Tuesday
Sep302008
Ask the Experts: Hal Higdon on energy expenditure
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 2:43PM
Many qualified experts on training and nutrition use TrainingPeaks to help manage their business. Now, a select few are offering professional training and nutrition advice on our blog. Read on to learn what Hal Higdon has to say about energy expenditure, and submit a question of your own below!
Double Your Pleasure
Running more miles does not mean you burn more calories
By Hal Higdon
Author, Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide
Double your training mileage, add some cross-training biking or swimming, and you should be able to double your calorie burn and lose weight, right?
Not always true, insists Christopher Melby, DrPH, a professor of nutrition at Colorado State University. The average runner who weighs 150 pounds does burn about 100 calories for every mile run. Run five miles and you burn 500 calories; double the mileage by running a second workout and you burn another 500 calories for a total of 1,000 calories that day. That much is true.
But your running probably has occupied less than two hours of your day. What you do the other 22 hours also counts. Fatigue, suggests Dr. Melby, may cause you to eliminate what might be called "background" activities during other parts of the day that previously burned some calories. "You might be less likely to walk the dog, if you're tired from too much exercise," he says.
A study at the University of Vermont of elderly individuals who began an exercise training program determined that their total energy expenditure (as measured on a 24-hour basis) did not increase. Researchers Michael Goran, PhD and Eric Poehlman, PhD blamed this on "a compensatory decline in physical activity during the remainder of the day."
Yet other studies suggest that somewhat fitter individuals can increase calorie burn with moderate increases in training. Getting in shape offers an energy boost throughout the day. "It depends on your fitness level," explains Dr. Melby, "and whether you are training or over-training. Those who over-train are the ones most likely to suffer a compensatory decline."
So if you're not getting full value from your calorie burn, it may be because you're doing too much, not too little.
About the author: Hal Higdon is a Contributing Editor with Runner’s World and a consultant for TrainingPeaks. Visit his Web site at: www.halhigdon.com.
Ask a question of your own! If you have a question for the experts, submit it here either by emailing asktheexperts@peaksware.com or by posting it on our message boards. Your question could be featured in our next blog!
Double Your PleasureRunning more miles does not mean you burn more calories
By Hal Higdon
Author, Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide
Double your training mileage, add some cross-training biking or swimming, and you should be able to double your calorie burn and lose weight, right?
Not always true, insists Christopher Melby, DrPH, a professor of nutrition at Colorado State University. The average runner who weighs 150 pounds does burn about 100 calories for every mile run. Run five miles and you burn 500 calories; double the mileage by running a second workout and you burn another 500 calories for a total of 1,000 calories that day. That much is true.
But your running probably has occupied less than two hours of your day. What you do the other 22 hours also counts. Fatigue, suggests Dr. Melby, may cause you to eliminate what might be called "background" activities during other parts of the day that previously burned some calories. "You might be less likely to walk the dog, if you're tired from too much exercise," he says.
A study at the University of Vermont of elderly individuals who began an exercise training program determined that their total energy expenditure (as measured on a 24-hour basis) did not increase. Researchers Michael Goran, PhD and Eric Poehlman, PhD blamed this on "a compensatory decline in physical activity during the remainder of the day."
Yet other studies suggest that somewhat fitter individuals can increase calorie burn with moderate increases in training. Getting in shape offers an energy boost throughout the day. "It depends on your fitness level," explains Dr. Melby, "and whether you are training or over-training. Those who over-train are the ones most likely to suffer a compensatory decline."
So if you're not getting full value from your calorie burn, it may be because you're doing too much, not too little.
About the author: Hal Higdon is a Contributing Editor with Runner’s World and a consultant for TrainingPeaks. Visit his Web site at: www.halhigdon.com.
Ask a question of your own! If you have a question for the experts, submit it here either by emailing asktheexperts@peaksware.com or by posting it on our message boards. Your question could be featured in our next blog!
Reader Comments (1)
I just ran my first 1/2 marathon 11/16/08, and need some help on how to RECOVER train. I would like to run another 1/2 marathon on 2/15/09. I need to know how long to down train and when it woudl be good to start training towards the Feb 1/2 marathon. Thank you.