A f itness class to burn 1,000 calories an hour? That’s a BIG FAT LIE
Posh does it, so does Kim Kardashian – but can their high-intensity training classes live up to the hype? Our expert tests them out... and they don’t even come close
IF YOU want to know where it all started, blame Barry. It has been almost eight years since the 52-year-old fitness instructor opened his game-changing Bootcamp in Los Angeles. His routine basically involves sprinting on a treadmill, then leaping off and furiously doing press-ups and lifting weights to ‘banging’ music, all the while being encouraged by gorgeously sculpted ‘enter-trainers’.
But, most eye-catching of all, they promised to torch an astonishing 1,000 calories in an hourlong class.
The celebrity set quickly bought into it. Victoria Beckham, once a fitness phobic, is a huge fan and Hollywood stars from Katie Holmes to Kim Kardashian are regulars. Barry’s studios are located all over the world, including in London.
And other firms have cottoned on to the trend, leading to an explosion of similar offerings – many of them making that same alluring claim to blast 1,000 calories per hour.
As a fitness blogger, I keep myself in shape by working out about five times a week, and I’ve done a few of these classes myself.
They’re exhausting and great fun. But I also had my suspicions. Could they really deliver the energy burn that is claimed?
Probably not, according to Dr James King, a lecturer in exercise physiology at Loughborough University. He says: ‘A premiership centre midfielder will run about 10k i n stop-start bursts in a 90-minute match and burn 800 calories or possibly a bit more.
‘A Tour de France contestant cycling uphill on the mountainous section will be burning about 1,000 calories an hour, so this gives you some idea of the effort required.’
Dr King, who specialises in studying the effects of exercise on health, says that many people are misled by claims that intense workouts will help them lose weight.
‘There’s a lot of talk about the benefits of High Intensity Training [HIT] at the moment, but these may not help you lose weight,’ he says.
‘HIT workouts are very effective at improving aerobic fitness and metabolic health, but the number of calories burned is not very high because they involve very short bursts of exertion followed by periods of rest.’
And here’s the catch. Dr King warns: ‘Often people believe they’ve had a tough workout so will reward themselves afterwards, believing they’ve burned many calories. They can end up actually putting on weight.’
To find out the truth, I decided to put some of the most popular classes to the test. To get the most accurate measurement of calories burned, I asked Paul Lamkin, editor-in-chief of sportswear technology website Wareable, to advise me on what data device would be most reliable. He recommended the Fitbit Charge HR for accuracy.
Some classes provide heart-rate monitors, but only one that has been calibrated to you through continuous use will be accurate. After every class, I quizzed each gym on what they thought about my results. I enjoyed all the workouts. But not one managed to get me even close to the high caloriebusting claims made.
Here’s how they measured up...
BARRY’S BOOTCAMP
SIGNATURE CLASS
CLAIM: Participants will burn up to 1,000 calories per one-hour session ACTUAL CALORIES BURNED: 457 EXPERIENCE: The signature workouts consist of 25 to 30 minutes of treadmill routines, including inclines, sprints and even ‘dynamic’ sections where you use your own momentum to move the treadmill – (and that’s tough); and 25 to 30 minutes of strength training using free weights, resistance bands, medicine balls and a step. Each day of the week focuses on different muscle groups.
The red lights in the dark room along with upbeat music make for a motivating session. Classes are fast and furious, and if you finish on the treadmill you go straight from sprinting into stretching without a proper cool-down. THEY SAY: ‘You can burn between 800 and 1,000 calories but naturally people can come in below that, as well as above. Calorie-burn is different for each individual dependent on weight, size, sex and muscle-to-fat ratio and exertion rate.’
VIRGIN ACTIVE
GRID LEAN CLASS
CLAIM: ‘The Grid is one of our highest calorie-burning classes and participants can expect to burn 500 calories (on average) per 30 minute class.’ ACTUAL CALORIES BURNED: 202 EXPERIENCE: Grid Lean is a series of exercises which you perform at maximum capacity for 20 seconds before resting for ten seconds and moving on to the next exercise. Once the series is complete, you do one exercise (like jumping) for a minute without rest. A recorded quiz show-type commentary counts down the time you have on each exercise with suitably energetic music accompanying it.
