Jogging Question-Is this true?

Munstergirl854

Recently picked up jogging on the treadmill and did 3km in 34 minutes...pretty slow in the grand scheme of things but I was chatting with someone who said speed really doesnt matter...as long as you're moving your body and breaking a sweat you're burning calories...would you agree?

The HorsesMouth

Yes and no. It depends on your fitness level and overall ability to burn fat.

So for instance...someone who has a fairly good fitness level with an average BMI who jogged 3k in 34min would probably not burn alot of calories or break much of a sweat.

However if you are overweight maybe or haven't ran or jogged in a long time you would probably burn up the calories quicker as your body has to work harder.

Either way regardless of anything to do with weight loss, if you're breaking a sweat and feeling the exercise is tough then it's good for your body and will provide you with all the endorphins and good stuff that exercise does.

Black Sheep

"All exercise is beneficial" is true in a general sense, but not all exercise is of equal value, if we're talking about calories burned.

• Someone sitting on the sofa is actually burning calories.
• Someone walking on a treadmill is burning calories.
• Someone jogging on a treadmill is burning calories.

The more exertion, however, the more calories burned. If someone's goal is weight loss then yes, running that 3km in a progressively quicker time would be beneficial.

As alluded to by the poster above, there's an improved efficiency that happens with practice of any form of exercise, and that combined with improved fitness can mean a quicker time with the same or almost as much effort. But if the time is coming down that's probably the best indicator of effort. The amount you sweat, or even how you 'feel', is going to be a less relevant metric than this.

Pawwed Rig

Good for you Munstergirl. You have made a start and have built up a bit of distance. What are your goals? My suggestion to you is to get up to 5km and then move outdoors with at least a portion of your running. Parkrun sounds like the even for you where it will provide a social outlet and give you something to aim for while providing a set time and place which can help make your running habitual. No one there will be concerned with how fast or slow you do the run.

Treadmills are fine and I have done many many kilometres on them in my time but running in a crowd is where I always do my best and most enjoyable running.

If you're working up a good sweat you should be doing ok. If you're not sure if you're pushing yourself, try to increase the incline or the speed and see how you get on.

Black Sheep

Sweating just relates to regulation of body temperature, it's not a reliable indicator of exertion or calories burned.

Better off just sticking to time and distance travelled for now, and tracking with overall weight and perhaps waist measurements if we can be cheeky and assume weight loss is the goal.

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058229380/jogging-question-is-this-true

Er, yes I would agree. It's certainly better than doing noting.

But, never look at cardio as 'burning calories'. That's not what cardio is for.

Cardio is an exercise technique that is primarily to increase the strength of you heart and lungs. Which is VERY important to your overall health.

What I suggest is build up your endurance, i.e, how long you are able to run for before stopping. Your're currently on 34 minutes.

Then when you get to say an hour at your current speed, forget about going as long as possible but going faster, where you won't be able to run as long, so you go faster but back to only being able to do 30 minutes.

Then build up at that new faster pace to an hour again. It's all about progression.

If you have a weight issue, then fixing your diet is way more effective than cardio. Cardio gives you an extra 5 to 10% increase in weight loss but you must be doing your diet right first, i.e. you have to eat less, roughly down to 65% - 70% of the volume you do eat, depending on how much you overeat.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058229380/jogging-question-is-this-true

The calories you burn related to the distance you go, not the speed. 3km faster, will burn about the same.

Of course, running faster means you can cover more sooner.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118519733#Comment_118519733

Fitness makes very little difference.

Being fitter means you can run faster, for longer. But if you run the same page/distance as the less for person, you’ll burn largely the same. Despite not breaking a sweat.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118548848#Comment_118548848

Cardio can absolute be used to burn calories. Quite easily. There’s never w choice between cardio or diet.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118581024#Comment_118581024

Of course cardio can burn calories, but a 40 minute run might burn 300-400 calories, which might buy you the breakfast you eat. The other factor is, for me at least, that on the days I go to the gym I am significantly hungrier than usual. So there's that to contend with.

I would agree with the assertion that diet is king.

Mellor

Every one vary, but for me a 40 min run burns over 600 calories. Other may be the 300-400 range you suggested.

There’s nothing wrong with it burning only breakfast. 400-600 calories burned a day is literally the difference between losing weight at sustainable rate, and maintaining.

Of course diet is king. I did dispute that. You you’ll never out-train a bad diet. But that’s not what the post I quoted said. Saying cardio is never for burning energy is simply wrong. Movement burns energy, always.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118585124#Comment_118585124

How do you calculate 600 calories for a run? I'm open to the idea that my estimate is off.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118591784#Comment_118591784

I do about 8km in 40mins. A rough rule of thumb I use for running is weight (kg) x distance (km). Then subtract the energy I'd have burned on the sofa.

It's not a scientific formula, it's one I observed myself. But it holds pretty true to calculators based on the more complex formulas. The difference is not worth stressing about. If people are more powerwalking, they might be to check they're own values

https://keisan.casio.com/exec/system/1350959101

https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-running/

Black Sheep

Either way, whatever the specifics, I think you're right that on top of a deficit burning a few hundred calories several times a week won't do any harm for a weight loss goal.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118593157#Comment_118593157

I do 5km in the same time. That explains the difference. Thanks for the explanation!