Second in a series
By Hal Walter
Just as your diet and eating habits can help program your body to burn more fat, so too can exercise. While this may seem obvious to most people, many fail to understand that the intensity of exercise plays a major role in the way your body uses fat as a fuel.
It's a paradox that's lost in most workout clubs and gyms, but the harder you exercise, the less percentage of body fat you burn. This is not to say that easy workouts necessarily burn larger amounts of fat during the workout, but rather that easier aerobic workouts help you burn higher percentages of fat not only during your workout, but also when you are not exercising.
The body burns a mix of sugar and fat to obtain energy. During the short period of time intense anaerobic exercise is being performed, you may burn larger quantities of fat, and corresponding larger quantities of sugar, as compared to a short duration of aerobic exercise. This is because you burn more total calories during this period. However, this short period of exercise programs your body to burn a larger percentage of sugar rather than fat for all other activities throughout the day and night, resulting in less overall fat-burning.
In his years of studying the effects of exercise in both elite athletes and everyday patients, Dr. Phil Maffetone found through the use of laboratory measurements of respiratory quotient (RQ) that lower intensity aerobic exercise burned a higher percentage of fat and lower percentage of sugar. As the intensity of exercise increases to become more anaerobic, the percentage of fat used as fuel decreases and the percentage of sugar increases.
This trend carries over to your metabolism, lasting up to 24 hours. So if you work out at a higher intensity, burning a higher percentage of sugar, your body will burn mostly sugar for all of your activities, including sleeping. However, if you exercise at a lower intensity, your body will burning a higher percentage of fat for the rest of the day.
Over time, exercising aerobically further improves the efficiency of your aerobic system, allowing you to obtain even larger percentages of energy from fat. Dr. Maffetone's RQ measurements indicate some people who develop very advanced aerobic systems can obtain as much as 70 percent of all energy from fat, even at low levels of exercise intensity.
The result of improved aerobic fitness is your net fat-burning is increased, with more energy obtained from fat than sugar. Through his study of athletes and patients, Dr. Maffetone developed the 180 Formula for developing aerobic fitness and increasing fat-burning. This method requires a heart-rate monitor and is explained in his book, In Fitness and In Health.
By Hal Walter
Just as your diet and eating habits can help program your body to burn more fat, so too can exercise. While this may seem obvious to most people, many fail to understand that the intensity of exercise plays a major role in the way your body uses fat as a fuel.
It's a paradox that's lost in most workout clubs and gyms, but the harder you exercise, the less percentage of body fat you burn. This is not to say that easy workouts necessarily burn larger amounts of fat during the workout, but rather that easier aerobic workouts help you burn higher percentages of fat not only during your workout, but also when you are not exercising.
The body burns a mix of sugar and fat to obtain energy. During the short period of time intense anaerobic exercise is being performed, you may burn larger quantities of fat, and corresponding larger quantities of sugar, as compared to a short duration of aerobic exercise. This is because you burn more total calories during this period. However, this short period of exercise programs your body to burn a larger percentage of sugar rather than fat for all other activities throughout the day and night, resulting in less overall fat-burning.
In his years of studying the effects of exercise in both elite athletes and everyday patients, Dr. Phil Maffetone found through the use of laboratory measurements of respiratory quotient (RQ) that lower intensity aerobic exercise burned a higher percentage of fat and lower percentage of sugar. As the intensity of exercise increases to become more anaerobic, the percentage of fat used as fuel decreases and the percentage of sugar increases.
This trend carries over to your metabolism, lasting up to 24 hours. So if you work out at a higher intensity, burning a higher percentage of sugar, your body will burn mostly sugar for all of your activities, including sleeping. However, if you exercise at a lower intensity, your body will burning a higher percentage of fat for the rest of the day.
Over time, exercising aerobically further improves the efficiency of your aerobic system, allowing you to obtain even larger percentages of energy from fat. Dr. Maffetone's RQ measurements indicate some people who develop very advanced aerobic systems can obtain as much as 70 percent of all energy from fat, even at low levels of exercise intensity.
The result of improved aerobic fitness is your net fat-burning is increased, with more energy obtained from fat than sugar. Through his study of athletes and patients, Dr. Maffetone developed the 180 Formula for developing aerobic fitness and increasing fat-burning. This method requires a heart-rate monitor and is explained in his book, In Fitness and In Health.