You already know that any movement you do gives your mood a big boost and makes a big difference in your weight loss efforts.
There's no shortage of ways to move your body but you may be wondering if your time is better spent walking or running?
Either one is good, but which one is better?
When it comes to only how many calories you burn per hour, running is the better workout. Your exact calorie burn depends on how much you weigh and how fast you run, but running expends more energy.
Want an idea of the difference in calorie burn between running and walking?
Consider these statistics for a person who weighs 155 lbs.:
Running 30 minutes at 5 miles per hour burns 298 calories
Running 30 minutes at 6 miles per hour burns 372 calories
Running 30 minutes at 7.5 miles per hour burns 465 calories
Walking 30 minutes at 3.5 miles per hour burns 149 calories
Walking 30 minutes at 4 miles per hour burns 167 calories
Walking 30 minutes at 4.5 miles per hour burns 186 calories
Though running clearly provides a greater impact on how many calories are burned, that doesn’t mean that doing it is easy.
Depending on your physical condition, running for 30 minutes (or longer) may be out of the question.
So, does that mean that you have to walk for more than an hour in order to get the same amount of impact?
The good news is there's another option.
It’s called High-Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT.
Studies have shown that by going back and forth between walking and running you can eliminate the need to run long distances and still get a big effect.
How does HIIT work?
A HIIT workout has you doing a hard workout for a very short period of time, then resting while still doing something active. That means that you get your heart rate way up, and then you recover and catch your breath, then do it again.
When you ask your body to push itself you create a brief oxygen shortage. When your body recovers, you take in more oxygen to make up for the loss.
The result is that you burn more fat.
Studies have shown that a HIIT workout can burn more calories in a shorter period of time as a result of the EPOC effect.
EPOC stands for “Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption.”
TweetThere are a lot of other advantages to doing a HIIT workout.
Besides a better fat burn, it also boosts your metabolism for as long as 48 hours after your workout. It takes less time than a regular workout and you don’t need any expensive equipment.
Still not convinced to try HIIT workouts?
Want to know the calorie burn that goes along with walking and running for that same 155-lb. person that I told you about at the top of this article?
? Running at 5 miles per hour for 5 minutes and then walking at 3.5 miles per hour for 5 minutes, for one hour burns 447 calories
If you're ready to harness the power of HIIT workouts then you should sign up to join my online personal training site so we can get our HIIT workouts on together. Not only will you get a new workout every day but you'll get so much more, including all my best healthy recipes, meditations and a TON of support inside my private Facebook group!
Yours in health and happiness,
Danette
P.S. Please share this with the walkers and runners in your life and I welcome your comments below! Which is your preference? Walking or running.
