What makes a GOOD workout?

Hi there,



I have been answering a lot of questions on my "One Pound At A Time" Blog today..



and I will be answering questions on our Facebook page at 2pm here:

http://www.facebook.com/soflafitnessbootcamp



But a lot of people are saying, they don't feel sore, or exhausted, or don;t see changes the day after...



So what makes a GOOD WORKOUT?



Well that depends...



If you went to the Gym and did a 10 minute warm up, 3-4 exercise for your lower body, 2-3 upper body exercises, 2 core exercise, kept your repetitions at 10-12 per exercise + 10-15 minutes of cardio to finish, some might say that's a good workout..



Well you are training for a marathon it's NOT..if you are training to get faster at Soccer it's NOT, if your goal is to get more lean muscle and get stronger it's NOT good for that either.



What is you went to the Gym for 2 hours..Did a Step class, a spin class, and did some weight training exercise..is that a good workout?

If you want to get better a Step and spinning ...YES...other than that it's NOT



You see a Good workout is a Workout that Supports your Fitness Goal in the most efficient way possible..



Just because you are not sore the next day, or don't feel like you are going to puke doesn;t mean you didn't get a good workout..



The next factor in a good workout is YOUR INDIVIDUAL EFFORT..PX90 is a good workout for Fat burning , but if you sit there watching the DVD and don;t do the exercises..is NOT a good workout ..is it?



If you go to the gym, and have a cool workout to follow, and you half ass it..that's not a good workout either.



So, with that being said...EATING has to support your workout program..and I won;t get into that now, but it is just as important.



Now..BOOTCAMP..a 45 minute time circuit class...Full Body workout done in a circuit using timed intervals...



Is that good for Fat Burning? Well..I love FACTS..and NUMBER Don't lie..so for all of you folks that enjoy that kind of thing



I have 3 More Studies below..on the effectiveness of a 45 minute workout and it's EPOC effects..

What is EPOC? something cool that you get by training this way..it's make your body burn more calories at rest after your workout.





Here are the studies:



Knab et al.

A 45-Minute Vigorous Exercise Bout Increases Metabolic Rate for 14 Hours.

Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2011 Feb 8.



These researchers had subjects undergo a bout of cycling at approx 73% of VO2 max (approximately 84% of max heart rate) for 45 mins.

The subjects burned on average 520 calories in the 45 min training session. The following day their resting energy expenditure was increased an average of 190 cals compared to normal. Basically - the subjects burned an additional 37% MORE calories than the workout itself in the 14 hour post workout period -- meaning that a single high-intensity session, when including the post-workout metabolic boost could burn up to 710 cals in total.



A second study

Heden et al.

One-set resistance training elevates energy expenditure for 72 h similar to three sets.

European Journal of Applied Physiology. Volume 111, Number 3, 477-484, Mar 2011

The subjects were put on a very simple resistance training routine - full body training, either 1 or 3 sets per exercise of ten exercises.

The researchers then examined the subjects resting energy expenditure at 24, 48 and 72 hours post workout. Both groups showed an elevated metabolism (afterburn effect) of around 100 cals per day.

But there was no difference between groups. It seems that it's intensity that determines how many calories are burned post-workout, not volume (obviously a higher volume program would burn more calories during the session than a lower volume program.

A third study confirmed this:

Scott et al.

Energy expenditure characteristics of weight lifting: 2 sets to fatigue.

Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2011 Feb;36(1):115-20.

The researchers looked at the caloric expenditure of bench pressing using three different loads and concluded "As more work is completed (i.e., lower weight, more repetitions), aerobic and anaerobic exercise energy expenditures appear to increase accordingly, yet absolute EPOC remains essentially unchanged". In other words - the post workout caloric burn (in this case measured aerobically)



One more:

Astorino et al.

Effect of acute caffeine ingestion on EPOC after intense resistance training.

J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2011 Mar;51(1):11-7.

This study showed a 15% increase in post-workout calories burned after the ingestion of caffeine as a pre-workout supplement. The total extra calories burned as a result of this only added up to around 27 cals in the hour after the workout. Not a lot but still something to consider. Plus I like iced coffee :)



--

Rafael Moret,CSCS, NASM-Cpt

http://www.i-bootcamp.com/

http://www.results4sure.com/