Here’s the answer to my Facebook post from Saturday about the folks working out in the hotel. There was functional training, elliptical, treadmill, intervals, and Yoga….who burned the most calories? The least? Who had the most visible body-fat?
The functional training group burned the most calories…maybe not during the 30 minutes of work, but from the AFTERBURN! When you strength train, you continue to burn calories for about 30 hours after you workout!
What qualifies as strength training?
You need to target no more than 10-12 reps per set to count as ‘strength training’ AND the last couple of reps should be difficult. If you’re doing more than 12 reps, that’s more of a cardio workout.
Who burned the least?
Most likely the ellipictal rider burned the fewest calories because it was steady state cardio with no intensity. The elliptial is also easier than the treadmill. More importantly, because it was steady state, she burned up a lot of muscle while on the elliptical and once she was done working out…she wasn’t burning anymore calories from that workout. While she had great endurance, she also had the most visible body-fat.
What about Yoga?
The person doing Yoga (called a Yogi), was doing a very intense practice session with a lot of strength and flexiblity, so she burned a lot of calories. Her afterburn wasn’t as good because it was all bodyweight, but if doubt that Yoga is a workout, let me know and I can recommend one of our Fitness on Request Yoga classes so you can experience it for yourself!
