| Question about moderate instensity workout |
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gkr747
New Member
| Joined: | 9 May 2008 |
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| Posts: | 20 |
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Posted: 14 May 2008 01:14 pm |
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Hi, I am currently doing brisk walking with incline and I am keeping my heartrate between 75% and 82% daily for 1 hour. This may not be the high intensity as running but I feel it is pretty strong workout as at the end I am able to sweat half of my shirt. I would like to know 2 things here
1. At this heartrate and exercise approx. how long will my body sustain the raised metabolism even after exercise?
2. I saw that moderate intensity will increase the muscle( which in turn increases RMR ) while at the same time burn fat and carbs. I am confused here a little. Glycogen will be carb fuel in moderate and high intensity workouts and it comes from the muscle. So since it is taking away resources from the muscle, I am loosing muscle weight or gaining muscle weight? I am lost and maybe misinterpreting somewhere. Pls help me. what exact effect does my workout have on building or loosing muscle?
Thank you!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 14 May 2008 04:57 pm |
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I'm not saying that walking will not build some muscle in an individual who has previously done very little walking, but otherwise it is unlikely to make much difference. To build muscle (which will raise your RMR) the main exercise modality is resistance training. This can be body weight exercises, 'free weight' exercises with dumbells, barbells or against machines (at the gym).
The main thing that walking achieves (apart from helping your cardio-vascular health and your fitness/endurance) is to burn calories and help you create a calorie deficit. Whether most of the calories burnt during the walking are from muscle glycogen or from stored fat is irrelevant: what is relevant is that a deficit is created and any calorie shortfall will be made up by breaking down body fat, whether during the workout or afterwards.
the EPOC question (raised metabolism) is controversial; for example Lyle McDonald has recently blogged at length about how EPOC only represents 7 to 14% of calories burnt during the actual session (the high figures referring to HIIT which is chiefly performed for this effect). That 7-14% refers to the total extra calories burnt after the exercise as a result of the exercise. So basically think of it as a (tiny) extra bonus and forget about it.
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gkr747
New Member
| Joined: | 9 May 2008 |
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| Posts: | 20 |
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Posted: 14 May 2008 05:36 pm |
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Thx Nir. I understood your point. My concern is - will my workout take away too much muscle? I am not worried about building muscle at this stage but if you think, based on my workout I might loose muscle depending on the intensity then I would definetly consider lifting weights and regaining the muscle that I am loosing.
If it is not too much to be concerned then I would like to keep away from the weights for sometime.
I am under the impression that dieting will loose the muscle and doing any form of exercise even if it is brisk walking will build some muscle if not much.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 14 May 2008 05:41 pm |
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The glycogen stored in the muscle is not part of the muscle itself (like the food in your stomach not being part of the stomach). The glycogen depleted by exercise is replenished when food is digested, becomes blood sugar and then (with the aid of the insulin hormone) is shunted to the liver and the muscles to be stored as glycogen again.
I understand some muscle loss is associated with very long sessions (over 2 hours in length), especially if the person has not prepared for them with sufficient glycogen. That is why energy drinks and gels are recommended for such ultra-long sessions. I don't think that is a concern in your case (or even for my longer workouts which always seem to be capped at 2 hours)
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CrimsonAnimus
Senior Member
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Posted: 14 May 2008 06:21 pm |
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One thing you should realize - as you lose weight, you are going to lose muscle. It is inevitable. You can minimize this, by doing strength/resistance training.
In order to help keep the weight off when you reach your goal, it is very important that you incorporate strength/resistance training. Your body burns calories just maintaining your muscles, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn throughout the day, even from sleeping, etc., therefore raising your natural metabolism.
As far as how much muscle you will build from cardio, this depends on the exercise. For me, I built leg muscle by walking on the treadmill, but I also have 315 pounds of body weight, most of which is above my waist. That in itself provides a decent level of resistance. :P
The bike is a great way to build leg muscle, as you have machine-controlled resistance, or even infinite natural air resistance on air bikes. While the rest of my body has probably gone down, I believe my legs are bigger now than they were when I started. :P LOL
Rowing machines are great for the upper body. Ellipticals work both the upper and lower body. Jumping rope also works both the upper and lower body. Practically any cardio exercise will build some level of muscle, but it's really not comparable to strength/endurance training, plus it is important to work all of your muscle groups, not just one or two.
As Nir said, though, building muscle is not really the focus of cardio. For optimal results, any weight-loss regimen should have cardio, strength/resistance training, and agility/flexibility training. Best of luck.
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gkr747
New Member
| Joined: | 9 May 2008 |
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| Posts: | 20 |
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Posted: 15 May 2008 03:47 pm |
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| Thanks to both of you
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Current time is 09:57 am | |
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