Short VS Long Workouts: Which gives you the results?

What if we told you that there is a sweet spot where your fitness routine can settle in comfortably, and all you need is 45 minutes at a time?

Science shows that the effectiveness of a workout isn’t determined by how long it lasts, but by how intentionally programmed each segment is according to your fitness goals.

Boost metabolism, burn more calories

Short workouts are not just a timesaver. Shorter workouts are more intense as you’re packing more in a short amount of time. You’ll boost your metabolism, experience improved insulin sensitivity and enhanced muscle efficiency. You may also burn more calories with the afterburn effect. During your short, more intense workouts, you may use stored glycogen (sugar in your cells) resulting in a metabolic deficit. After your workout ends, a physiological process referred to as EPOC (Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption) occurs - where your body will expend more energy (or burn more calories) just to make up for the deficit to return to its pre-exercise condition. This is not present in longer workouts.

What about that sweet spot for your workouts?

Over the years, Barre Signature at Lab Studios has evolved from a technical ballet-inspired workout to a dynamic, high-intensity yet low-impact full-body music-driven session. Our team of teachers have tried and tested multiple workout modalities, different programming and sequencing to continuously improve the efficiency of our workouts to suit our Lab clients’ needs.

Breaking down the science behind Barre Signature

1. An intentional warm-up that literally warms you up faster!

In the previous programming, Barre Signature would start with a 7.5 minutes standard warm-up to slowly and gradually awaken the muscles and mobility. The warm-up would include all planes of movement for the spine, including flexion, extension, lateral flexion and rotation. As lower body is a major focus in our Barre workouts, we also intentionally move our legs through parallel and externally rotated positions - think Lunge and Second positions - to prepare our bodies for the rest of the workout.

What we’ve learnt is that we can still warm-up our bodies through all planes of movement but in a shorter amount of time. In fact, this results in an increase in heart rate earlier and more functional agility - combining balance, coordination with a certain level of speed when changing positions or directions (think Kneeling side stretch to Hip stretch and Lunge to Wide Second).

The new Barre Signature warm-up will still feature all the key movements necessary for an all-rounded warm-up but in a shorter time to focus on bigger movements, agility and to increase the heart rate to prepare your body for your main workout.

2. The same main workout burn and intensity

The main workout segment is where the magic happens. We know it’s the reason you keep coming back week after week! We’re keeping these segments the same. You’ll get a full 10 minutes of dynamic upper body and lower body combination movements with our signature layering and flow that you love. 

Your favourite booty and thigh burners will still take up a big chunk of the class at 20 minutes, incorporating creative and seamless transitions to ensure your heart rate remains high and you build endurance, strength and stamina. 

The updated dedicated core segment will be a juicy 8 minutes for you to achieve the best muscle fatigue. Think shorter, higher intensity core workouts that will leave you feeling sore and satisfied (abs might be included)!

3. A streamlined cooldown segment that frees you up for your other schedules

At this point, a cooldown is much needed to re-center everyone again. However, from years of class experience, halfway through the cooldown is exactly where we find many clients are actually looking to check their phones, leave the studio, or even just zone out on their own. So we’ve streamlined our cooldown from 7.5 minutes to 3.5 minutes, and now sequencing active stretches that can effectively stretch more than 1 target area at the same time (e.g. a triceps stretch together with a low lunge hip stretch) thus saving time and still achieving the same outcome.

More efficient workouts, more consistent routine

So it’s evident that while the class time is shorter on paper, what you’re receiving is the same full benefit in a more efficient format — plus 10 minutes back to your day. It’s not time lost, but time gained. Research has shown that time and convenience is one of the biggest factors that determine whether people fall off their fitness routine and schedule. At Lab, we want to help you achieve your fitness goals. We know consistency matters, so we’re making it a little easier for you to stay consistent. The Health Promotion Board encourages 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week. Now with our revamped 45 minutes structure, you know you’re getting a full 45 minutes of moderate-intensity workout - as opposed to longer cooldown and slower warm-up in the past - making it easier to calculate your required fitness goals.