Why does aerobic exercise need to last more than 20 minutes to be effective?

Anyone who is used to doing aerobic exercise knows that aerobic exercise must last for more than 20 minutes to be effective. But why “20 minutes”? A well-known Japanese fitness coach explained that the human body's energy comes from fat and sugar (carbohydrates). When exercising, a large amount of sugar will be consumed at the beginning, and then the fat will slowly begin to burn. "20 minutes" is the time when the body switches to burning a large amount of fat.

In addition, when doing aerobic exercise, it is not the time but the "load" that affects fat burning. Aerobic exercise with high load (making you breathless) mainly consumes carbohydrates, while aerobic exercise with low load (slightly increasing your breathing rate and allowing you to talk to others) consumes fat.

10 minutes of aerobic exercise can burn fat

It is recommended that just 10 minutes of aerobic exercise can achieve the effect of burning fat. Even if you exercise for 5 minutes, take a break, and then exercise for another 5 minutes, you can still achieve the effects of 10 minutes of exercise.

As for what type of aerobic exercise is effective in reducing fat? In his book "The Lower Body Determines the Rest of Your Life", the well-known Japanese fitness coach Nakano James Xiu proposed that high-efficiency aerobic exercise is "brisk walking". Just slightly changing the way you walk can achieve a more effective fat-shedding effect than running.

7-8 km/h is the easiest running speed

Why "walk" instead of "run"? It turns out that the speed limit between "walking" and "running" is 8 kilometers per hour. Taking the treadmill as an example, if you start walking at 5 kilometers per hour and slowly increase the speed, there is no problem at the beginning, but when the speed exceeds 7 kilometers per hour, you will find that this is the limit of walking and running is easier.

Whenever a jogging beginner asks me about the running speed, my answer is: "7 to 8 kilometers per hour." Although everyone's condition is different, basically this is the running speed that is the least taxing and most comfortable for the human body.

Brisk walking burns more calories than running

"7 kilometers per hour" is the upper limit of the average person's walking speed. It is the running speed that is least taxing and most comfortable for the human body. However, the amazing thing is that running at this speed will actually reduce calorie consumption. In other words, under the premise of "7 kilometers per hour", "walking" can burn more calories than "running".

Practice the "brisk walking method", walk with big strides and back straight, maintaining a speed that allows you to breathe slightly. In this way, even without running, you can achieve similar effects to aerobic exercises such as jogging, and even burn more calories than running!