Long and slow vs Short and fast

GTi

2

i know what you were thinking. anyway, i wanted to know which is best. a long slow jog or a short fast one?

Thanks

Reply 1

Guffy

There are differing schools of thought on this.

Slow, long jogs will put your heart rate in a zone that your body is burning fat in during the exercise, but your body will be more likely to burn muscle glycogen while at rest.

Sprinting will burn muscle glycogen during exercise, but will result in the body more likely burning fat while at rest.

The body is very good at conserving fuel, it's an intelligent machine.

Reply 2

mr_person

1

Best for what? Losing weight? Increasing stamina?

Reply 3

GTi

OP

2

sorry, i should have said. which is best for increasing stamina and losing body fat?

Reply 4

Guffy

The Beast

sorry, i should have said. which is best for increasing stamina and losing body fat?

For stamina, you're better off mixing distance running with sprinting. The distance running will train your cardiovascular fitness for endurance, the sprinting will get your heart used to higher intensity.

For burning fat... tricky question, because it depends what you've eaten before your run, how long you're going for, etc.

As a general rule, I would say if you're running for more than 20 minutes, distance jogging is going to be better, but if you're going to be less than that, HIIT (basically sprinting with mini breaks) is better.

However, there is no definitive answer to this.

Reply 5

Rusty33

People read into this kind of stuff way to much. The bottom line, is that unless you are training for something in particular, you don't need to get into the details all that much. Because for most people, ANY exercise is more than none. If you are burning fat, you don't need to do anything more than push yourself when you feel like you are ready to give up. Whether you are doing it short and fast or long and hard is irrelevant.

Push yourself until you can't, and keep pushing. And, when you finally give in, slug some water, and get back out there and do it again.

Reply 6

Alan Smithee

Rusty33

People read into this kind of stuff way to much. The bottom line, is that unless you are training for something in particular, you don't need to get into the details all that much. Because for most people, ANY exercise is more than none. If you are burning fat, you don't need to do anything more than push yourself when you feel like you are ready to give up. Whether you are doing it short and fast or long and hard is irrelevant.

Yep.

Long and slow vs Short and fast

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