Has anyone seen the new research? Pretty interesting stuff...

Breaking up workouts may burn fat faster
July 31, 2007 12:52:59 PM PST

Breaking up an exercise session, by adding a rest period in between, may boost a workout's fat-burning efficiency, a team of Japanese and Danish researchers reports.

When men exercised for two 30-minute stretches, taking a 20-minute rest break in between, they burned more fat than when they exercised for a single 60-minute session, and then rested afterward, Dr. Kazushige Goto of the University of Tokyo and colleagues found.

Current recommendations on exercise for preventing or treating obesity emphasize longer exercise sessions, Goto and his team note in the Journal of Applied Physiology. But there is evidence that following one exercise session with another workout may increase fat metabolism, they add.

To investigate, the researchers had seven healthy men complete one long workout and then two shorter workouts on exercise bicycles, measuring several different indicators of fat metabolism. All exercised at 60 percent of their maximum level of exertion.

When the men performed the two shorter exercise sessions, their blood levels of free fatty acids and other substances rose during the rest period, indicating greater fat metabolism. Levels of these substances also were higher during an hour-long rest period after the two-part exercise session.

Greater fat metabolism was recorded during each of the rest periods in the two-part session than during the rest period following the single, longer workout.

The men also showed lower levels of insulin and blood glucose during the second phase of the two-part exercise session.

While the proportion of total calories burned did not differ between the two workouts, fat represented nearly 77 percent of the calories burned in the recovery period after the two-part exercise session, compared with about 56 percent of calories burned in the recovery period after the single long exercise session.

Although a single bout of prolonged exercise is often performed in response to a physician's advice to exercise more, exercising for the same amount of time but with rest periods in between may be more effective, especially for sedentary or overweight individuals, the researchers conclude.

SOURCE: Journal of Applied Physiology, June 2007.

It's an interesting article, but a study with only 7 participants is not very conclusive.

That's the only bad thing about exercise and weight related research...they're either not long enough to really get an idea of what's going on or they don't field enough participants. But...you get what you get.

It'd be interesting to see how this works on sedentary, unhealthy people to see how their bodies respond to the 1 hour exercise as well as the breaks. There are so many avenues this study could be applied to...

The biggest problem for me would be .....what the heck are you supposed to do for those 20 mins of a break? Plus it takes 20 mins more overall ><

Exactly what I was thinking...

x2. This study is not very controlled at all. I read this article on yahoo.com or something.

I seen that in this months issue of fitness rx. I dont even do a single 30 minute session of treadmilling.

Interesting, but limited.