A BIG...FAT...NEITHER!!!
The hours in the gym lie is tied to the workout extremists! The ones who live and breathe at the gym or those with a lot of free time on their hands. Many get duped into believing the only way to burn fat off is to spend countless hours on an elliptical, treadmill, bike, rower or taking back to back exercise classes! They are sold the notion that more exercise equals more calories burned which means more fat loss! It sounds good in theory, but the truth is that is not how the body works. Well, it only works that way to a certain point, but then too much exercise (usually exercise lasting over 60 minutes continuous) starts to stress the body out and it releases FAT-STORING hormones. So then, what is burned when the body is in this stressed-out-state? MUSCLE...more specifically, your body starts pulling the stored glycogen out of your muscles for energy in addition to putting a governor on the metabolism so even if you were burning fat, it would be a limited amount. Once you start tapping into your muscle for energy, you begin running the opposite direction of long-term fat loss!
But what about the dreamy promise of "just minutes a day?" It sells books, gets a lot of views and bites online! Being sold the idea of minutes per day or easy puts people in a hypnotic trance suspending reality! If you hear someone tell you just minutes per day...run!!! I have seen as little as 3 minutes a day up to maybe 10 or 15 max when this idea is sold of less is better. The truth is that less IS better...but only to an extent! As I mentioned, over 60 minutes can be counter-productive (unless you are specifically training for a long distance event) but why would we jump to the other end of the spectrum and somehow think minutes a day is going to yield big results with so little time?
So what do you do? If over 60 minutes is too long and up to 15 minutes is too short? My answer is at least 30 minutes and up to 60 minutes at least 3 times per week as long as intensity is right! Intensity is not entirely based on heart rate, but breathing rate or VO2. A simple way to establish a ballpark VO2 durning exercise is if you can't say a full sentence without needing to take a deep breath, then you are not exercising hard enough. At that point of intensity, it is roughly considered 80% of VO2 max. You need to average 80% of VO2 max for at least 30 minutes and up to 60 minutes at least 3 times per week. This gives you not only tremendous cardiovascular benefit, but also unlocks EPOC (Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption) which simplified means the length of time it takes your body to get back to "normal" after exercise. This process utilizes fat for energy and can lead to significant fat-burning.
For example, TORCH, my 6 week online fat-burning program that I am releasing next month, has you doing 3 full-body plus cardio workouts per week of 30-45 minutes at 80-90% of your VO2! I promise you that if you follow this exercise protocol, in addition to a proper (non-calorie counting) nutrition plan, and do it CONSISTENTLY, you WILL see fat MELT off!
Your Fitness Coach,
Clayton
