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Additional Training Information

Exercising In Segments

New research has made a startling discovery – exercising for 30 minutes; then resting for 20 minutes and then resuming exercise for another 30 minutes will actually burn more fat, faster than exercising for one hour straight.

Scientists of the University of Tokyo, in Japan, have published their report in the June 2007 issue of Journal of Applied Physiology. Their research involved seven men, averaging 25 years of age, performing exercise on a stationary cycle. The scientists had the men three different exercise activities. First, one hour of exercise followed by one hour of rest. Second, 30 minutes of exercise, followed by 20 minutes of rest, then another 30 minutes of exercise. Finally, the third trial was one hour of rest without exercise.

As stated earlier, the workout with two 30-minute segments (with the 20-minute rest period in the middle) showed more fat breakdown than the other two trials described. In addition, the second 30-minute segment registered a larger boost of epinephrine and a rapid decrease in insulin as a result of lower plasma glucose. Later, the scientists speculated that these chemical changes were instrumental in causing the greater fat breakdown.

Dispelling the long-standing belief that prolonged exercise is the best method for maximal fat reduction, this new discovery should be welcome news to those over 30 who exercise; as it makes an hour workout, with a 20-minute break in the middle, physically easier to achieve than a sustained hour of exertion.

Drinking Milk After Exercise

In the never-ending task of research, scientists at McMaster University have now found that drinking milk after weightlifting causes people to burn more amount of fat. The new findings (published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition), was discovered by the University’s Department of Kinesiology's Exercise Metabolism Research Group.

In the study, researchers formed 3 groups of men (aging from 18 to 30) and had them participate in a 12-week long weightlifting program – exercising vigorously five days a week. Following each workout, the exercisers consumed one of three drinks:

• Two cups of skim milk.
• A soy beverage with equivalent amounts of protein and energy.
• A carbohydrate beverage with an equivalent amount of energy (containing roughly the same as drinking 600 to 700 milliliters of a typical sports drink).

At the end of the study, the research results showed:

• The milk drinking group had lost two pounds
• The carbohydrate beverage group lost just one pound of fat.
• The soy drinkers lost no fat.

Also, the muscle gain was far greater among the milk drinkers than either the soy or carbohydrate drinkers. The milk group gained:

• 40% cent (or 2.5 pounds) more muscle mass than the soy beverage drinkers.
• 63% (or 3.3 pounds) more muscle mass than the carbohydrate beverage drinkers.

While the study only sampled men, researchers speculate the results would also apply to women.

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Sources: Six Sessions of Sprint Interval Training Increases Muscle Oxidative Potential and Cycle Endurance Capacity in Humans Journal of Applied Physiology 98: 1985-1990, 2005 Effect of Short-term Sprint Interval Training on Human Skeletal Muscle Carbohydrate Metabolism During Exercise and Time-trial Performance Journal of Applied Physiology 2006 Jun;100(6):2041-7. Epub 2006 Feb 9 Consumption of Fat-free Fluid Milk After Resistance Exercise Promotes Greater Lean Mass Accretion Than Does Consumption of Soy or Carbohydrate in Young, N, Male Weightlifters American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol. 86, No. 2, 373-381, August 2007

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