Fun Stuff > CHATTER
The 'I Feel Like Being Healthier' Thread!
Aimless:
--- Quote from: Spluff on 21 Dec 2008, 16:29 ---Many studies have shown that short periods of high intensity cardio will be much more effective than a long period of low intensity cardio. 20 minutes of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), including warm up and cool down, every second day is much more effective than doing an hour or more low intensity cardio every day. It burns more fat whilst burning less muscle.
--- End quote ---
Er, what do you mean with "more effective" and what do you mean with "burning muscle"?
Spluff:
More Effective:
By more effective I mean that it will burn-up/utilize a greater total amount of calories compared to standard low intensity aerobic excercise, whilst also giving greater benefits to your cardiovascular system.
Burning Muscle:
During cardio, your body will utilizes energy from various sources. When the body is running low on energy, the body will start getting energy from alternate (non standard, as in not from carhbohydrates/fat) and start cannibalizing muscle to break down the muscle proteins within for energy. So essentially the body starts 'burning' or breaking down muscle for energy. It's not really that much of an issue in most people, unless you are attempting to gain strength or size.
Aimless:
--- Quote from: Spluff on 22 Dec 2008, 01:50 ---More Effective:
By more effective I mean that it will burn-up/utilize a greater total amount of calories compared to standard low intensity aerobic excercise, whilst also giving greater benefits to your cardiovascular system.
--- End quote ---
Which benefits, exactly? :)
You may burn a greater total amount of calories, but if you're training anaerobically (which I'm guessing you will be, if you're talking high-intensity interval training) then you'll be utilising your carbohydrate reserves throughout. Reducing those reserves won't automatically reduce your fat reserves.
--- Quote ---During cardio, your body will utilizes energy from various sources. When the body is running low on energy, the body will start getting energy from alternate (non standard, as in not from carhbohydrates/fat) and start cannibalizing muscle to break down the muscle proteins within for energy. So essentially the body starts 'burning' or breaking down muscle for energy. It's not really that much of an issue in most people, unless you are attempting to gain strength or size.
--- End quote ---
Your body is continuously breaking down protein from muscles. They become particularly important fuel sources during anaerobic training, because they (like lactate) can be converted to glucose and that's what your muscles can use under those conditions.
It's not some form of cannibalisation, such as what occurs during prolonged starvation, uncontrolled diabetes, etc, where you have actual muscle-wasting due to the breakdown of important structural proteins.
What you're speaking of is a normal and natural adaptation to aerobic training, where your skeletal muscle fibres change to work better at moderate intensity under aerobic conditions. So yeah, their cross-sectional area goes down--reducing muscle size and "strength"--but that's not a bad thing unless your goal is specifically to increase muscle size and explosive power. In principle, it's just like the way your body adapts to other forms of training by getting bigger and more butch.
It's all about what your goals are. There haven't been many high-quality studies done on normal people comparing eg. HIIT with other forms of exercise. HIIT seems to be great for well-trained people, though :)
[EDIT] To clarify: HIT is useful for increasing performance, but that doesn't mean it's a better option for someone whose primary concern is eg. losing weight rather than becoming eg. a better athlete.
Eris:
Ok, it took me a while, but I finally bought a skipping rope today. I had to go to a sporting goods store to find one that is plastic and simple, rather than pink and sparkly, but it is worth it, it is just what I wanted (well technically not exactly what I wanted, but they didn't have a school skipping rope that wasn't ridiculously long). I will start my skipping regime tomorrow and work my way back up to the speed skipping that I used to do years ago.
I also got a cold and have been eating junk recently, but hey, I eat junk all the time anyway and have been the same weight for years, so it's not that big a deal.
Spluff:
--- Quote from: Aimless on 22 Dec 2008, 02:24 ---You may burn a greater total amount of calories, but if you're training anaerobically (which I'm guessing you will be, if you're talking high-intensity interval training) then you'll be utilising your carbohydrate reserves throughout. Reducing those reserves won't automatically reduce your fat reserves.
--- End quote ---
You may not reduce your fat reserves during the excercise, but because of the high intensity of the excercise you undertook, you will end up using those reserves later on during the day due to EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), which means, due to the large metabolic increase, you can burn up to eight or nine times as much fat as if you had done a moderate-intensity set of exercise for twice as long as you did HIIT.
--- Quote from: Aimless on 22 Dec 2008, 02:24 ---Your body is continuously breaking down protein from muscles. They become particularly important fuel sources during anaerobic training, because they (like lactate) can be converted to glucose and that's what your muscles can use under those conditions.
It's not some form of cannibalisation, such as what occurs during prolonged starvation, uncontrolled diabetes, etc, where you have actual muscle-wasting due to the breakdown of important structural proteins.
--- End quote ---
Whilst this is true, that muscle protein is being utilized at any point in the time, the amount is significantly increased during long term aerobic excercise - because of the long duration of the excercise, the body can run out of it's standard energy reserves and enter a catabolic state where it is actively breaking down muscle tissue for fuel.
--- Quote from: Aimless on 22 Dec 2008, 02:24 ---What you're speaking of is a normal and natural adaptation to aerobic training, where your skeletal muscle fibres change to work better at moderate intensity under aerobic conditions. So yeah, their cross-sectional area goes down--reducing muscle size and "strength"--but that's not a bad thing unless your goal is specifically to increase muscle size and explosive power. In principle, it's just like the way your body adapts to other forms of training by getting bigger and more butch.
To clarify: HIT is useful for increasing performance, but that doesn't mean it's a better option for someone whose primary concern is eg. losing weight rather than becoming eg. a better athlete.
--- End quote ---
I agree that it is "not really that much of an issue in most people, unless you are attempting to gain strength or size", as I posted earlier. I would, however, argue that it is still relevant to the average person. HIIT is a very effective way of burning fat and increasing overall cardiovascular fitness in a short period of time (not everybody has enough time to go out and run for an hour or more a day).
---
[Edit] Also, hey, that is pretty fantastic Hannah. Skipping is fun.
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