Which Exercise is Best For Your Heart

Endurance training indeed burns a lot of calories, but researchers believe it is not the most optimal way to get rid of your body fat.

When performing moderate exercise, your body burns fat but does so for energy. Performing in this manner most of the time sends the signal to your body to hold on to fat. Thus, with moderate exercise alone, your body will store more fat.

On the other hand, when you perform short bursts of more intense exercises, your body consumes a substance named glycogen that is stored away in the muscle tissues. This high intensity workout will condition your body to store more energy in your muscle rather than in your fat. Exercising like this is also more beneficial to burn fat throughout your rest period, as this is when glycogen is replenished in muscle restored.

In a study performed by the University of Quebec, one group of people biked for 45 minutes continuously. A second group trained for short bursts lasting from 15 seconds to over a minute, with recovery periods in between. The lengthier, endurance centric exercisers burned more calories, but the shorter duration exercisers lost more fat. The shorter duration group lost up to nine times the fat per every calorie that was burned.

This explains why endurance athletes generally have a higher percentage body fat than sprinters.

Endurance exercise that is lengthier and less focused on short bursts makes the heart, lungs, and overall body muscle somewhat smaller, so they can function longer while using less energy. What you might gain in efficiency this way, you can lose in your reserve capacity. So if you want to increase the health and strength of your heart, you need not spend hours on a treadmill or run for many miles. Of course, endurance exercise is good for you, but short burst high intensity training will strengthen your heart even better. Later in life, it is this reserve energy in muscles that helps fend off and prevent heart attacks. The strength of your heart may have more to do with short bursts of intense exercise followed by short periods of rest and recovery than whether you can walk or run for miles.

Miles Keeler has been writing about fitness, health and nutrition for over three years. He has a helpful new auto insurance site with tips to help find low cost insurance.

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