Best exercise for weight loss

[Denny1]

Regarding The Most Efficient Weight Loss Exercise:

A recent study in Canada on bicyclers, their conditioning and calorie burn, found a revelation that was not previously recognized. In the past, the thinking was that aerobic (with oxygen) exercise was the best because fat metabolism needs oxygen along with L-carnitine (to shuttle fats into your cells). It turns out that yes, at the time of exercise, fat burn and calorie consumption was greatest when you were aerobic. (Not gasping for air) Further examination found that the after burn, i.e. continued fat burn and calorie consumption for hours, was greatest with a combination of aerobic and anaerobic (without oxygen).

What this means is exercise that allows you to carry on a conversation is definitely effective for fat burn (aerobic). However, adding intermittent bursts of 10 to 90 seconds of maximum workout (where you wind up gasping for air) anaerobically will produce the best calorie consumption over all. It also does it in the shortest time and becomes the most efficient way to burn fats and lose weight.

The most plausible explanation for this phenomenon is the conditioning of the mitochondria inside you cells. The mitochondria are the energy factories responsible for energy creation and calorie consumption. When they are taxed to max they are stimulated to metabolize energy more efficiently. Over time they do become more efficient in energy metabolism and calorie burn. This maximizes fat loss...Denis Van Loan D.D.S.

 

[Jynus]

Ideally you need to combine cardio (running, cycling etc) with resistance training. Its really important to do resistance training as this is what tones the muscle. Light/medium weights, high reps = toning NOT bodybuilding!

XSM

Toning is a myth. Either your muscles are growing, or they are not. Rep range is utterly independent of how "cut" your muscles look. Body fat percent is whats important. And you're better off doing more intense forms of lifting as it's just overall a better calorie burner thus fat burner to make those muscles look cut or toned or whatever.

light weight high reps isn't resistance training, it's cardio. resistance training is exactly as it sounds, you're putting strain on the muscles. For that you need....resistance.

 

[Toddless]

I'd vote for anything that makes you sweat your ass off, whether it's cardio, weight training, cross training, HIIT, or other. As a newcomer to the gym, you should only be worried about getting there more than once a week. What you do while inside should be enjoyable, but tough.

My specific exercise suggestion: Grab a trainer and ask him/her to show you how to do squats properly. They work the biggest muscles and they really get the blood pumping.

 

[summer123]

I'd vote for anything that makes you sweat your ass off, whether it's cardio, weight training, cross training, HIIT, or other. As a newcomer to the gym, you should only be worried about getting there more than once a week. What you do while inside should be enjoyable, but tough.

My specific exercise suggestion: Grab a trainer and ask him/her to show you how to do squats properly. They work the biggest muscles and they really get the blood pumping.

I'd agree with that in part- rather then what makes you sweat more, what makes your heart pump more may be of more help. Sweat is not an indicator of intensity in every situation; ever gotten nervous and broken out into a sweat? ever found you can't sleep at night because the weather is too warm and your sweating? ever gone to the gym and found the air-con isn't working properly? Heart rate may help you out more, I can get a fairly low cardio heart rate when on the stairmaster (140-150bmp) yet running outside up a hill I can get 170-180bpm, I don't sweat as much when running outside (or even on the treadmill for that matter) yet I am burning more calories as my heart rate is higher and blood and oxygen are being pumped faster around my body to my muscles.

I do agree fully with the personal trainer (or even gym instructors who are free of fees!) to show you how to do exercises though- the sheer volume of people I see exercising with scarily poor form (running on the treadmill whilst holding onto the bar, sit ups by tugging on their neck, lunges where the knee is so misalighned its a wonder they haven't caused damage yet....) get some advice on form before you attempt anything OP, it is so important!

Oh, and if you decide to run, get your gait checked, get footwear designed for your sport weather it be running, ball-sports or track-cross-training, it can make all the difference in relation to injury prevention.

 

[stronglad]

Your body will adapt to whatever exercise you are doing whether it's running or squatting.
So when you start doing that exercise you will burn more calories then you would if you have been running for several months. Squats are a great exercise, I suggest total body exercises like burpees

 

[davidfussion]

5 Top Exercises to Lose Weight :

- Bicycling
- Swimming
- Walking
- Running
- Dancing

 

[relyonhim7]

Hey Julie, you have some very good answers here; Using compound exercises that will work multiple muscles at once will help to boost your metabolism thus increasing your weight loss activity. You may even want to incorporate some circuit training in your regime for both cardio and toning.

