311012 Sprint to faster calorie loss

Sprint to faster calorie loss

Scientists in Australia have found that high intensity exercise, such as sprinting, burns off more calories than low to moderate methods. This information has already been well established in the professional fitness world for a long time now. Intensity counts!

These research scientists had a group of forty-six sedentary individuals who were in their twenties for the study. They assigned half to an exercise group and the other half to a control group. Those in the exercise group worked out with twenty-minute routines three times a week. During this time, they sprinted on a stationary bike for 8 seconds and then rested for 12 seconds. At the end of the twelve-week test, those who exercised had lost 4 pounds of fat. Not only did they lose fat they gained 2.6 pounds of lean muscle. Seventeen percent of the fat loss was belly fat, the type of dangerous fat that is stored around the internal organs. Numerous studies have linked this kind of fat to a higher risk of developing heart disease.

Contrast these results with the control group who gained weight and increased the size of their stomach girth during the twelve weeks of the trial.

Popeye was right

A recent Swedish study implies that Popeye the sailorman may have gotten it right when he said to eat your spinach. The nitrates found in spinach, chard lettuce and beetroot are believed to have been responsible for these positive findings. However, the research wasn’t done on people; it was with mice.

The mice used in this test showed a “powerful effect” on increasing muscle strength. The mice were divided into two groups; nitrate enhanced and normal feeding.

Those in the nitrate group ate the human equivalent of 7-10 ounces of spinach a day for one week. These mice were found to have much stronger leg and feet muscles than the control group. After doing a blood workup on the nitrate group it was found they also had a greater concentration of two proteins involved in the balance of calcium in the body. These proteins play an important role in the ability of the muscles to contract.

The researchers noted the amount of spinach required to see these results was not beyond what is available in the normal healthy diet.

So, eat your spinach, exercise and get stronger.