Friday, March 22, 2013

Walking more throughout the day is better than 1 hour of intense exercise!



A recent study out of the Netherlands confirms other research studies showing that being more active throughout the day is more important than just one dose of intense exercise. While doing a one-hour spin class is definitely recommended and a great way to burn fat, calories, and improve muscle and cardiovascular performance, if you sit the rest of the day, it is not doing you much good in terms of improving cholesterol and preventing diabetes.

This new study had healthy weight people ages 18-24 participate in 3 different exercise regimes over the course of the study. These regimes included:
 1) No exercise + sitting for 14 hrs/day
2) 1 hr vigorous cycling + sitting for 13 hrs/day
3) Sitting 8 hrs + 4 hours walking + 2 hours standing

The results showed that energy expenditure was the same for the exercise and walking regimes, but those who perform no vigorous exercise and just walked had improved cholesterol and insulin sensitivity compared to when they exercised intensely but sat the rest of the day.

My Recommendations: Don’t stop doing your vigorous exercise! Do one hour of moderate to intense cardio most days of the week PLUS walking as much as you can throughout the day EVERY day! Make a conscious effort to move, or at least stand up, as much as you can. You also need to eat right, cut out the saturated fat and refined carbs. A healthy diet + being active= best chance of living a healthy life. I always recommend getting a good pedometer to see how active you really are- you should be getting at least 10,000 steps per day (+ try to do exercise IN ADDITION to that!). J SIT LESS, MOVE MORE!!!!!!!!

 REFERENCE: Duvivier BMFM, Schaper NC, Bremers MA, van Crombrugge G, Menheere PPCA, et al. (2013) Minimal Intensity Physical Activity (Standing and Walking) of Longer Duration Improves Insulin Action and Plasma Lipids More than Shorter Periods of Moderate to Vigorous Exercise (Cycling) in Sedentary Subjects When Energy Expenditure Is Comparable



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