Any form of exercise that can be performed continuously over a lengthy time period is not intense, and has a limiting effect on muscle mass, metabolism and hormone profiles, whilst simultaneously increasing the aerobic capacity, in order to cater to the duration. The muscle mass and metabolism (so by necessity hormone profile) will be the minimum required to do the work.
The higher the intensity the shorter the duration. This form has maximum effect on muscle mass, metabolism and hormone profile (anaerobic). The ideal is then to get the best of both worlds, which requires some understanding, thinking and unbiased observation.
Intense forms of exercise need to be approached particularly carefully, and eased into to avoid injury. Most people can safely lift light weights or perform cardio over reasonable distances, and mentally cope with the stresses produced. Hence the popularity of the cardio craze. High intensity lifting, or sprinting styles of training will soon injure an unprepared, untrained person, and is mentally extremely stressful. The type of mental focus required to correctly lift maximum weights in short time periods, or to correctly explode over short distances is different to less intense styles of training. Performing blocks of repeated maximum intensity effort is extremely stressful, especially mentally, which is why it produces extreme results, that is, extremely rapid adaptation of a type which also happens to promote extreme fat burning.
|