get your heart rate up, then recover, and then repeat the interval. This type of move more exercise is the fastest way to chisel away the fat and improve your figure. It will not have the same effect as endurance running on heart health and in fact adds more stress to your body while performing it.

The same difference between endurance and interval training holds true for most any cardiovascular based sport. Think cycling, swimming, and even walking. When you get to a certain point in life, it begins to feel as if the process of taking off and putting on and closing and opening those folding reading glasses is similar to interval training. Interval training will help you work up a sweat faster and you will continue to sweat long after your post workout shower.

For living proof, look at the average body type of a marathon runner, lean and thin vs. that of a basketball player, cut and trim. Marathon runners go for the distance. Basketball players are constantly switching power stopping and starting again. They are consistently adjusting pace from a slow jog to fast sprint, then back down to recovery again.

Both athletes are extremely healthy, however they get an extraordinarily different workout performing the same exercise.