Science burns more calories than regular exercise at the gym!

Greetings!

Ready for some discussion? Here be a fair bit of external reading links. Lets discuss!

We’re all pretty aware of how companies “educate” us. We know that a hamburger won’t look exactly like the picture! But some things seem to make sense, or a very convincing…

Listening to wise-seeming companies, gyms for example, who say they want to look after us, can be problematic. Gyms, and the equipment they provide, themselves may not be as useful as their companies want us to think.

In 2009 Time Magazine published an article called “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin” Its a doozy, and a great, informative read. Maybe read it in 3 sittings.

Essentially what it is saying is exercise stimulates hunger. Which seems obvious, yes? The point is that the ratio of calories burned can quite easily equal the number consumed. And there you are back at square one. Except this time you’re tired, your will-power was used up at the gym, so you may move less than a non-gym day, you may eat worse.

The article also breaks down an interesting study. Its under the heading ‘The Compensation Problem.’ Which shows with groups of women that hard-core exercise at the gym is not intrinsically better than, say, not.   

Most of the women who exercised ate more than they did before they started the experiment. Or they compensated in another way, by moving around a lot less than usual after they got home.

What about cardio being good for the heart? Or muscle burning more calories than fat? Or gyms helping set up healthy lifestyles? Well. All exercise is good. The difference in calorie burning between fat and muscle equates to a teaspoon of butter. You can have a healty life without paying $$$, right?

Whoo wee! Good job reading and thinking about all that! The gist of it is, as I’m sure we’ve all come to learn from experience, that The Gym is not The Answer. Eating well and walking around is. Being happy is. If you like keeping score, remember when we talked about Fitocracy?

What are your feelings towrds gyms? Been going ages and not lost weight? Love them? Discuss!

Pro Tip: Fitocracy

Great news, buddies!

Video Game Dancing counts as a points-getting activity on Fitocracy!

Who isn’t pleased that you can play Dance Dance Revolution, or Biggest Looser, or Zumba, or anything that has jumping and get points for it!

Fitocracy, for those of you who don’t know, is a website where you make a fitness profile, log your workouts and get points for them to level up. Leveling up is great!

There is a Zombie Apocalypse group, a whole bunch of people from forums, weightlifting groups, any group you can imagine! The zombies will come. Prepare. 

Fitocracy is really inspiring and motivation. No matter what you do, you gain points. Consistency is just as good as improvement.

There are challenges issued to you by the site that you can achieve for bonus points. So there is always that extra reason to aim high or try new things like sports.

You can give props, get social awards, chat, discuss zombie plans. There is even a clear notifications button, which is more useful than I imagined. 

The only downside is that it is in beta, and is invite only. I’ll invite you if you ask! Or you can request one on the site.

Now lets go get FIT!