 

[Jynus]

5 Top Exercises to Lose Weight :

- Bicycling
- Swimming
- Walking
- Running
- Dancing

Aside from swimming, those are about the 4 worst. Though granted, all are better than nothing.

 

[Korrie]

Sorry, but I have to disagree with your statement there. Walking is one of the best forms of exercise and Wishes, a mod here, lost well over 100lbs by cycling. That aside, I can't put down any form of exercise. One might be better than another, but as long as your keeping your body moving, thats all that counts!

 

[Jericho]

The best exercise...


anything that gets you moving your body.

 

[Jynus]

Sorry, but I have to disagree with your statement there. Walking is one of the best forms of exercise and Wishes, a mod here, lost well over 100lbs by cycling. That aside, I can't put down any form of exercise. One might be better than another, but as long as your keeping your body moving, thats all that counts!

No walking is one of the worst. It only uses the fatty oxidative system to provide your body with energy. You're basically barely burning any calories over what you would be doing if you were just standing up. It's on the area of 100x worse than sprinting in terms of calorie expenditure per unit of time. You can call it the "best for you" if it's all your able to do. But you're laughably kidding yourself if you honestly believe it's a good form of exercise for anyone other than a completely never exercised before beginner.

Cycling can be much the same as you spend a lot of time coasting rather than working. But thats a minor point as you can take any cardio type exercise and continually up the intensity as it suits you.

 

[Korrie]

Cycling can be much the same as you spend a lot of time coasting rather than working. But thats a minor point as you can take any cardio type exercise and continually up the intensity as it suits you.

well absolutely...if your just picking one foot up over the other...I agree..it wouldnt' be beneficial. What I'm referring to is a good brisk walk. One that gets your heart beat up, and keeps it up for a minimum of 20 minutes or more. I will stand beside that statement. lets agree to disagree, shall we?

 

[Korrie]

This is one of thousands of websites boasting the benefits of walking....



Quote from the site:
"Walking is good for your heart. A recent Harvard study shows that walking at a moderate pace (3 mph) for up to 3 hours a week—or 30 minutes a day--can cut the risk of heart disease in women by as much as 40%. This is the same benefit you would get from aerobics, jogging, or other vigorous exercise. The benefits to men are comparable.

Along with its benefits to the heart, walking:

•improves circulation
•helps breathing
•combats depression
•bolsters the immune system
•helps prevent osteoporosis
•helps prevent and control diabetes
•helps control weight "

 

[Melancholy]

Jynus:

I am sorry to say that you are being incredibly myopic on your view here. This is essentially a weight loss site, and that being said, most people here on the site, including myself are overweight to some degree. To suggest that walking, a form of "exercise" is essentially worthless is very irresponsible. This is under the category of "advanced weight loss", not strictly opinion on what is better.

Someone that has a BMI of 30+ would benefit GREATLY from walking. I believe that you are thinking of walking in the sense of people at the mall, meandering from store to store. In my opinion, walking in the context of exercise is walking at a brisk pace, the fastest you are comfortable with.

When I was 220, I could barely walk 3 miles. To say that I should be sprinting is just ludicrous. I didn't even start jogging until I was down to 190, 30 pounds later and I lost all that weight essentially by diet and exercise, the aforementioned exercise being walking.

Walking is a great way to get started for weight loss, and a great way to maintain the weight once you have lost it. I don't disagree that more calories can be burnt by jogging, but slamming walking discredits any points you made.. Sorry.

-Mellon

 

[Jynus]

Jynus:

I am sorry to say that you are being incredibly myopic on your view here. This is essentially a weight loss site, and that being said, most people here on the site, including myself are overweight to some degree. To suggest that walking, a form of "exercise" is essentially worthless is very irresponsible. This is under the category of "advanced weight loss", not strictly opinion on what is better.

Someone that has a BMI of 30+ would benefit GREATLY from walking. I believe that you are thinking of walking in the sense of people at the mall, meandering from store to store. In my opinion, walking in the context of exercise is walking at a brisk pace, the fastest you are comfortable with.

When I was 220, I could barely walk 3 miles. To say that I should be sprinting is just ludicrous. I didn't even start jogging until I was down to 190, 30 pounds later and I lost all that weight essentially by diet and exercise, the aforementioned exercise being walking.

Walking is a great way to get started for weight loss, and a great way to maintain the weight once you have lost it. I don't disagree that more calories can be burnt by jogging, but slamming walking discredits any points you made.. Sorry.

-Mellon

I never once said it was worthless. In fact I said the opposite, that is has benefit for those who are completely out of shape at the top of this very page. So I'm at a loss of how you're coming to your conclusions. Also I'm finding your statement of "...not strictly opinion on what is better." highly amusing considering the topic title is "Best exercise for weight loss"... um, say what?

