Why Aerobic Exercise Doesn’t Burn Fat

Posted: January 18th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Bill Stillwell | No Comments »

I joined a friend of mine at the gym yesterday. It’s something I do,
every now and then, to keep up on what the gym bunnies are wearing,
since I don’t have that channel on cable. I also enjoy the social
interaction, but I never really get much of a workout.

The gym was really busy. That’s usually the case, this time of year,
because a bunch of people are sticking to their resolutions. But I
have to say, it was unusually busy. Almost every single treadmill
was occupied and there are a lot of treadmills in this place. So I
nosed around a bit, to find out what was going on.

The club had a “boot camp” going on and most of the people in the
gym were involved, in one way or another. I asked what was on the
program and someone got me a brochure. I looked it over, and 95% of
what they were doing was aerobic exercise. That’s stuff like running
on a treadmill, using an elliptical machine, riding a bike,
spinning, jazzercising, zumba-ing (whatever that is) and the like. I
smiled and handed the brochure back to the eager young trainer.

The truth is that this kind of training may be fun (not for me) and
it may be social, but it makes you flabby, debilitated and it
eventually kills your heart and lung health; not to mention
advancing aging and decreasing vital lean muscle tissue. (It can
also really screw up your libido.)

The sad thing is that this useless mantra is repeated by doctors,
fitness clubs, health experts, gym rats, personal trainers and
Michele Obama, who believes this stuff will shape up kids. (That and
$6 billion dollars…which is what she wants to spend.) As I’ve said
before, “Michelle… get in shape yourself…then, I might listen.”

But, far be it from me to tell you not to do it…if you want to
waste hours a week for nothing.

If you want to lose weight and more importantly, keep it off…you
need to do High Intensity Training, also known as HIT training. You
can do this in as little as 12 minutes a day, a few times a week. I
get mine doing hill sprints, which is running sprints up a hill. I
do 6-10 sprints and call it a day. It takes me 15 to 20 minutes, or
maybe a shade longer. But I’m not pedaling a bike for hours, that’s
for sure.

And yes…I had to work up to that. I started with regular sprints
and they weren’t long, or many. In the beginning, they were about 40
yards, as I recall. As I lost the lard, they got longer and there
were more of them. Then, I graduated to the hill, taking a slow
approach and building up, gradually.

When I could do 10 hill sprints, the really stubborn lard starting
melting away.

This happens because your body is increasing its secretion of growth
hormone, in response to the short bursts of high intensity exercise.

In a study done at Loughborough University in England and Laval
University in Quebec, participants were divided into two groups:
those whose did long duration exercise (such as running, spinning,
and so on), and those who did short duration exercise (such as hill
sprinting). The results were quite astonishing.

The people in the short duration exercise group lost 9 times as much
fat as the long duration group and…this is very important…they
continued burning fat, long after the long duration group had
stopped.

This sort of makes you wonder what all the so-called fitness experts
are talking about…because if you extend this thought out a bit…
aerobics actually does NOT make you lose fat as quickly. (Heresy…
they’re coming for me now!)

High Intensity Short Duration Exercise = More Fat Loss

Low Intensity Long Duration Exercise = Less Fat Loss

For other tips on how to lose the lard go to:

Click here

I’ll be back tomorrow with more.

With my best wishes for your optimum health,

Dr. Bill

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