an hour v. two x thirty mins

[taurushead]

is excersise really averaged out? someone told me this last week and it just makes no sense.
is it really the same to do say...an hour's cardio stuff every 3 or 4 days compared to half an hour every day??

[Vegmedic]

If it was all the same then athletes wouldn't train various distances, times and speeds while training for a certain event. They have speed days, over-distance days etc.

[taurushead]

my sentiments exactly. thanks :) you're a champ :)

[karenlovessnow]

Yeah, this is confusing to me as well. I keep hearing that if you don't have an hour at one clip to exercise, you can break it down over the course of the day. I can do a half hour in the morning, fifteen minutes during the day and another fifteen minutes in the evening. Supposedly. Maybe it has more to do with just keeping in shape and not really trying to lose weight or be toned. If you just want to be generally 'healthy' the averaging out thing works ok. But if you really want to lose weight or tone, you probably have to pump it up more. I don't really know. Just repeating stuff I'm hearing. I hate contradicting information! Like I'm not confused enough about how to exercise, eat, etc.....

[purrpelle]

If it was all the same then athletes wouldn't train various distances, times and speeds while training for a certain event. They have speed days, over-distance days etc.

that's true, but for overall fitness/health -not specific training- it doesn't matter. doing 30 minutes in the am and 30 at night is the same as doing one hour at a clip.

[toadstool]

It depends on your goals.

[asp3]

Take this information with a grain of salt because the last time I got it from an "exercise professional" was about five years ago. According to the person who was talking about losing weight, you need to do 20 minutes of aerobic exercise before your body starts burning fat. As a result two 30 minute sessions of aerobic exercise would only burn fat for 20 minutes, while one hour of areobic exercise would burn fat for 40 minutes.

So based on that information, for burning fat two sessions would be different than one.

[taurushead]

hmm interesting. and yeah i hate when things conflict.
im not training for anything specific not am i trying to lose weight. i used to do about an hour a day but ive been exhausted and busy lately, but don't wanna lose too much overall health and be too inactive, so thats more the context im looking at.
thanks! you've helped a lot :) :)

[Ducati]

Take this information with a grain of salt because the last time I got it from an "exercise professional" was about five years ago. According to the person who was talking about losing weight, you need to do 20 minutes of aerobic exercise before your body starts burning fat. As a result two 30 minute sessions of aerobic exercise would only burn fat for 20 minutes, while one hour of areobic exercise would burn fat for 40 minutes.

So based on that information, for burning fat two sessions would be different than one.

I don't know if that would matter. I understand that your body has stored glycogen which it uses for energy and this store must be depeleted before the body begins to burn fat. If you deplete this in 20 minutes (And it is vastly different for everyone) then you will burn fat at a slower rate after you get done exercising. Mixing it up uses different muscle groups and keeps your body from getting accustom to an exercise. I just discover pilates and I am going to do more of that. Well, after I can move again.

[BlackVelveteen]

When I first started working out, I would do a 30 minute workout in the morning and another one at night. I actually lost weight faster this way.

I read this technique is actually great because after working out, your metabolism increases for several hours afterwards. Our metabolism slows down towards the end of the day, but if you workout in the evening, your metabolism will increase, instead of dip. Therefore you are burning more calories than you normally would throughout the day.