I was recently contacted by a client I trained a few years back who said she’s been doing steady-state aerobic exercise everyday for 40 minutes (skating along the bike trail by the beach) and that she’s beginning to gain weight.
How could this be since aerobic exercise burns calories? Athlete/scientist, Art De Vany theorizes that too much aerobic exercise increases stress hormones, which leads to overeating, and decreases the hormone which tells your body to burn fat and build muscle: growth hormone.
High volume aerobic training also converts your fast twitch muscle fibers into intermediate and slow twitch muscle fibers. And, it decreases your total muscle mass, which slows down your metabolic rate, so you expend less energy, at rest.
Obviously, it takes a while for this to happen. And you’d certainly burn some fat in the beginning. But if fat loss is your goal, a fitness program that includes both interval training and weight lifting would be so much more effective.
I’d love to hear your comments…