July 22, 2019 • Fitness
Just One Minute of Exercise Works
Rejoice! Just a single minute of intense movement results in health benefits on par with much, much longer periods of continuous exercise. That was the conclusion of a report that is fantastic news for the millions of Americans who claim they “do not have enough time to exercise.”
For this evaluation scientists assigned 27 sedentary men to one of three protocols: 50 minutes of continuous cycling at a moderate pace three times a week; 10 minutes of sprint cycling three times a week to include a 2 minute warm up followed by three 20-second all-out sprints with 2 minutes of easy cycling between each sprint and then a 3-minute cool down; and no exercise .
Before and after the study the scientists measured a host of key health markers, including cardiorespiratory fitness and metabolic function, in all study subjects. The results were eye-popping. Despite the fact that they exercised for only a fraction (1/5th!) of the time relative to the continuous cycling group, those in the sprint cycling group improved their health markers to the same degree. The lead researcher commented, “Brief bursts of intense movement are remarkably effective.”
For those of you like me that suffer from time famine, note that these results can be translated into any form of exercise or day to day movement. The key is to go really hard for very small bits here and there. Running or bounding up steps that you encounter vs. walking up them would be a super-efficient way to build this great news into your day to day living.
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