You're being very short sighted and narrowminded in your reply because of a bias you have. You don't like thinking that something you did is not as good as you think it is. Truth is (and what I actually said) is that cardio is one of the worst forms of exercise. (not thats it's worthless, just the worst) This is because it is. Literally everything else you could do will be better than walking.

I found a great example of this too. Lets consider mailmen. They walk for miles and miles a day for hours as part of their job. If walking were truly a excellent form of exercise, then mailmen would be some picture of health. Yet you'll find them in all shapes and sizes just like in the general population. This is, again, because walking uses the fatty oxidative energy system. It's sole design in the body is to do as little work as possible, as efficiently as possible. Your body, at some point very fast, simply becomes used to the stress of walking.

Now just so I'm clear, there are exceptions. Acute injuries, sever obesity, etc. For them, walking might be the 'best' form of exercise, because its the only form of exercise available to them. But thats a _FAR_ cry from being able to say it's the best for everyone..

 

[Korrie]

I never once said it was worthless. In fact I said the opposite, that is has benefit for those who are completely out of shape at the top of this very page.

Actually what you said "at the very top of this page" was this:

No walking is one of the worst. It only uses the fatty oxidative system to provide your body with energy. You're basically barely burning any calories over what you would be doing if you were just standing up....... But you're laughably kidding yourself if you honestly believe it's a good form of exercise for anyone other than a completely never exercised before beginner.

You did state its only good for someone who's never exercised before....but give me a break. Its highly benificial to people in all shapes and sizes. I think you are being very close minded here. I'm not selling it as the best exercise ever...but certainly one not to be dismissed.

I think the BIG THING you're not getting here is that we are not talking about simply picking up one foot infront of the other (as you do in your mailman analogy) We are talking about a quick brisk walk that gets your heart rate up for a long period of time.

 

[Jynus]

You did state its only good for someone who's never exercised before....but give me a break. Its highly benificial to people in all shapes and sizes. I think you are being very close minded here. I'm not selling it as the best exercise ever...but certainly one not to be dismissed.

I think the BIG THING you're not getting here is that we are not talking about simply picking up one foot infront of the other (as you do in your mailman analogy) We are talking about a quick brisk walk that gets your heart rate up for a long period of time.

You seem to forget that while walking is beneficial to people of all shapes and sizes, so is every other form of exercise there is, and most everything else is more beneficial. This is the title of the thread is it not?

Look, I'll make this simple. Ive given reasons why I say it's the worst. Now it's time for you to step up to the plate rather than just give the talking points. Assuming your average everyday person with a choice of exercises to him, what benefit does walking offer him than other forms of exercise does not. And what exercise overall is worse than walking for him?

 

[Korrie]

No, I refuse to get into a debate. I believe that they are worthless unless one person is actually open to the ideal that they could be wrong and in 99% of the cases, neither side is. Ask anyone that really knows me, I refuse to debate any certain topic.

I did not ever say that walking was the BEST form of exercise...and yet I am not convinced that it isn't.... how it got brought up here in this thread, I'm not sure...i will go back and look just out of curiousity. BUT my ONLY point was that walking is not the "laughable" form of exercise you blow it off as. It is a legitamet form of exercise and I didn't care for you telling people that it was a joke.

I"m done with the conversation.

 

[Melancholy]

I never once said it was worthless

Look, I'll make this simple. Ive given reasons why I say it's the worst

Here is the thing. You have completely "trolled" the other thread about weighing yourself daily, and buried any legit. talking points, and you are doing the same here.

Are you the model of physical fitness? (I am actually asking).

I have lost 41 pounds now, dieting right, and working out, most of that weight was lost by walking. I also am advanced in the knowledge and capability of working out, but walking is a motivational way to keep going.

Now, physiologically speaking, fat-loss occurs at a greater pace when you work out at a lower intensity, for a longer period of time, as in WALKING. So, I will continue to discuss this with you if you can be mature, but if you want to act like you are on the other thread, then I am all done playing...

 

[Daybehavior]

Now, physiologically speaking, fat-loss occurs at a greater pace when you work out at a lower intensity, for a longer period of time, as in WALKING.

Hi Mel, from what I recall reading, this is a misconception that has been debunked several times. Overall, you burn more calories with high intensity:

For example:
Low Intensity Workout:
90% x 7 calories per minute = 6.30 fat calories burned per minute

High Intensity Workout:
60% x 14 calories per minute = 8.40 fat calories burned per minute

Of course, I'm no expert so feel free to correct me.