Beyond the Comfort Zone

Beyond the Comfort Zone

After you get into workout mode, it’s important to keep pushing yourself to reach your goals. If you get to a certain point in your program and don’t increase the challenge and/or duration, it’s like putting your car into cruise control. You’ll make a journey, but you won’t be revving up the engine.
Exercise experts have long agreed that revving up the engine is important in getting leaner and fitter, but there have been long-running debates about what type of exercise and what intensity are the most effective at burning fat. Settlement of this issue is on the way. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research reported on a preliminary study in which eight men and 12 women, aged 18 to 50, completed fitness tests on two different aerobic apparatus, a treadmill and a stationary bicycle.
The test subjects were monitored when they worked out at submaximal and maximal intensity. The researchers found that fat oxidation was virtually identical between the two pieces of equipment for each level of intensity. This is encouraging for exercisers on a weight-loss program who, say, prefer rowing to the stairstepper, prefer riding a stationary bike to running on a treadmill, and so on. If these preliminary findings are correct, it means you can achieve your goals on whatever kind of apparatus you would like to use.