Strength Training Burns Calories After Exercise

Most people look to aerobic exercise to burn calories, but strength training can also burn calories during and after training.

In this study, 14 women performed two different workouts on two separate occasions. In one session, they performed a relatively light strength training session, doing 2 sets of 15 reps per exercise. In a second session, they lifted more intensely, performing 2 sets of 8 reps per exercise.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU:

The women burned more calories for hours after the harder, more intense workout.

Alwyn Cosgrove calls this the “Afterburn”, and we call it one of the reasons that the workouts in ShapeShift are so effective. There’s a lot more to fat loss than the number of calories that you burn on the treadmill.

Thornton, M., et al. Effects of resistance exercise bouts of different intensities but equal work on EPOC. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 34: 715-722, 2002.

The Benefits of Interval Training

Trainers and coaches are learning that no matter what the goal, clients and athletes have to include some form of interval training in their program. Interval training is extremely effective for improving fitness and increasing fat loss.

In this classic study, 32 women went through an 8-week program and trained either 2 or 4 days per week. Some women trained with short intervals (under 200 meters) and others with longer intervals (up to 1000 meters).

Interval training helped subjects increase their VO2max by 13%, but no interval training method was found to be better than the other for improving fitness. That means that training 4 days per week with longer intervals was no more effective than training for 2 days with shorter intervals. Regardless, a 13% increase in VO2max is huge. Team sport athletes and endurance athletes would love to have those kinds of gains.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU:

To improve fitness, athletes should include at least 2 days of
intervals per week. Short intervals (~200 meters) appear to be just as good as longer intervals (up to 1200 meters). The key to success with interval training is intensity – something you just can’t maintain during 30 minute slow cardio sessions.

Don’t forget to always warm-up properly for intense training.

      Lesmes, G., et al. Metabolic responses of females to high intensity interval training of different frequencies. Med. Sci. Sports. 10: 229-232, 1978.

Why can some women succeed at fat loss on their first try while other women seem to have the worst luck every time they start a new fat loss program? Every woman needs to find their best sources of support and motivation.

In this study, 158 women tried to lose fat by entering into a lifestyle program. The women completed behavioral and psychosocial tests, as well as providing diet and exercise habits. Women were considered a success if they lost 5% of their body weight or 10% of their fat weight. (At grrlAthlete.com we believe that much great results can be obtained by following a healthy eating program and an intense exercise program like ShapeShift.)

Some women dropped out, and this was associated with factors such as low-carbohydrate intake, Fitness-Exercise-Nutrition weight loss attempts, and a poorer quality of life. Of the successful women, they were associated with fewer Fitness-Exercise-Nutrition attempts at dieting and more moderate expectations.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU:

There are a lot of factors that impact the success of a weight loss program. Therefore, it is important for women to properly prepare themselves prior to committing to a fat loss program. In our Simple Fat Loss manual that we will be releasing shortly, we’ll include a multi-stage preparation plan to get you on the fast track for fat loss. In it we’ll teach you the three most important factors for a successful fat loss program.

Teixeira, P., et al. Pretreatment predictors of attrition and successful weight management in women. Int. J. Obes. 28: 1124-1133, 2004.

Calorie Intake & Meal Size

If you’ve been out to eat recently, you’re well aware of the massive portion sizes that are dominating the American restaurant scene. Research has shown that people eat more when larger portion sizes are served. In addition, many foods at restaurants are “energy dense” (such as French fries), meaning that they contain a lot of calories per serving, and many more calories per serving than less energy dense foods such as broccoli.

In this study, 39 women were fed breakfast, lunch and dinner once per week for 6 weeks. Each time, the lunch serving was different and it varied in both energy density and portion size. They ended up eating 6 different lunches over the 6 weeks.

The researchers found that the women ate 56% more food (223 Calories in this study) when they were served the largest portion size of food that also had the greatest energy density. That means a light lunch could turn into half your day’s food intake, depending on how wisely you order. And what’s even worse is that these women didn’t feel fuller or make up for it at dinner by eating less food. Therefore, energy dense foods eaten in large proportions are a recipe for fat gain.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU:

When you are planning your meals at home and ordering at restaurants, make sure to choose small portions and foods that don’t contain a lot of calories per serving. Avoid large portion sizes and foods that are energy dense. Read food labels and ask your server for more information on your order.

Kral, T., et al. Combined effects of energy density and portion size on energy intake in women. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 79: 962-968, 2004.

South Beach Diet Research Review

The South Beach Diet is one of the most popular diet programs of all time. It might even be more popular than the Atkins diet, and to be quite honest with you, it has a lot more positives than the original Atkins phase.

In this study (conducted in part by the physician that wrote the book), a South Beach-type diet was compared against the recommended diet from the US National Cholesterol Education Program [NCEP]. The NCEP diet removes saturated fat from the diet and replaces it with carbohydrates while the South Beach-type diet replaced saturated fat with protein and mono-unsaturated fats.

Sixty overweight patients were put on one of the diet (both men and women) for 12 weeks. The subjects on the South Beach-type diet lost more weight (13.6 pounds) than the NCEP diet (7.5 pounds). Only the South Beach-type diet made significant improvements in cholesterol levels.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU:

Score one for the South Beach-type diet. By replacing saturated fats with protein and mono-unsaturated fats, the South Beach-type diet was able to lose more weight and make big cholesterol improvements in 12-weeks. It would have been nice for this study to go on longer. Hopefully we will get more information and research on long, long term results.

Aude, Y., et al. The National Cholesterol Education Program Diet vs a Diet Lower in Carbohydrates and Higher in Protein and Monounsaturated Fat. A Randomized Trial. Arch. Intern. Med. 164: 2141-2146, 2004.  

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU:

• The evidence from this studies adds proof to the idea that with a properly planned strength training program, same day game play should not be effected, even with as little as 6 hours between your work-out and actual game play.

     Vertical jump, anaerobic power, and shooting accuracy are not altered 6 hours after strength training in collegiate women basketball players. Woolstenhulme, M.T., Bailey, B.K. and Allsen, P.E. J Strength Cond Res. 18(3):422-425. 2004.