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EPOC again...intervals again....

That old area of dispute about the post exercise impact of exercise in terms of calorie burn has popped up again:

In a new study, researchers show that exercisers can burn as many as 200 extra calories in as little as 2.5 minutes of concentrated effort a day -- as long as they intersperse longer periods of easy recovery in a practice known as sprint interval training.

Analyzing results from the room calorimeter system showed that the volunteers burned an average of an extra 200 calories on the sprint interval workout day, despite spending just 2.5 minutes engaged in hard exercise. Though the researchers can't yet speculate on whether such efforts could translate into weight loss, Sevits and his colleagues suggest that engaging in intense, but brief, bursts of exercise could aid in weight maintenance. "Burning an extra 200 calories from these exercises a couple of times a week can help keep away that pound or two that many Americans gain each year," 

Comments

Jason Keck said…
I think it is a known fact in the fitness community that high intensity interval training is far more effective in both weight reduction and performance improvement than longer periods of aerobics. People might continue to spend several hours a week steadily pedaling and jogging on stationary bikes and treadmills because of they measure the value of a workout by the time they put into it. Its time for all of us to stop watching CNN on the elyptical every morning and join a cross fit gym.
October 12, 2012 at 9:21 AM
simik said…
I can't find what control group did. Did they had no exercise at all, or did they did 5×4 min low intensity biking?
October 19, 2012 at 12:00 AM
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