
A new study comes to the conclusion that you don't have to work out for very long at all to get big benefits.
A stunning new paper is claiming that just 1 minute of vigorous exercise three times per week can be just as beneficial as much longer periods of exercise.
Everyone knows that exercise is good for your health, but most people lack either the time or the inclination to set aside a half hour or an hour per day to get the results they want. But the new study claims that you don’t have to work out for very long at all to achieve results, according to a McMaster University statement.
Guidelines generally recommend about 150 mintues of moderate intensity exercise per week, but the Center for Disease Control and Prevention finds that less than half of American adults meet this criteria.
The study found that sprint interval training, which involves brief bursts of exercise, can have results that match much longer periods of training. A 10-minute training program recommended by the study includes just 60 seconds worth of “all-out” cycle sprints, along with 4 minutes of low-intensity cycling, 2 minutes of warm up, and 3 minutes of cool down.
They compared this workout with a moderate-intensity routine that included 50 minutes total, including 45 minutes of moderate cycling.
A total of 27 sedentary men were enrolled in the study, and split between routines. Scientists found that after 12 weeks, the groups had similar results.
“This is a very time-efficient workout strategy,” Martin Gibala, a professor of kinesiology at McMaster and lead author on the study, said in the statement. “Brief bursts of intense exercise are remarkably effective.”
He added: “Most people cite ‘lack of time’ as the main reason for not being active. Our study shows that an interval-based approach can be more efficient — you can get health and fitness benefits comparable to the traditional approach, in less time.”
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