Can a 10-15min workout really be effective?
At StoneAgeFuel we have a unique approach to programming workouts for classes. Everyday we have a strength component lasting about 10min and a workout component lasting anywhere from 8-15min. Is this approach a long enough period of time to get fit and attain your goals? Or do you need to run and find the nearest cardio kickboxing or “functional movement” class to get beat down for a solid hour by someone obviously important, indicated by the letters after their name and given to them from an important online personal training certification with a really big book required.
The strength component is not done in a timed setting and is focused on getting a certain amount of reps in based on a given percentage for an optimal number of reps for that percentage. Beginners follow a linear progression and add weight each week. The strength generally lasts about 10min. Because this is a slower effort and more focused on strength and not metabolic conditioning the main item being burned is fat and the cool thing about this is that even when you finish the entire workout you will keep burning fat as your exercise post oxygen consumption is much higher with strength training for a period of up to 36 hours!
The workout component or the WOD comes next and is done at a much higher pace. With the higher pace comes a couple different pathways that are utilized for energy. First you will dip into an anaerobic modality for most of the workout, then you will move more into aerobic glycolysis as you get beyond the 15min mark. During both these times you will be burning off stored carbohydrates. This creates a double whammy of awesomeness during the entire workout as you will be burning both fat and carbohydrates thus effectively creating a strength building, fat burning machine!
Why don’t we do workouts beyond the 20min mark? We don’t do these, because it tends to drive us into a pathway that severely stresses the body and causes injuries and overtraining issues to accumulate. Repeated doses of these workouts can make us sicker more often and lead to increased lethargy and decreased athletic performance. This is the reason why so many marathon runners look frail and sickly.
