Joseph Leah Blog
Cardio vs Strength Training:
Joe Cravagan, July 21st 2010, 7:44PM
I'll be the first to tell you I love strength training, I love feeling strong and I love the look of sleek muscles. Strength training is important, it builds muscles which prevent injury and keep our bodies healthy.
The problem is, strength training has been vastly oversold as a metabolism-boosting calorie burner. It's time for a reality check.
Our metabolism is the key to burning fat. To lose weight we need to increase our total calorie burn. To increase our total calorie burn we need to increase one (or more) of the following:
Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, which is essentially the calories you burn at rest. Your BMR is important because it makes up a large percentage of total calorie burn,
but unfortunately you can't do much to increase (or decrease) it. Your BMR is mostly determined by your genetic makeup and body weight.
The only way to really boost your BMR is to gain a large amount of weight (quite counter productive for our reasons).
Your physical-activity energy expenditure, which is all the activity you do in a day. This not only includes all of your workouts, but also walking your dog, doing the dishes,
climbing the stairs, even brushing your teeth- any time your body is active it is adding to your physical-activity energy expenditure.
Your physical-activity energy expenditure is the most important part of your total calorie burn because it is the part you can do the most about, all you have to do to increase it is to get up and move!
Your thermic effect of feeding, which is the energy your body expends while digesting food. Your thermis effect of feeding is generally about 10 percent of your daily calorie burn.
However this number can be increased by eating small meals several times a day rather than just a few large meals.
Stimulating foods such as green tea and chili peppers can also speed your thermic effect of feeding.
Your excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, which is the extra calories you burn after exercise. Your excess post-exercise oxygen consumption is also known as the "afterburn".
The amount of calories you burn post-workout will depend on the type of your workout, if you heart rate is increased during your workout and stay increased your will burn more.
Why Strength Training doesn't burn
The theory behind strength training burning more than cardio comes from the idea that one pound of muscle uses more calories per day than one pound fat does,
while this is true, it is not enough to trim you down. Take a look at the numbers:
• 182 calories are burned per day for each pound of kidney your
body houses.
• 110 calories are burned per day for each pound of brain that your
body houses.
• 6 calories are burned per day for each pound of muscle that your
body houses.
• 2 calories are burned per day for each pound of fat that your body
houses.
During strength training you burn less calories, and the additional calories you burn due to the gain in muscle in your body is barely enough to make a difference,
your time would be much better spend doing cardio where you would burn more calories during the workout (and less after).
Why Cardio does burn
If you're interested in boosting your metabolism to lose weight, aerobic training such as running and walking is a better investment than strength training.
All you need to do is look at the numbers to see why:
40 minutes of moderate cardio (running 8:30 pace) vs. 40 minutes of moderate strength training-
Cardio: 522 calories burned during the activity, 30 calories burned in afterburn, 0 calories burned from gained muscle
Strength Training: approximately 136 calories burned during the activity, 20 calories burned in afterburn, 30 calories burned from gained muscle
Cardio leads by 366 calories.
What is the difference between Unrefined and refined carbohydrates
Joe Cravagan, May 31st 2007, 5:14PM
Apart from potatoes, all the foods listed in this group began life as a grain, such as wheat, rye, corn, rice or barley. Potatoes and grains are very healthy and filling; however, you can be even healthier if you choose unrefined versions of these foods over refined versions.
Top tip
If you decide to increase the amount of fibre you eat, try to drink more water too. Your body doesn't digest fibre, so you need the extra water to help it flow through your digestive system with ease.
Refined carbohydrates refer to foods where machinery has been used to remove the high fibre bits (the bran and the germ) from the grain. White rice, white bread, sugary cereals, and pasta and noodles made from white flour are all examples of refined carbohydrates.
Unrefined carbohydrates still contain the whole grain, including the bran and the germ, so they're higher in fibre and will keep you feeling fuller for longer - great if you're trying to lose weight and hate feeling hungry. Examples include wholegrain rice, whole meal bread, porridge oats and whole-wheat pasta.
Simple and complex carbohydrates
These are often confused with refined and unrefined carbohydrates, but the terms simple and complex refer to how complicated the chemical structure of a carbohydrate is rather than to whether it's wholegrain or not. Complex carbohydrates are the most common and there are three kinds:
Glycogen. This is your body's major fuel source and is sometimes referred to as blood sugar. It's formed from glucose, which is found in almost all foods, and is converted into energy.
Starch. This is only found in plants and, contrary to popular belief, isn't fattening (it's the rich sauces, fats and oils often added to pasta, potatoes, rice, noodles and bread that are the culprits!).
Fibre (non-starch polysaccharide). This is abundant in unrefined carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables, and is important because it helps your body to process waste efficiently and helps you to feel fuller for longer.
Did you know...?
On average, you have the equivalent of four teaspoons of sugar circulating in your bloodstream.
With food-refining machinery came the invention of white bread. At the time, it was considered to be an enormous luxury that only the very rich could afford to eat.
How much is enough?
Nutritionists recommend that the bread, cereals and potatoes group makes up the bulk of our diet - roughly 47 to 50 per cent. They also suggest that our dietary intake includes 18g of fibre every day.
Has anyone read or heard anything different?
