Intense Workouts – A Surprising Truth

Intense exercise sessions do not necessarily require high energy consumption. According to a recent study, the human body is able to adapt to any activity after a certain period of time.

Every day, thousands of people spend hours training at the gym. This fact is based on the following idea: the more intense the exercise sessions, the more calories we will burn.

Physical effort is really essential to keep us healthy and have a stable body weight. However, if we overwork ourselves, the exercise sessions will no longer have the expected effect.

At least that’s the conclusion of a recent study by Herman Ponzer, a researcher at New York University. According to this study, those who perform high-intensity exercise burn as many calories as people who opt for moderate-intensity exercise.

The results of the study were published in the journal Current Biology . Researchers who have done so claim that the energy that can be consumed during an exercise session has a limit. This limit does not increase with the intensity of the exercises.

Basically, the mentioned study is another proof of the incredible ability of the human body to adapt. Regardless of the energy lost when we move, it is able to maintain an optimal energy level.

The study

In the summer of 2010, researcher Herman Ponzer had the opportunity to study one of the last hunter-gatherer tribes in Africa: the Hazda tribe.

Ponzer’s goal was to discover new information about how this people consume energy. Hazda members walk about 9.6 km (6 miles) each day and use their physical abilities to perform all kinds of tasks.

Ponzer selected a group of 30 Hazda men and women and asked them to drink some water mixed with isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen. As soon as this mixture was administered, the researcher monitored the subjects’ urine to find out more about their energy consumption.

Adaptability to energy consumption

One of the assumptions Ponzer started with was that the subjects would burn a large number of calories during the day. After all, the Hazda population is much more active than the rest of the world, many of whom are virtually sedentary.

However, what Ponzer discovered was surprising. Specifically, members of the Hazda tribe burn, on average, as many calories as the rest of the world.

The reason is simple: the body of a member of the Hazda tribe is adapted to his lifestyle. The energy balance of this population is similar to that of urban dwellers.

The results of Ponzer’s research were originally published in 2012, in a publication called PLoS One . These findings served as a starting point for further study.

Energy consumption and obesity

The next study Ponzer conducted appeared in Current Biology . In it, the researcher questioned certain popular strategies to prevent obesity.

We are often told that in order to lose weight, intense exercise sessions are mandatory. The idea is to increase energy consumption. But many overweight or obese people feel on their own skin that this strategy does not always work.

Ponzer and the group of researchers he coordinates analyzed data from 300 men and women over the course of a week. They measured the level of physical activity and diet of the subjects.

The results of this research were very interesting. Initially, there is a close relationship between physical activity and the body’s energy consumption.

However, after the subject trains for a certain period of time or after the exercises he performs reach a certain intensity, his energy consumption stabilizes. As soon as these limits are reached, the number of calories that the subject can burn does not increase.

Ponzer also noted that the level of energy consumed is directly proportional to the body weight of the subjects.

What are the benefits of intense exercise sessions?

It would be wrong to remain with the impression that the study presented above calls into question the benefits of physical training. Here is what Ponzer says:

Ponzer did not want to create misunderstandings. He added that, at present, he does not have detailed information on the lifestyles of the study participants.

Ponzer also claims that moderate exercise (such as walking 2.5-5 km at a brisk pace) helps us lose weight. In other words, it is enough to dedicate a few minutes each day to the movement to achieve our goal.

Researchers plan to conduct a new study soon. Its objective will be to analyze the body’s reactions to increasing the level of physical activity. Specialists want to better understand how the human body manages to balance the amount of energy consumed.

To this end, researchers plan to study the body’s reactions to variations in activity. For example, they could analyze the subjects’ immune or reproductive systems to determine if they provide the key to understanding the processes that help the body adapt to increased physical demands.

Keep an eye out for what scientists are discovering about intense exercise sessions!