There has been a long-held belief that cardiovascular exercise done in the aerobic zone is the best form of training to lose weight. When it comes to cardiovascular exercise, there is one way: long-duration, lower-intensity exercise such as walking, jogging, or biking; and there is another way: high-intensity, short-duration exercise such as sprint training and interval exercise. I will explain which one has a greater impact on muscle, metabolism and weight loss.
Aerobics and cardio are low-intensity, long-duration exercises. While they do burn calories in the short-term, in the long-term, studies have shown that this kind of exercise burns less fat, builds less muscle, can actually break down muscle tissue, and can reduce the natural flexibility and elasticity of the arteries leading to high-blood pressure and heart disease.
High-intensity, short-duration workouts—also known as anaerobic exercise—does a much better job stimulating muscle, raising metabolism, and putting your body into a fat-burning mode. It’s like flipping a switch inside your body that tells it to stop making fat and burn off the excess fat you currently have.
Multiple studies have shown that while aerobics and cardio workouts burn more calories, high-intensity, short-duration workouts build more muscle and burn up to 9 times more fat. Nine times! You may be thinking, doesn’t this defy logic? Not really, when you understand that exercise continues to affect your metabolism after you stop. Compared to aerobic exercise, the increased metabolism created by high-intensity, short-duration anaerobic exercise is greater and lasts longer; up to 48 hours long. Forty-eight hours…even while you sleep! This giant “after-burn” is the secret to raising your metabolism and burning excess body fat. For more information, read PACE: The 12-Minute Fitness Revolution by Dr. Al Sears.
