So here is a quote from a fitness professional trying to sell her services.
“Muscle burns fat.
Increasing muscle mass and decreasing body fat percentage can be tricky, because most nutriton plans restrict calories and encourage long, slow distance cardio (running, walking, biking).“
This was posted on Facebook. I think it is an interesting statement but is it true?
Muscle Burns Fat?
Kinda???
What is true is that muscle is biologically active while fat is not. It takes 50 calories a day to maintain a pound of muscle and fat is stored energy so it doesn’t require any additional calories.
The trick here is that a calorie is a calorie and the body can get it from carbs, fats or proteins. A pound of muscle doesn’t burn fat but it does increase your metabolism which is a measure of how many calories you burn at rest. Burn slightly more calories than you take in and you lose weight.
The keyword is “slightly”. Low calorie diets will force the body to cannibalize muscle for energy to makeup for the lack of calories coming in. Remember, a calorie is a measure of energy. Low caloric eating will produce both fat and muscle loss. It will also slow your metabolism: the worst possible scenario. If it works, you look the same but just a smaller version of yourself and that is not what most people want.
The takeaway is that a person with more muscle will generally have a higher metabolism and be able to burn more calories at rest. I am not talking about becoming a bodybuilder but I am talking about increasing your muscle to fat ratio. You can’t do that on a low calorie diet.
By the way, that is also why your body fat percentage is a better indicator of health than the BMI , body mass index height and weight charts.
What we are after is a way to burn fat while keeping muscle. Doing this will reshape your body and make losing fat easier.
Long Slow Cardio
There is a bias against low intensity cardio. Mainly it is by people selling you high intensity cardio programs. Usually the pitch goes something like this.
“ Do you really want to spend hours on the dreadmill day after day to lose a few pounds? Why not exercise at high intensity for 20 minutes and get all the benefits of slow cardio and more!“
There is truth to this so let’s look at this a couple of ways. By the way, I do high and low intensity workouts and I recommend both methods. But as in all aspects of life, you need to know what you are getting into.
I want to really simplify this so imagine a timeline. On one end you are standing still and on the other end you are in an all out sprint. Just like you have gears in your car you have three different energy systems in your body.
Slow walking to fast walking to slow running is called aerobic because the body uses oxygen and breaks down fat cells for energy. It is a relatively slow process and can only be used when your heart rate is below a certain level. As a general rule take 180 minus your age and that is your aerobic max heart rate to burn fat efficiently. Dr. Phil Maffetone is one of the pioneers of heart rate training and there is a little more to the formula but this gives you a good idea.
As an extreme example, bodybuilders who are trying to keep muscle but burn fat will spend endless hours on a treadmill or exercise bike to burn the last bits of fat from their body. Obviously this isn’t you but it does confirm that this method works for fat loss.
As you start with more intense activity the body is going to start having to use glycogen as a faster form of fuel. Glycogen is from glucose which is sugar which are called carbohydrates. Mind blown? Hope not.
Most people have a lot of fat reserves to run on but glycogen is limited to the bloodstream and liver. It lasts around 45 minutes to an hour and without ingesting more carbs, you will begin to feel fatigued. Again, I am using very rough numbers to give you an overall picture.
At the far end of the spectrum is the sprint which uses ATP and you have about a 6 second supply of that. Once it runs out you are forced to slow down until it rebuilds.
Exercising in different heart rate zones will give you different results because you are using different types of fuel. Low intensity exercise can be boring and high intensity exercise is difficult to push through. The mistake most poeple make is that they settle for the middleground
Pros and Cons
The benefits of HIIT or high intensity exercise.
You can burn as many calories in 20 minutes of high intensity exercise as you can in an hour of low intensity aerobic activity. True. After intense exercise your heart rate will stay elevated and you will burn a higher amount of calories hours after a workout. This is called a “thermogenic” effect. You will also tend to build muscle if you are eating enough.
The downside:
- It is very hard to push yourself to go all out and get in the proper training range.
- Proper form gets harder to maintain leading to more injuries.
- You can’t train like this everyday.
- Unless you have been training for a while, this will be too intense for you.
The benefits of low intensity training. This includes walking, slow running, biking and hiking.
- You stay in the fat burning zone and become more efficient at burning fat.
- It is easier on your joints and you will less prone to injury unless it is an overuse injury.
- You can do it everyday.
- You will not burn muscle for fuel.
The downsides
- You won’t build much muscle doing low intensity activities.
- It takes more time.
- Some people get bored.
But as my grandmother always said, “you can never be bored you can just be boring.”
Note: My clients are 45-70 years old and want to get in shape, lose weight and fix their aches and pains. As a coach, I like having these choices to offer. And yes, if you are out of shape and want to do high intensity training I can scale it down for you
Conclusion
The statement we started out with isn’t wrong but it isn’t right either.
“Muscle burns fat.
Increasing muscle mass and decreasing body fat percentage can be tricky, because most nutrition plans restrict calories and encourage long, slow distance cardio (running, walking, biking).”
This is where having a coach can be the difference between success and futility.
- Low calorie dieting is almost always a bad idea and will backfire on you. Eat like an athlete and you will start looking more like an athlete. Hint: Athletes don’t restrict calories.
- Develop both aerobic and anaerobic pathways. Mix in high intensity and low intensity to get the best of both worlds. You can build muscle and optimize your fat burning system by doing both.
- This isn’t rocket science but it also isn’t easy. You need to get familiar with the science. Take the time to study up on this or get a good coach to help you.
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