Sprinting is better than jogging when it comes to shedding pounds, but there are other high-intensity workouts to help you burn calories fast, says fitness guru Peta Bee.
RUNNING has been hailed as a fast route to many things — happiness, a longer life and reduced stress — but not, apparently, to weight loss. Recently, a researcher revealed that many joggers find their efforts are in vain when it comes to shifting stubborn pounds.
According to Mary Kennedy, a lifestyle and nutrition researcher at Harvard University, even those running 50 miles a week or more in training for a marathon might struggle to lose weight if their pace is too slow. In order to lose fat, Kennedy says, speed is key and “just because you cross the finish line doesn’t mean you were running at a really vigorous pace seven days a week”.
In her small trial, Kennedy charted the progress of 64 volunteers who were running four days a week. Over three months, 75 per cent of the subjects neither lost nor gained any weight. And while about one in 10 lost weight, an equal number put on several pounds. Of the seven runners who gained weight, six were women.
“This idea that you’re going to run a marathon and the pounds are going to melt away is not realistic,” Kennedy said.
What, then, does work for weight loss? “What you’re looking for is to drive up levels of hormones that accelerate fat-burning,” says Louth woman Zana Morris, the brains behind the hugely successful Library gyms in London. “And the only way to do this is to work your whole body really hard.”
There are plenty of options that will see your shape transformed, even running — if you are fast enough.
SPINNING
Hardcore group bike classes, such as those at Spinzone (spinzone.ie) and Cycle Studio (cyclestudio.ie) are said to burn up to 1,200 calories in a single session. Indoors or out, cycling can send fat-burning into overdrive, provided you incorporate full-throttle sprints into your ride. Alternating between standing and sitting as you cycle, as most Spinning-style classes recommend, is also a good idea.
Research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that just two weeks of alternate-day interval training boosted cyclists’ fat-burning ability by 36 percent. Outdoors, try hill climbing. Find a climb that takes five to 10 minutes to reach the top and repeat two to three times.
“Cycling classes tone your lower body,” says Paula O’Donnell of the Cycle studio in Dublin. “In terms of fat loss you’ll be burning on average 450 to 600 calories a class. It’s absolutely the best workout there is.”
SPRINTS
Jogging long distances at plod-pace might not be a fast route to slimness, but inject some sprints and it’s a different story. “Sprinting is a great way to exercise,” Morris says.
“Do up to three minutes’ sprinting, then a minute of slow jogging, and no more than five repetitions. A 15-minute work-out can have more impact burning fat and activating muscle fibres than a gentle jog for 40 minutes.”
Scientists in Australia found that sprint training for 60 minutes a week burns the same amount of body fat in men as jogging for seven hours a week. Just eight-second bursts of sprinting repeated intermittently for 20 minutes helped overweight men lose 2kgs (4lbs) of body fat over 12 weeks.
Importantly, there was a 17 per cent reduction in fat stored around their liver, kidneys and other internal organs that is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease.
CIRCUIT TRAINING
We’ve been round the block with circuit training over the years, but it is permanently back in vogue thanks to its ability to help you downsize.
A 2013 study at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse human performance laboratory found that circuit training using only your own bodyweight for resistance could torch fat.
For the study, 16 fit adults participated in a 20-minute bodyweight circuit, which included exercises like pushups, burpees, squats, and lunges.
According to John Porcari, the lead researcher and head of the university’s performance lab, the participants burned an average of 15 calories per minute, nearly twice the rate expended during a long run. Although the likes of Crossfit and British Military fitness have helped to popularise circuit training, a bog-standard home circuit will more than suffice.
Chris Jordan and Brett Klika of the Human Performance Institute in Florida devised the seven-minute circuit, a form of “high-intensity circuit training”, or HICT, that took New York by storm.
It requires nothing more than a chair, a wall and your own body weight for resistance, plus old-fashioned brute effort for results: 30 seconds each of jumping jacks, push-ups, crunches and squats in quick succession with only a 10-second breather.
As you get fitter, the seven-minute workout can be repeated two to three times, but if you are chronically time-crunched just once is sufficient.
ROWING
Indoor rowing classes are the new Spinning studios in New York and while they are yet to catch on fully here, far fewer people are ignoring the humble rowing machine at the gym. Hard-bodied Jason Statham and Zac Effron are fans.
According to studies carried out in the Work Physiology Lab at Ohio University, rowing for 20 minutes at a given perceived rate of exertion (say, six on a 10-point scale) burns 10 to 15 percent more calories than would running or swimming for the same time and difficulty.
Only cross-country skiing comes close in terms of calorie-burn which can be as high as 700 in an hour.
HIIT
Studies show that ultra-fast workouts really are miracle fat burners. Researchers at the Auburn University Montgomery Kinesiology Laboratory got participants to perform a typical Tabata-style workout of 20 seconds of jump squat exercises with maximum effort followed by 10 seconds of rest for a total of four minutes.
Results showed they blasted an average 13.5 calories a minute (more than twice the amount you would use swimming breaststroke) and doubled their metabolic rate for half an hour after they stopped.
Another study on behalf of the American Council on Exercise produced similar findings with exercise physiologists showing subjects averaged 86 percent of their maximum heart rates and burned up to 360 calories during a 20 minute session that included a warm-up, cool down and four minutes of high knee running, jumping jacks, burpees, mountain climbers or Russian twists.
“There’s a lot going on when you work intensely for a short period,” says Educogym founder Jamie Myerscough, the man responsible for whittling away Robbie Williams’s body fat and transforming golfer Darren Clarke. “And you can really boost the metabolism further by adding resistance exercise and weights that will push your system to its limits in a short time span.”
BOXING
Once David and Brooklyn Beckham said they used boxing to stay in shape, it was bound to become the most sought after route to getting in serious shape.
Super-fit Ellie Goulding is also a fan. Already popular in New York and LA, where fitness-centric boxing gyms like Overthrow New York and Gloveworx are sprouting up everywhere, similar venues are opening up in Ireland.
Dublin has Spartan Boxing Fitness and the Underdog Boxing club while in Cork boxing classes have cropped up everywhere from The Ultimate Burn gym to Sanovitae. the Clarion Hotel’s gym. What draws fans is the sport’s reputation for toning upper body via jab, cut and upper hook and lower body with sprints, skipping and non-stop movement.
WEIGHTS
Zana Morris says high-intensity weight training “is the fastest way to boost strength, stamina and weight loss” and that her celebrity clients love the effects. It might seem contrary to suggest that pumping heavy weights will see the pounds drop off rather than your body bulk up, but the evidence is convincing.
A trial at Harvard University that was published in the journal Obesity, found that a group of healthy men who did 20 minutes of daily weight training had less increase in age-related belly fat than men who spent the same amount of time doing aerobic exercise like swimming and cycling.
A trial involving premenopausal women at the University of Pennsylvania showed that weight training twice a week prevented waistlines expanding, despite no dietary changes. There are other pay-offs.
In one particularly encouraging study carried out in January, researchers at the University of Alabama asked 100 female volunteers, all of whom were overweight and previously sedentary, to follow a strict 800 calorie a day diet alongside one of three exercise approaches: 40 minutes of walking or jogging on a treadmill at a brisk pace, three times a week, a supervised upper- and lower-body weight training session three times a week or, thirdly, no exercise at all.
All lost weight because of the diet, but the weight training group by incorporating more general movement into their lives meaning they burned more calories and would more likely ward off weight regain in the future.
of the Minnesota Collation or Battered Women, one of the recipient organizations of the supplies. “This makes a huge difference and a huge impact to the folks that are doing this work and the women they are serving.”
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