Exercises vary depending on the day, but expect squat jumps, spider push-ups, split squats, rowing and sprints on a curve treadmill. It’s a dynamic and quick full-body workout that left me sweaty but not exhausted. THEY SAY: ‘The trainer was gutted that your burn was so small and we wondered if you’d like to come back and be worked harder. Calorie- burn is dependent on the individual, as I’m sure you know.’
FITNESS FIRST
BEAT
CLAIM: The average calorie-burn is about 300 as it is a 30-minute class. This depends on the individual and the time they are working out in the 90 per cent maximum heart-rate range. ACTUAL CALORIES BURNED: 209 EXPERIENCE: A dynamic two-minute warm-up preludes some serious hard grafting, designed to get participants to reach 90 per cent of their maximum heart rate quickly.
There are a number of different exercise stations and you spend five minutes on each. You work out as intensely as possible at each station, which consists of two exercises, for example, ten box jumps and then a switch to a Versaclimber. On this you strap your feet into bicyclestyle pedals, hold on to handlebars above your head, and then sort of step as if you’re climbing stairs, while pumping your arms up and down. It’s an enjoyable, motivating and varied class requiring stamina, concentration and strength. THEY SAY: ‘If you hit the 90 per cent heart rate range every time, you must be quite fit and may not burn as many calories. We can modify exercises to ramp up the intensity.’
PROJECT FIT EXPRESS 35MIN CLASS
CLAIM: ‘In just one hour you can burn up to an incredible 1,000 calories. Interval training shocks the body and dramatically boosts the metabolic rate, forcing the body to draw out fat stores and use them for fuel. This aids weight loss, improves body tone, body shape and muscular endurance.’ ACTUAL CALORIES BURNED: 356 EXPERIENCE: Project Fit combines intense cardiovascular treadmill interval training with floor-based resistance exercises such as pushups, weighted lunges, squats with weights on a bosu ball and jump squats, in a dark studio with red lights. I left feeling I’d really worked my muscles – this was my favourite class out of the bunch. THEY SAY: ‘Calories burned is very dependent on work rate and body weight of the individual. I [Project Fit’s owner, Joel Hilton] have burned 700 calories in 35 minutes but I am pretty heavy. For your size and weight, to burn that amount of calories you must have worked damn hard!’
EDGE CYCLE BOOTCAMP
THE CLAIM: ‘Burn up to 1,000 calories a class.’ ACTUAL CALORIES BURNED: 274 EXPERIENCE: This has to be the ultimate feelgood class. Walk in to the darkened, disco-like studio and you’re greeted with pumping music. The class consists of 30 minutes on the bike and 15 minutes’ ‘bootcamp’ on the floor doing resistance moves including squats, lunges, push-ups and weights.
My class was divided into two – I was in team ‘spectacular’ (naturally) and the other was team ‘awesome’.
We took it in turns to sprint, then joined forces to pedal to the beat. THEY SAY: ‘If you went hard for the 30-minute spin with high level of resistance, we should be talking around 325 to 375 calories. In the bootcamp section, if you worked hard you’d expect to add at least another 150 potentially up to 250 depending on what exactly you were doing. Therefore, assuming you were working hard, we should be looking at 475 to 625 calories for the class in general. We are rather bemused by your low calorie count.’
SPEEDFLEX SPEED4LEX CLASS
THE CLAIM: Speedflex sessions will enable you to burn more calories than you ever thought possible in 45 minutes.’ ACTUAL CALORIES BURNED: 264 EXPERIENCE: The Speed4lex sessions are structured around fourminute circuits, with 20 seconds working at full pelt at each exercise station, followed by a ten-second rest, before moving on to the next exercise in the circuit.
Between each circuit you are allowed a calculated rest that gradually gets shorter as you near the last circuit. There are a variety of strength- and cardio-based exercises, using the unique Speedflex machines that automatically create resistance based on the force you put in. The class is dynamic, highintensity, low-impact, challenging and I really enjoyed it. THEY SAY: ‘The amount of calories you burnt is fantastic for someone of your build. Calories burned in general can vary massively depending on size and gender. Some 6ft males might easily burn 900 calories in this class, where slighter, smaller girls will burn around the amount you did.’