Moderate exercise can be just as beneficial: study

Ever felt like you were spinning your wheels when it came to exercise? Running countless times a week with no positive changes to your physique, other than that nagging joint pain?
Ever felt like taking it down a notch might be more beneficial for you in the long run?
Well, there’s reason to believe there is—and a study released by the Duke University Medical Center suggests just that.
The study involved 240 sedentary types who were divided into four groups over an eight-month period.
It found the group which performed moderate exercise (defined as any form of activity that requires 50-60 percent of your maximum heart rate) resulted in the biggest decrease in fat storage compared to the groups that performed higher intensity exercise (running on a treadmill or labouring away on an elliptical at upwards of 80-90 percent of their max heart rate).
The moderate cardio group also were found to have higher levels of good cholesterol—known as high-density lipoproteins—which help channel bad cholesterol to the liver, where they ultimately are removed from the body.
If you want to get the maximum benefits possible from moderate exercise, nutritionist Ken Hill, a strong advocate of moderate exercise, suggests you consider getting up early and doing cardio before you eat your first meal.
“When the intensity is moderate, the fat-burning effects are attained without the added stress on the nervous system and the primary fuel source is body fat instead of glycogen,” the seasoned veteran of dietary practices said from his home in Colorado.
“Early in the morning before you eat, your levels of muscle and liver glycogen [stored carbohydrates] are especially low because your body has been fasting overnight.
“As a result, you wake up in the morning with depleted glycogen and lower blood sugar, which is the optimum environment for burning fat instead of carbohydrates,” he explained.
Essentially, carbohydrates are your body’s primary and preferred energy source, but when they are in short supply, your body taps into its secondary or reserve energy source, which is body fat.
It’s important to monitor your heart rate during morning fasted exercise and stay in that 60 percent range, Hill said, because too much intensity will force your body to tap into a more readily-available energy source to deal with the heavy load when carbohydrates aren’t present—and that’s your lean body mass.
“You should be getting a light sweat going and accelerated breathing, but you shouldn’t be at the point where you can’t string a sentence together and your breathing is laboured,” Hill stressed.
A quick and easy way to calculate your maximum heart rate is the formula 220 minus your age. So at 30 years old, for example, 60 percent of your max would be 114 beats per minute.
A stationary bike ride or a brisk walk on an incline treadmill will do the job, or simply stroll around the neighbourhood—just don’t make it too leisurely.