Are you
confused about how hard you have to exercise to lose weight? The truth is that
low intensity exercise, moderate intensity exercise and high intensity exercise
all play an important role in a well-designed weight
loss or fat loss programme. What matters is how you combine all three to create effective
workouts.
If you
are going to put in the time to exercise, you want to make sure you reap the
maximum rewards. Learn the benefits of each exercise intensity and then learn
to combine them to build a workout program that is safe, enjoyable and
effective.
What is Low Intensity Exercise?
Some of
your daily physical activity could be categorized as low intensity exercise. If
you take your dog for a walk, go bike riding with the kids, or stroll to the
grocery store to pick up dinner these things might be considered low intensity
exercise.
Low
intensity exercise increases your heart rate but not to the point that you have
to breathe heavily. On a perceived exertion scale of 1-10, low intensity
exercise would rank between 4-6. Your heart rate during this type of activity
would fall between 40-60% of your maximum heart rate. You should feel
comfortable enough that you can continue the activity for a long period of time.
Benefits
of low intensity exercise. The value of this kind of low-key activity is that you can do a lot of
it. Low intensity workouts improve range of motion in your joints, lower your
stress level, increase your total daily
calorie expenditure and provide recovery from harder workouts that you may have
scheduled during the week.
What is Moderate Intensity Exercise?
Experts often recommend
moderate exercise for improved health and weight loss or fat loss. Essentially, what does that
really mean? Moderate intensity might be one workload for a fit person and
something totally different for someone who is new to exercise. How do you know
if your workout falls into the moderate category?
When you
are participating in moderate intensity exercise, you should feel like you are
working, but not working so hard that you need to quit in the next few minutes.
You are breathing deeply but not gasping for breath. On a perceived exertion
scale of 1-10, you should feel like you are working at a level of 6-7.
So how
much moderate intensity activity is necessary? The American College of Sports
Medicine offers guidelines for the amount of moderate intensity activity
required to meet specific goals.
- To see modest weight loss or fat loss, exercise at a moderate intensity between 150 and 250 minutes per week.
- To see clinically significant weight loss or fat loss, you need to participate in moderate exercise for more than 250 minutes per week.
- If you are combining diet and exercise to lose weight or fat, engage in moderate intensity exercise between 150 and 250 minutes per week.
- To prevent weight gain after you've lost weight, engage in at least 250 minutes per week.
Benefits
of Moderate Intensity Exercise. The benefit of moderate activity is that it allows
you to maintain your calorie burning session for a longer period of time.
Moderate exercise improves cardio-respiratory endurance, reduces stress,
improves heart health and boosts your metabolism. Because the intensity level
of a moderate workout is tolerable, you are able to do more of these workouts
during the week without risking injury or burn out.
What is High Intensity Exercise?
High
intensity workouts are the sessions that you can only maintain for a short
period of time. Because the work is so hard, high intensity exercise requires
substantial recovery, both within the exercise session and in the days
following the workout.
When you
are participating in high intensity exercise you are breathing very deeply and
on the verge of gasping for breath. You don't feel that you can maintain the
activity for more than a few minutes. On a perceived exertion scale, you feel
like you are working at a level of 8-9.
This is
because high intensity exercises can only be maintained for a short period of
time, they are often programmed into interval style workouts. A popular form of
interval training is called High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT. To
program a HIIT workout, you combine bursts of intense exercise that last 30
seconds to several minutes with short recovery periods that last 30 seconds or
more.
Benefits
of High Intensity Exercise. If you exercise to lose weight or fat, high intensity
workouts will do the trick. Experts have found that people who participate in
high intensity interval workouts are more successful at losing weight and
burning fat. High intensity exercise is also the most efficient. An intense
workout will burn mega calories in a very short amount of time.
However,
there are drawbacks to high intensity exercise. Only healthy exercisers should
participate in HIIT workouts. These extreme sessions put you at higher risk for
injury and burnout. High intensity exercise also requires low intensity
recovery time in the days following the session. This is where careful exercise
programming comes into play.
Combine High, Low and Moderate Intensity Exercise
to Lose Fat or Weight
If you
are healthy enough for physical activity at every intensity level, plan 1-2
high intensity workouts during the week. These short workouts will help you
burn maximum calories in minimum time. You'll also build
muscle and boost your metabolism during these sessions.
On the
days following your hard workouts, give your body a rest by participating in
low intensity exercise. The increased range of motion during these easy days
will help your sore muscles recover more quickly and you will still increase
your calorie burn for the day without taxing your body too much and risking
burn out or injury.
Fill in
the rest of your workout week with moderate intensity sessions. Challenge
yourself by making these sessions longer. The calorie burning benefits from
these moderate workouts come from the duration of the session, no necessarily
from the intensity.
Lastly,
remember that if you exercise to lose weight or fat, you need to watch your diet as
well. Make sure you eat plenty of lean protein, simple and complex carbohydrates, fruits,
vegetables and healthy fat to fuel your workouts. Count
calories, measure your exercise intensity and record the data in a
weight loss journal to track your progress.
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