Physically? I don't know - but I know mentally I get more impact from exercising daily than from doing it occasionally. So for my mental health, it makes a HUGE difference. Today I took a rest day and I've been unsettled because I have energy that I need to burn.
Physically, they aren't the same, though both are beneficial. Your body's hormonal and chemical responses to exercise differ between a 10 min session and a 60 min session. Short, intense sessions multiple times a day may increase post-exercise metabolism boosts, but longer, more moderate sessions produce more serotonin, which helps to control mood and depression. Both have benefits, but those benefits are different. And, of course, both burn calories, which means both will help from a purely weight loss perspective.
Physically, they aren't the same, though both are beneficial. Your body's hormonal and chemical responses to exercise differ between a 10 min session and a 60 min session. Short, intense sessions multiple times a day may increase post-exercise metabolism boosts, but longer, more moderate sessions produce more serotonin, which helps to control mood and depression. Both have benefits, but those benefits are different. And, of course, both burn calories, which means both will help from a purely weight loss perspective.
Many studies have proved that the benefits of caloric burn and muscle development are improved when doing harder, interval type training that lasts much less time vs just jogging or walking at a steady pace.
On the other side, studies also show that walking for an hour a day straight even at a very moderate pace can reduce your "set point".
This past week, I have been doing 10 minutes of jogging 9 times a day and was trying to figure out would it help my weight loss or was I wasting my time.
Here's an idea that I found helpful. It's from the old "Fit or Fat" book from long ago, and it's based on muscle metabolism. For short bursts, muscles rely on stored energy in the form of glycogen, which is a kind of carbohydrate. They also burn glucose that's in the blood supply. The glucose in the blood can't quite keep up, though, and after awhile the glycogen is gone also. At that point muscles switch over to burning fat.
According to this idea, you need to exercise for a minimum of 12 minutes for your muscles to switch to fat burning. And, you can't let your heart rate go too high or too low--you need to be working enough to stay in fat burning but not so much that you aren't getting enough oxygen.
Ideas aside, I think any exercise is better than no exercise. I'd suggest, though, that you combine a couple of those sessions into one 20 minute session.
Onederchic , 11-05-2010 03:46 PM
mandalinn82 , 11-05-2010 03:54 PM
findingfawn , 11-05-2010 04:23 PM
