Orange Theory Has No Magic Weight Loss Secret
If you’re the type to spend every Saturday with Lululemon stretched out in your ass and a bottle of Smartwater® within your reach, you’ve probably heard of Orangetheory Fitness. The Florida franchise, known for the orange lighting of its high-tech training grounds, is becoming more popular than the Soulcycle. The company opened 700 points of sale, more than doubling since the end of 2015 . Part of its merit is the claim that the workouts are designed so that participants continue to burn calories after they shower and go home. The Orangetheory site invites users to “Work in 1 hour. Burn for 36 “.
Orangetheory coaches drive participants to madness at multiple training stations, including treadmills, rowing machines, and gyms. Each person in the classroom wears a heart rate monitor, and their names and heart rates are displayed on TV screens in equipped centers throughout the class. Participants earn points through a system that measures how many minutes in an hour-long workout they endure when their heart beats between 84 and 100 percent of their maximum heart rate.
There is nothing wrong with Orangetheory training, and if you enjoy the experience, this is a great way to train. But if you are drawn to them because of the calorie burning theory , there are a few things you should know.
Their “theory” is the EPOC factor
The theory behind Orangetheory is the benefit of excess post-workout oxygen consumption (EPOC), also called post-workout oxygen consumption. To replenish itself after strenuous exercise that increases your heart rate, your body breaks down fat long after you’re done.
“This fuel requires oxygen to burn,” says Martin Gibala , professor and chair of kinesiology at McMaster University in Ontario, “so there is a direct link between using oxygen and burning calories.” Gibala conducted experiments that tested the burning of calories during high-intensity exercise.
When you are irritated to catch your breath after a run, this body gets the resources to burn calories. In some cases, the body continues to burn calories for recovery for several hours. Scientists can measure this effect by forcing subjects to breathe into a tube to see how much additional oxygen they are getting. More oxygen means that while the body appears to be at rest, the body is still breaking down fat to recover from a Rocky- like erection workout.
But EPOC doesn’t burn much more calories.
Physiologists have been observing the effect of EPOC since the early 20th century . However, research has not shown that high-intensity interval exercise – such as that unlocks the power of EPOC – has a significant weight loss advantage over continuous cardio.
“Personal trainers often talk about afterburning, and this is often exaggerated,” Gibala says. (Orangetheory did not respond to an email asking a researcher or consultant to discuss her claims.)
Male long distance runners tested this idea in a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in 1997. Some ran constantly on the treadmill, while others ran at maximum speed in intervals and then took a break and increased the speed again, allowing the EPOC effect. Runners with more intense routines used more oxygen, but it was barely enough to affect metabolism or weight loss. The study concluded: “Thus, the main contribution of both [running] types to weight loss comes from the energy expended during the exercise itself.”
A 2006 review of all available studies by Australian physiologists argues that “the previous research optimism about the important role of EPOC in weight loss is generally unfounded.” Researchers agreed that almost all of the calories burned during exercise are burned during actual exercise, not during afterburn.
So what happens when you add workout and burnout? The Gibala department at McMaster University oversaw a 2014 study that attempted to measure the benefits of EPOC. Researchers put cyclists together and put them on similar diets and activity regimes before and after training, considering other factors that affect their metabolism. One group performed a 20-minute high-intensity interval training program in which they aimed to maintain their heart rate at or about 90 percent of their maximum heart rate. Another group cycled at a more moderate pace for 50 minutes. Within 24 hours, the two groups consumed approximately the same amount of oxygen.
This does not mean that they burned the same number of calories per minute. Of course, pedaling like crazy burns more calories than pedaling more leisurely. In a McMaster study, those who pedaled at near their maximum heart rate burned 3368 calories in 20 minutes, while those who just pedaled moderately burned 3464 calories in 50 minutes. That’s roughly double the calories per minute.
So yes, exercising more intensely for shorter periods of time is more effective, but shaking like a graffiti marker chased by cops for 20 minutes requires about the same calories as a 50-minute aerobics lesson, and almost all of those calories are burned. during exercise, not through EPOC. So if 50 minutes of continuous exercise seems more enjoyable and doable, the benefits are about the same.
You may be better off eating better and exercising in moderation.
Intensity Factor is the reason EPOC doesn’t help most gym goers. “You have to be an athlete who works out every day or a fitness instructor for that to matter,” says Christopher B. Scott, professor of exercise, health and sports at Southern Maine University who has studied EPOC. … “Simply put, you really need to exercise a lot to get the afterburning effect. I would say that most people take wishful thinking. “
Gibala adds that in talking about how exercise burns calories, it is missing the notion that changes in eating habits perform better than changes in physical activity. “Diet is a major factor in weight loss,” he says. “The potential for weight loss is moderate with dietary changes. Exercise is mainly for cardiovascular health. ”