How Little Exercise Do We Really Need?
A February 15th New York Times article by Gretchen Reynolds claims that brief bursts of exercise can drastically improve your health. A Canadian study is cited as having substantial proof that high intensity interval training (HIIT) - or a routine involving one minute of strenuous effort, at about 90% of a person's maximum heart rate (which can be estimated by subtracting your age from 220) followed by one minute of rest and repeated 10 times for a total of 20 minutes daily produced similar physiological changes in the study's participants that multiple, hour long work out sessions did.
So, the "I don't have time" excuse - BUSTED.
The article goes on to note that the same scientists completed a "small" follow-up experiment involving people with full-blown Type 2 diabetes. They found that a single bout of the 1-minute, hard, 1-minute easy HIIT training, repeated 10 times, improved blood sugar regulation throughout the following day, especially after meals.
We know the benefits of exercise and understand that health and fitness are intermingled, but we're expert at making excuses. Encouraging lunch time high-intensity challenges, or beefing up your gym membership discount benefit, or introducing HIIT programs in the corporate fitness center are great ideas that are an exciting start.