Running and Jogging – Which is more Effective?

Article by Gen Wright

Trying to lose weight with leisure jogging? Perhaps you have been jogging everyday but you notice that it’s not really effective. You don’t see your waist line trimming down, and you don’t feel that your health is improving. Yet, you see images of healthy people jogging on TV and in the newspapers. So you think it must be right – jogging works.

Unfortunately, jogging sounds like a really nice thing to do only on national television. If a nation is promoting a healthy lifestyle, jogging seems appropriate because it’s an exercise that everyone can get involved in. But the true fitness experts know better.

If you really have been jogging faithfully, then you know the truth as well. Jogging doesn’t really work if you are trying to lose weight. Of course, if you jog for 3 hours a day, you will burn enough calories to lose weight. But unfortunately, the average person doesn’t jog 3 hours every session. In fact, most people just jog between 15 to 20 mins for each session. That is way too short a duration for the session to be effective.

If you really want to lose weight, then you have to consider interval training. Interval training is much more effective because of the intensity of the exercise. When you sprint, even if it’s just for 10 to 20 secs, you burn more calories within the same duration.

A study has shown that interval training is effective in helping people lose fat. Two groups are asked to perform specific exercises for a period of 6 weeks, 3 times a week. The first group was asked to engage in interval training, while the second group was asked to engage in jogging. After 6 weeks, it was found that the second group achieved almost zero results! The first group did manage to trim down the waist, and there are visible results.

The findings are not surprising. This is the reason why you don’t see very fit people jogging 6 days a week. That’s because they spend most of their time doing interval training or they are hitting the gym to build strength!

To improve overall fitness is the only way to maintain a healthy body for the long term. And to achieve overall fitness, you have to work on your metabolism. Exercises with intensity will help boost your metabolism. That’s why sprinting works.

In fact, interval training is the preferred training method used by many weight loss experts. They have seen the results for themselves, and they are firm believers that interval training works. There is no need to engage in slow moving cardio exercises. Replace those exercises with interval training and feel the difference.

You can perform interval training both indoors or outdoors. If you can’t hit the running tracks, just perform running exercises indoors. Lift your knees to chest level as you run and go through the running motion. Do that for about 60 seconds, then rest for 20 seconds. Repeat for 8 to 10 sets. That’s a good replacement for outdoors interval training.

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