By Aaron Boike, B.S. Kinesiology, ACE Certified Personal Trainer, NESCA Certified Running Coach | Personal Trainers St Louis Park MN
Coming out of the holidays every year most of us are looking to shed a few pounds and get the new year kicked off with healthier habits. For many of us, that will be mean starting or recommitting to an exercise routine to help burn extra calories and kickstart weight loss. Every January the team at 3CLICK does dozens of initial Fitness Assessments with clients looking to lose weight, and wondering what the best intensity for exercise is when trying to lose weight.
Often we’re asked, “Don’t I want to stay in my “fat burning” zone?” The “fat burning zone” is a pop culture name for lower intensity exercise, typically done between 55-65% of our maximum heart rate. It’s called the “fat burning zone” because we do actually burn a significantly higher percentage of calories directly from fat when we’re at a lower heart rate. Do you know what burns an even higher percentage of calories from fat than exercise in the “fat burning zone” does? Sleeping, sitting, or anything where your heart rate is even lower than that. The lower our heart rate, the higher percentage of calories from fat we are burning. Needless to say, sitting more to lose weight isn’t a great strategy. Sleeping on the other hand….we’ll get to that in another blog post. : )
Long story short, when we’re looking to lose weight we are looking for the method of exercise that will give us the greatest total caloric burn for our time, not the highest percentage of calories from fat. This links back to the imperfect, but well studied concept of energy balance, which says that if you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. Ultimately, if we burn enough calories to put us into a caloric deficit, our body will burn more fat for energy outside of our workouts. Therefore, a “fat burning zone” workout where we might burn 300 calories in an hour of low intensity walking is less effective than jogging for that same hour and burning 600+ calories (the specific number of calories depends on body weight, fitness levels, etc). To summarize, the intention of cardiovascular activity when you’re looking to lose weight is to burn calories, and higher intensity exercise simply burns more calories faster. But the story doesn’t end there.
There is now promising research showing that short repeated bouts of high intensity exercise, also know as “High Intensity Interval Training” or HIIT may be the best way to lose weight. Although an individual may burn roughly the same, or even slightly fewer calories in a HIIT session than doing a steady state session of vigorous exercise, HIIT has been shown to have an “afterburn” effect, which can burn up to 200 additional calories in the hours after a workout. A study conducted at The University of Goias, Brazil, showed that in a four week period participants doing interval training lost about 1/3 more weight than those doing moderate intensity continuous exercise. They also noted that those participants who used sprinting for their intervals seemed to the best weight loss results – this is presumed to be because of the physical impact of running on the body, which has been shown to burn more calories than low or no impact exercise modalities. The downside to HIIT training is that it is not appropriate for everyone. Exercising at high intensities can be contraindicated for individuals as risk for injury, dealing with health issues, or with cardiovascular problems.
Application
So now we know high intensity exercise burns more calories than low intensity, and high intensity interval training is shown to be the most effective form of high intensity exercise. How do we turn this data into action?
- Pick the mode exercise that is right for you – All of this data means nothing if you can’t commit to the exercise in a safe and sustainable manner. Pick the modality or modalities (biking, jogging, walking, elliptical, etc.) that are the most enjoyable for you and allow you to stay consistent. Consistency is key to weight loss.
- Pick the intensity that is right for you – High intensity exercise has two main problems; it increases the risk of injury, and is not appropriate for those with health issues. If you’re new to exercise, or dealing with injury or health issues, a moderate intensity program is likely the best place for you to start. If you’re already in reasonable shape, and do not have health or injury issues, incorporating HIIT and/or higher intensity exercise can be a fantastic way to boost your weight loss efforts. I generally recommend to my clients that they not do HIIT training more than 3x/week, as it does require a recovery period, much like strength training does. These HIIT sessions can be supplemented with moderate intensity sessions throughout the remainder of the week, which can be done daily.
How to Structure An HIIT Session
- A proper 5-10 minute warm-up at low intensity to begin the session.
- A 20-30 minute period of cycling between low intensity and high intensity. A common way to do this is one minute of high intensity exercise at a 8-9/10 rating of perceived exertion (RPE) followed by one minute of low intensity exercise at a 3-5 RPE. Typically HIIT intervals do not last longer than 90 seconds, although longer rest periods are often recommended for beginners in between the high intensity bouts. Beginners can also start with as little as 5-10 minutes of intervals during their workouts.
- A proper 5-10 minute cool down at low intensity to end the session.
To be effective, exercise for weight loss should be paired with other healthy habits, such as a proper diet rich in whole foods and low in processed foods, sleeping 7-9 hours per night, and keeping stress levels low.
Looking for help learning how to structure your exercise program? Schedule a Free Fitness Assessment with a 3CLICK Trainer to get the help of a professional.
Sources:
Ives, L. (2019, February 16). Short bursts of intense exercise ‘better for weight loss’. Retrieved January 29, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/health-47242940
Lifesum App. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2021, from https://lifesum.com/health-education/the-afterburn-how-the-body-burns-calories-after-a-workout/#:~:text=After%20you%20finish%20the%20workout,hours%20after%20their%20workout%20ended.
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