It's actually not as much as you would think. EPOC, in general you're looking at burning about an additional 100 kcals post exercise. Not all that much. Everyone is different of course. Realistically though exercise is an inefficient way of reducing calories. Just don't eat the donut lol. Much easier saving 500 kcals from food versus trying to burn 500 kcals through exercise.
That is straight to the point. It's much easier/takes less time to build muscle when you don't have so much to burn off to begin with. But then again, I like donuts. LOL
I was only responding to your comment: But, yeah, I know the high cost of junk food, so I don't touch the stuff. Well, almost never. I haven't had a donut in years, but I did have the tail end of a buttery croissant as recently as last weekend.
September thru December I add some insulation to my body lol. I enjoy myself too much through the holidays so it's sort of my time not to be too crazy with my nutrition. I generally eat healthy but don't track anything specific as far as quantities go and "cheat" whenever I feel like it within reason. Come January I get a bit cleaner and then as it gets warmer out I tighten it up a whole lot. However with that said, every Sunday is a cheat day (I'm Italian lol).
Interesting stuff in that article regarding lactic acid as well. The problem I have with it is he talks about when aerobic exercise gets more intense the anaerobic pathways need to step in to provide more energy which produces lactic acid. I suppose he's talking about training near ones anaerobic threshold? This again is far different than doing strength training on a leg press machine. The blood lactate levels would be different in those two training modalities. Also in order for anerobic metabolism to "kick in" nearing anaerobic threshold you must first get into the oxidative pathway. Now that typically happens within the first fews mins of cardiovascular activity. First 30 secs of any activity ATP is the primary energy pathway, followed by glycolysis generally up to 2 to 3 minutes, then oxidation. I can't see how doing sets of leg press is the same as training near anaerobic threshold. I'll read more. Also lactic acid is always being produced not just near that anerobic threshold point as lactic acid is just a by product of a muscle contraction.
Clearly you know far more about this stuff than I do. I'm afraid you'll have to duke it out with McGuff.
The biggest thing is, if you can train at high intensity than you should as it saves time, and yes it does produce similar (general) health benefits. If you play a sport, like you said, then that's different. Do you think you'd have the ability to run 3 miles without stopping if you had to? Taking out the fight/flight response. For me I like having "things" on my fitness tool belt. I'd like to be able to do hard sprint intervals and be able to hold a decent pace for a decent distance. Be able to burpee, box jump, muscle up, deadlift close to 3x my body weight etc. Makes me feel "ready". For what, probably nothing but I like the way it feels/confidence to be able to "do shit" lol.
I mean he's not incorrect in what he's saying I just don't think he's using whatever data he has 100% correct. I mean if he's talking doing 1000 leg press reps with a light weight, of course there's going to be a boat load of lactic acid produced (hence the burn). I mean how many bodyweight squats, in comparison, would biking equal if you think about it. If both knees extend on one full revolution on an upright bike applied against some sort of resistance, does that equal one lighter weight squat or leg press? Ya know?
Why? Because of joint issues or because of stamina/cardiovascular, I'll say "weakness"? Or maybe not being "in shape" to do so? Hmm that sounds bad but I don't mean that in an offensive way. Just asking based on what mcguff seems to be saying and according to him should you be able to based on the intensity of other training methods? Or is this more just about having a lower HR, blood pressure and all that jazz and any type of "distance running or steady state running" should be avoid altogether unless you're an athlete? Since you can obtain general health benefits without "steady state cardio".