According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 68 percent of American adults are obese or overweight. If you are one of the many Americans who are trying to lose weight, you've probably considered exercising. The fitness industry, anxious to cash in on your desire to shed a few pounds, is delighted to tantalize you with the best exercise program or the latest weight-loss gadget. In your quest for that ripped physique, keep in mind that exercise intensity isn't necessarily the best way to measure the effectiveness of a workout, and some exercises will confer extra calorie-burning benefits long after your workout is over.
Exercise Intensity
In the past two decades, a great deal has been learned about exercise physiology, and several once-common misconceptions have been dispelled. For example, a study conducted by exercise physiologists at the University of New Mexico revealed that adding arm ergometrics to a cycling workout didn't burn any more calories than the leg workout alone, even when the same heart rate was attained in both types of exercise. In fact, the combined routine actually burned fewer calories. Thus, even though an exercise is perceived to be quite intense, it may not burn as many calories as a less-intense activity that is performed for a longer period of time or that involves a different muscle group.
Exercise After-Burn
If you've spent much time at a gym or health club, you've probably heard someone debate the merits of various types of exercise for burning calories even after a workout is finished. Exercise after-burn, properly known as "excess post-exercise oxygen consumption," or EPOC, is a measure of how much additional oxygen -- meaning calories -- your body consumes after a workout to return to its pre-exercise state. Over time, an activity that generates higher EPOC can confer significant weight-loss benefits. According to experts at IDEA Health and Fitness Association, EPOC is determined by fundamental exercise dynamics. It is directly related to the amount of oxygen consumed during the exercise period, which roughly coincides with the exerciser's perceived exertion. However, resistance exercise, or weight training, confers significant EPOC effects that are independent of heart rate or perceived workout intensity.
Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercises are the ones that make you breathe heavily. They increase your heart rate and stimulate your metabolic demand for oxygen. Jogging, brisk walking, cycling, swimming, aerobics, hiking, rope jumping, rollerblading, basketball and cross-country skiing are all examples of aerobic exercise. There are different levels of muscular involvement in these activities, but they all increase your heart rate, escalate your oxygen demand, and accelerate the consumption of calories. Although the calories burned by a particular exercise vary widely from individual to individual, some aerobic activities inherently burn more calories than others. For example, according to MayoClinic.com, if you weigh 160 lbs., one hour of water aerobics will burn a relatively conservative 292 calories, while an hour of rollerblading will consume a whopping 913. The more you weigh, the more calories you'll burn for a specific exercise performed at a given level of intensity.
Resistance Exercise
Most weight lifters and body builders will extol the virtues of their chosen fitness regimens to anyone who will lend an ear. However, if you're keeping an eye solely on the number of calories you burn during your daily workout, weight training will probably leave you frustrated. After all, a 200-lb. weight lifter will only burn about 275 calories during a one-hour workout with either free weights or a Universal-type apparatus. Hence, resistance training appears to burn fewer calories than aerobic activities do. Keep in mind, though, that resistance exercise usually generates more EPOC than aerobic training, because post-exercise oxygen consumption is largely dependent on the repair and refueling of muscles used during the workout.
Cross Training
Most exercise physiologists, trainers and fitness experts now recommend a combination of exercise modalities for cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, bone health, flexibility, optimal caloric consumption and weight management. MayoClinic.com suggests at least 150 minutes weekly of moderate aerobic activity, such as swimming or brisk walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, such as running or rollerblading, interspersed with at least two weight training sessions each week. No matter how you tailor your workout routine, just remember that the only exercise that doesn't burn fat and calories is the exercise that you don't do.
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