I’m not sure what it is about our society that thinks its cool to do
things for an incredibly long period of time. There’s no better example
of this than the typical college student who brags to his or her friends
about pulling an all-nighter to cram for a final exam. In reality, best
results would have been achieved by spreading out all of that studying
over the course of the entire semester in order to achieve true and
lasting knowledge rather than simple and useless short-term memory. I’d
be lying if I said I’ve never procrastinated before myself as I’m
literally writing this article the day before its due date-- but don’t
tell my editor, wink.
Fitness is no different. What do most people who want to lose weight do? They either sign up to run a marathon and/or join a gym to do endless hours of long, slow, boring cardio on a treadmill, elliptical, bike, or step machine.
On a side note, if I ever see you “getting your cardio-on” while reading a magazine or checking your email I will slap you in the mouth and have you arrested for being a hopeless moron.
Why so harsh??
Well, a landmark aerobic training study from the International Journal of Sports Nutrition determined that 45 minutes of steady state aerobic training 5 days per week had zero effect over dieting alone when it came to weight loss— that’s 45 hours of activity for nothing! However, the lack of results wasn’t solely due to the length of the workouts, but also the low-intensity nature of these workouts.
Fitness is no different. What do most people who want to lose weight do? They either sign up to run a marathon and/or join a gym to do endless hours of long, slow, boring cardio on a treadmill, elliptical, bike, or step machine.
On a side note, if I ever see you “getting your cardio-on” while reading a magazine or checking your email I will slap you in the mouth and have you arrested for being a hopeless moron.
Why so harsh??
Well, a landmark aerobic training study from the International Journal of Sports Nutrition determined that 45 minutes of steady state aerobic training 5 days per week had zero effect over dieting alone when it came to weight loss— that’s 45 hours of activity for nothing! However, the lack of results wasn’t solely due to the length of the workouts, but also the low-intensity nature of these workouts.
In
addition, long, drawn out workouts have diminishing returns and create a
negative hormonal environment in our bodies. That’s because during
one-hour plus exercise bouts our body enters survival mode and releases a
catabolic stress hormone called cortisol that both causes muscle loss
and results in unwanted fat gain in trouble spot areas.
According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), anabolic, muscle-building hormones like testosterone are maximized in about a 30-minute high-intensity workout window. It is at about the 45-minute mark that anabolic hormones begin to fall as their catabolic counterparts, mainly cortisol, simultaneously begin to rise.
THE FIX: Shorter, more focused and intense workouts produce better results than one hour plus marathon sessions. If you have to workout for longer than 30-45 minutes to feel satisfied than you probably weren’t working hard enough in the first place or you were committing some form of the other deadly workout sins.
According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), anabolic, muscle-building hormones like testosterone are maximized in about a 30-minute high-intensity workout window. It is at about the 45-minute mark that anabolic hormones begin to fall as their catabolic counterparts, mainly cortisol, simultaneously begin to rise.
THE FIX: Shorter, more focused and intense workouts produce better results than one hour plus marathon sessions. If you have to workout for longer than 30-45 minutes to feel satisfied than you probably weren’t working hard enough in the first place or you were committing some form of the other deadly workout sins.
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