More Is Better???

The simple answer... NO IT'S NOT!


Now I know this doesn't have anything to do with nutrition directly but rest and nutrition work synergistically (my big word for the day). People are always saying that more is better. If I run more, I'll lose weight more quickly. If I lift weight on consecutive days, I will lose weight AND get stronger. We hear that time and time again at CFK. I sent a linkto the proceeding post, which can be accessed below,  to an athlete a few weeks back. She read it, understood the concepts, and implemented it. She told me that she has already lost weight by cutting down on the amount of training she does. And she was all smiles saying so. Rightfully so. There is proof, at our own facility, that rest helps.


Check out the rest of the post for an explanation as to why less is better. Or check out Dutch Lowy's site here and scroll down to the third comment by Stefan.

So 4 minutes of work can get me in shape? Yes!
So long as the quality of the work is very high. As with anything in life, more is usually NOT better. Today i want to emphasize that better is better. By this i mean if we can focus all of our energy on one simple task (Row for 20 seconds rest for 10sec x 8 rounds) then we can put all of our effort and energy into that simple task and therefore get more out of the effort than if we did that followed by something else and then something else…

This is important for those of you with both athletic goals and aesthetic goals. I have good reasons why both will benefit from better work not more work.

For those chasing athletic goals we need to focus on the quality of the work you are doing and when appropriate give you something to focus all of your energy on for a limited amount of time. Not only will this allow you to maximize your power output which some would compare to intensity but it will also free your mind of the worry of doing more work after you put in all your effort. For those with experience in any sport you know the feeling when you go through your entire practice knowing that you are going to have to do some running after practice so hold back just enough to have something in the tank for later.

For those chasing aesthetic goals or more specifically weight loss goals you need to understand a couple things about your body. While traditional “cardio” will burn more energy while you are doing it, once you stop the activity your energy expenditure ends. So you would have to continue doing said exercise all day to continue receiving your desired benefits for that day. On the other hand with high intensity exercise like you get at Black Box Fort Worth your body gets into something called oxygen debt where your muscles have used up the available stores of oxygen in the body and needs to restore the balance. This is why you breath so hard when you are done with exercise and not only during it. As a side note, if you breathing rate gets back to normal within a minute of finishing your workout you likely didn't make it to oxygen debt. As a result of this depletion of oxygen you get this after effect where your body has to work harder for the next 24-36 hours to regain equilibrium, therefore; burning more energy throughout the day and even as you sleep.
So the question is: work for 60 min and only benefit those 60 min or work HARD for 4 min (or something like that) and get some pretty good benefits for another 20-30 hours?
Your call…