With gyms being closed atm due to covid-19 and gym equipment being like gold, the amount of people who are are out and about running has certainly increased.
Don't get me wrong, the fact people are out moving is a great thing, BUT long term is running everyday really doing you any good or could you be getting better results from walking + lifting weights when gyms re-open?!!
Well lets go into it...
Our daily energy expenditure is broken up as below:
BMR- Basal metabolic rate 70%
NEAT- non exercise activity - 15%
TEF- thermic effect of food- 10%
EAT- exercise activity - 5%
So as you can see 2 main takeaways from this is:
1: Our BMR makes up for a big amount of our daily expenditure. Factors involved in this is age, bodyweight, height, organs including muscle. With muscle being a important factor for longevity as it is a protective organ while also playing a important role for energy expenditure, it makes sense for us to have more of it.
2: On the other end of the scale EAT is very minimal meaning we don't actually burn many calories while we train.
It is actually the after affect of training which is the important part and doing resistance style training i.e. lifting heavy ass weights has us burning copious amounts more calories in 24-48 hr period after a session while running you will only burn calories during the session.
With muscle also requiring more oxygen, naturally if running more your body will look to rid you of your muscle mass as it is heavy and to run requires you to be lighter... (compare a sprinter to a marathon runner).
Sooooo ... what's the take away from this?
Instead of focusing on running to lose weight, focus on lifting weights, walking everyday to increase your NEAT and dial in your nutrition.
Need more help, we are the performance experts so feel free to reach out !!
Coach Luke