Simple cardio session question?

[mustmuck]

What's the difference to my body between doing a simple cardio workout (lets say jogging) for 30 minutes twice in a day or for one hour once?

[Sober]

Well, it takes a certain amount of time for your heartrate to speed up.. so I imagine that with the more-frequent sessions, you'll reach and remain at your peak level for less time.

However, more-frequent sessions should (I believe) help keep your metabolism higher throughout the day, therefore being more effective in the long run.

[notfreemoney]

what is your goal? it makes a difference whether you are training for competetion or just trying to lose some weight

[cbloom]

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What's the difference to my body between doing a simple cardio workout (lets say jogging) for 30 minutes twice in a day or for one hour once?

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A big one.

[mustmuck]

Thanks for the replies guys.

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what is your goal? it makes a difference whether you are training for competetion or just trying to lose some weight

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At the moment lose some weight, but after that moving on to general fitness. No competition anyway. Currently I'm doing multiple sessions, as it's easier to find the time, but it's also just plain easier so I feel like I might be cheating.

[cbloom]

The total calories burned from two short sessions is most likely slightly greater than calories burned from one longer session (because you're fresher and running harder, and because you're elevating your heart rate for a while after twice instead of once). You will be burning primarily just short term free energy in a short session like that, you burn more fat in a longer session, but that's actually a misleading fact because all that matters in the end is your total calorie delta.

A 30 minute jog isn't really gonna do a lot for you though. It would be way better to do sprints or hill-runs or stairs or something more intense. Even better would be one session of sprints and another session of something more like weights. Even if you can't get to the gym you can find a bar and do pushups, pullups, etc...

[mustmuck]

Okay, so you're saying I generally need to do something higher intensity? Gym can't happen at the moment, but I'd buy equipment depending on space requirements.

[cbloom]

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Okay, so you're saying I generally need to do something higher intensity? Gym can't happen at the moment, but I'd buy equipment depending on space requirements.

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It depends on your goals, but yeah, if you can only squeeze 30 minutes it would be better to do something really high intensity. Not only will higher intensity burn more calories, it will get your heart rate up for longer after the workout, and will build muscle which will increase your resting metabolic rate which will be a much bigger affect than what you can burn in a 30 minute jog. You don't need a gym. Search the web for HIIT and Tabata.

[mustmuck]

Thanks cbloom, I'll do some research along those lines.

[theblackkeys]

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