Dr John Gray who is the author of 'Men are from Mars...' has a whole diet and excercise section on his website. He also has a book about it which is really interesting. There were a few snippets i was reading earlier which i though might be helpful to you guys so here goes...

"Repetitive, easy exercises stimulate fat burning, while most common forms of exercise stimulate sugar burning. When you finish an hour of exercise and you are not tired or out of breath and you could easily repeat the whole routine, you are in the fat-burning zone. If you are tired, you were burning sugar. If, after 20 minutes of exercise, you were to suddenly stop and needed to "catch your breath," you were in the sugar-burning zone - not the more desirable fat-burning zone.

By burning sugar, you get instant energy, but it eventually leaves you tired. It also makes your body more acidic rather than alkaline. The body is designed to burn fat for energy while the brain is designed to burn sugar. When muscles use up that sugar, less is available for the brain. The muscles are designed to burn fat but they have a back up system to burn sugar in emergencies, though it is unhealthy to do this often. Weight gain, low energy, anxiety, restlessness or the desire for sugar are signs that your body is burning sugar instead of fat.

The purpose of exercise should not be to get the heartbeat up into the cardiac zone. The key for most people, and particularly if they are overweight or they are out of shape is to get just below this zone. Burning calories through exercise is only a small part of losing weight. The secret of effective exercise is to stimulate the metabolism to burn fat all day - while you are sitting at your desk or even while driving your car. When your exercise is fat-burning you tend to continue to burn fat for the rest of the day. When you push your heartbeat into the cardio zone, you train your body to burn sugar and not fat. In many cases, conventional exercise is counter-productive.

When we engage in sugar-burning exercise, the result is increased acid in the body. These acids from diet and exercise choices are then stored in the fat cells in our guts to protect our organs. Ultimately, no amount of exercise will get rid of this fat.

A variation of this exercise exists in almost every ancient indigenous culture. It is a simple bouncing movement. It is like standing up and using a jump rope without the rope and without lifting your feet or heels off the ground. This gentle up and down movement stimulates the lymphatic system. When done with rhythmic breathing, the increased oxygen helps to neutralize the acids as they are released from cells. As the body becomes less toxic, the fat cells automatically begin releasing fatty acids into the blood stream to be neutralized and released.

Besides balancing hormones by stimulating the glands, brain boosting by increasing the flow of cerebral spinal Fluid, and stimulating the lymphatic system through 15 different bounce and shake movements, the Isoflex exercises also include seven power moves that will tone and gradually increase muscle mass. To build muscle mass faster, try the slow burn method. You only need to work out about 20 minutes a week at the gym and then let your muscles rest for the rest of the week. Meanwhile every day do about 45 minutes of the Isoflex movements and you will be rewarded with better relationships, increased energy, unconditional happiness and lasting romantic feelings.

Sorry, there's credit to that theory but you get out of exercise what you put into it, like anything in life.

Sure, you a greater proportion of fat taking it easier and keeping it in that fat burning zone. But you burn more fat in total by working harder becuase you burn way more calories.

And another thing happens, as you get fitter, you can work at a higher level whilst staying in your fat burning zone. I can run at 10km an hour and my heart rate stays under 130 and I can run like that for a whole hour. So I burn more like 700 calories in that hour by running 10k rather than about 400 by walking 6K, all staying nicely within my fat burning range. The effort pays off in the long run.

But of course, your prime goal is to burn fat, so a mixture of both types of exercise would be ideal work hard for short periods 3 days a week and maybe take 3 days of long, slow easy exercise like walking. Best of both worlds then.

Its entirely true that if you work hard, you train your body to use fuels other than fat - that's why people training for marathons for example do a mix of speed/hill work and long, slow paced runs. You need both. Whilst the human body is primarily an aerobic machine, it is designed to work easy AND hard, it is not unhealthy to work hard enough to move out of your fat burning range, and it doesnt cause sugar cravings or the need for a gazillion Protein supplements either. But if you dont work hard, then your fitness isnt going to increase that much, your calorie usage will never be optimal and your weight will probably plateau out.

And it is pretty much unrefuted that much harder work (such as interval training) will have a far far greater afterburn, having you burning calories at a much higher rate all day than slower exercise, where as soon as you stop, your body returns to normal.

You only have to look at the evidence in front of your eyes - the fittest looking, slimmest people are the ones who work harder, nobody ever got ultra fit and cut from strolling round the block. As staged as a show like The Biggest Loser is, look at what they're doing, look at the trainers. They're well into their cardiac heart rates most of the time they're working.

Its not to say ANY exercise is not beneficial, and its not to say that if easier exercise is easier to stick with then its a better choice, but those theories are just not entirely accurate.

To build muscle mass faster, try the slow burn method. You only need to work out about 20 minutes a week at the gym and then let your muscles rest for the rest of the week.

Hi all - I am Fred Hahn, the author of [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Burn-Fitness-Revolution-Exercise/dp/0767913868/sr=8-1/qid=1162230694/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-7537761-6150319?ie=UTF8&s=books]The Slow Burn Fitness book[/ame] and I'm tickled pink that Dr. Gray endorses my system! So nice to have found this on this forum.

If anyone has any specific questions on Slow Burn, feel free to email me at FHahn@seriousstrength.com. No charge of course.

In strength for health,

Fred

At the end of the day for fat burning - get your nutrition in order first.

No matter how good is a workout, you can't outrun a BAD diet.

Once nutrition is order, use a combination of interval training and resistance training - short, sharp and effective - which Mike Geary discusses in The Truth About Six Pack Abs

I think its also important to have your goals clearly focussed here too.

If you're really intense about it all and want an EXCELLENT result and will not settle for any less than looking like Gillian from The Biggest Loser, then you do need to seek out these nutritional and exercise theories.

If, like me, you just wanted to be thinner, you like a fairly feminine body without big muscle development (although you need adequate muscle and not too much fat) and you found something you loved, then you CAN discount them and go about your own merry way, going for a run every day like you love to do. I dont want six pack abs and bulging biceps so I really dont give a rats about reading how the way I like to exercise is a waste of time. It worked for me and continues to.

I dont really care that I could burn more fat in 20 minutes by doing something different because I love the process of an hour long run. I dont WANT to cut my exercise time short.

So its individual really. All the theories have their merits depending on your goals.

Everyones body is different, in 2006 i did 5 hours a day of work out 3 times a week weights and lost 50kg (which is 110 pounds) then in 2007 i put on 14 kilos (30 pounds) and now with my lap band in i lost 15 kilos (34 pounds) and im thinking of going back into the crazy excerise mode for a while untill i stop loosing as much weight (still need to loose another 50kilos which is another 110 pounds) and change my eating and excerise around... really it depends on your body.

Jacqui, as much as I would love to have one of our usual disagreements about whatever it is we feel like, I'm with you 100% on this one. haha. =)

The only thing I would like to add to this one is that that extra effort during the cardio is going to help your heart and lungs, as well. Don't get me wrong, if someone wants to do the easier fat-burning workout, go to town and have fun, but if you want to increase your overall health, I would bump it up a smidgen.

Wow, wonders will never cease, lol!