Fat Burning: Training Intensity

No subject is currently more controversial in the fitness world than how hard to train. There are those who say nothing less than an all-out effort is needed while others say 70% to 80% is best.

Whether it’s endurance training like running or resistance training like weight lifting, everyone – even the experts – seem to disagree about how hard to train.

It’s not an argument that’s likely to be won by any camp in the near future for one simple reason: everyone responds differently to exercise.

Worse, most studies conducted by scientists have been done on athletes – people who by genetic deposition are better equipped to make advances using any type of exercise. Even among athletes, there are different results using more or less intense programs and training regimes tend to be very sport specific.

How is one who just wants to get into good shape and burn the fat to decide which is the best method? More important – how does one keep from injuring themselves in the process?

It’s important to start with your basic goal: develop lean muscle mass and burn the fat. This article will focus on the resistance exercise portion of the equation, not the diet, but they are equally important. In fact, a proper diet may be more important – especially for beginners who are overweight.

Developing muscle is important to fat burning since it increases the body’s metabolism which in turn burns more calories throughout the day. It also makes you look great. But how best to go about it?

Building requires work that will force your muscles to work at or near their limit for a relatively short period of time. Do more than the required work and you receive little or no benefits and open yourself up to injury and what’s called adaptation. Adaptation is when the body “learns” how to manage the workload and does not make further gains.

Typical resistance programs ask for 3 to 5 sets of a weight that you can move between 6 and 12 times. When you can move it more than 12 times, the weight should be increased 5 to 10%. This should be done with a 48 to 72 hours rest period for beginners and 5 to 7 days for advanced lifters.

Newer high intensity programs (HIT) – as yet unaccepted by the majority of the bodybuilding world – have shown that just one set of higher weights lifted very slowly will give marginally better results for some individuals. This normally follows one warm-up set, however, and some programs call for an additional set – again at higher weights. More interestingly, they also claim to do a better job of burning fat.

These programs are relatively simple, but those who wish to make further gains after developing a base often find that it becomes increasingly difficult to lift more weight and staying at the same weight will not continue to grow muscles.

How to break though and continue to add muscle without hurting yourself? That, indeed, is the million-dollar question and the subject of thousands of books, the reason for a million supplements and the ascension of champion body builders to god-like status in the fitness world.

The best informed and most honest fitness authorities admit that each program will benefit some, but not all. This is the only real truth about training intensity to be gleaned from the Tower of Babel that is the Internet.

Following these programs requires more than a little dedication as well. Not only are they relatively Byzantine in nature, but they require you to estimate things like 75% or 65% of your maximum lift. How is one supposed to tell the difference, pray tell? For most, the benefit of different programs will be marginal at best.

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