Workouts in the cold help burn fat

The cold and snow aren’t exactly motivators when it comes to outdoor exercise. But if you’re aiming to shed some fat, it’s exactly what you should be doing. At least that's what a study, which was published in the «Journal of Applied Physiology» and carried out by Stephanie Munten and her team of Laurentian University, suggests. However, the study was conducted with just eleven averagely fit but overweight subjects.

The participants carried out a series of high-intensity interval training sessions on a bike at different temperatures. At zero degrees Celsius, fat burning increased more than threefold compared to the same exercise carried out at 21 degrees Celsius. This is true at least for acute strain, as Munten and Co. were able to determine through their measurements.

However, increased fat burning due to the cold is not a permanent effect. The group was served a high-fat breakfast the next morning, after which blood samples were taken to check insulin, glucose and triglyceride levels. The lipid oxidation rates obtained from this data no longer showed different values between the two groups that trained at different temperatures. In fact, after breakfast, blood sugar levels changed more favourably in the group that had exercised at 21 degrees Celsius.

In view of the small number of test subjects and the limited amount of training intervals, only tendencies can be read from the results so far and no general conclusions can be drawn. What is already a known fact is that interval training promotes fat loss. In addition, many athletes will probably confirm that training in the cold is more strenuous. If you want to exercise in the fresh air in winter, you should keep a few things in mind (article in German). One these things is a good warm-up, as sports physicians advise.

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