Searching the Internet for fitness and health can be a daunting experience, from an overdose of information to often misleading advice. This series aims to shed light on these hard-held beliefs still circulating in the fitness industry today.
Myth:
Longer exercise sessions burn more calories and shape you up faster than shorter sessions.
Truth:
Shorter sessions can actually be more effective and help you shape and achieve your fitness goals faster.
Training duration and intensity are inversely proportional. The longer the session, the less hard you can train as the body gets tired. In order to see real fitness change, your body needs to reach its threshold and break it to set a higher one. At this new base, your body is stronger and your metabolism is faster. High intensity training (HIT) forces you to reach your threshold, allowing your body to adapt stronger and fitter. Also, in this form of HIT, the body undergoes a post workout calorie burn (you keep burning calories even after the workout is done).
Note: HIT is a method of training harder but for shorter periods.Conclusion:
The key to the benefits of short duration workouts is to keep the intensity at ALL OUT or the maximum that you can possibly give. You give your maximum for a short period. HIT allows for real lasting changes.
Recommendations:
- Always mix and match your workout by varying the durations of your sessions.
- Aim for two high intensity, short duration workouts per week.
- Don’t compare yourself to others. What you consider high intensity might not be high intensity for others.
- Measure your performance regularly as you will definitely improve.
Stay tuned for more fitness myths in our upcoming issues.
