Scientists Study How Little Exercise You Need 437
Hugh Pickens writes "Millions of Americans don't engage in much exercise, if they complete any at all and asked why, a majority of respondents, in survey after survey, say, 'I don't have time.' Now Gretchen Reynolds reports that instead of wondering just how much exercise people really need in order to gain health and fitness, a group of scientists in Canada are turning that issue on its head and asking, how little exercise do we need to maintain fitness and the answer appears to be, a lot less than most of us think — provided we're willing to work a bit. Most people have heard of intervals, or repeated, short, sharp bursts of strenuous activity, interspersed with rest periods. Almost all competitive athletes strategically employ a session or two of interval training every week to improve their speed and endurance. Researchers have developed a version of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) that involves one minute of strenuous effort, at about 90 percent of a person's maximum heart rate (which most of us can estimate, very roughly, by subtracting our age from 220), followed by one minute of easy recovery. The effort and recovery are repeated 10 times, for a total of 20 minutes and the interval training is performed twice a week. Despite the small time commitment of this modified HIIT program, after several weeks of practicing it, both the unfit volunteers and the cardiac patients showed significant improvements in their health and fitness. 'A growing body of evidence demonstrates that high-intensity interval training can serve as an effective alternate to traditional endurance-based training, inducing similar or even superior physiological adaptations in healthy individuals and diseased populations, at least when compared on a matched-work basis.'"
Re:Interval Training (Score:5, Funny)
>> even on a diet of beer and Mexican food
I am so happy that I don't share an office with you.
Re:Interval Training (Score:5, Funny)
Sex (Score:5, Funny)
It sounds like this regimen could be incorporated into sex, or masturbation if you're creative.
preemptive "slashdot readers don't have sex, lol"
Re:Sex (Score:3, Funny)
Put weights on your arm. You'll go blind AND have large muscles.
Official Training Guide (Score:5, Funny)
Refrigerator door pull:
1. Stand with your feet evenly in front of the icebox. Pull door open, check whats inside. Close the door.
2. Pull open, retrieve one of the 6pack. Close door.
3. Pull open, get salsa. Close door.
4. Pull open, get lime. Close door.
5. When it's time for next bottle/can, repeat #2.
Sixteen ounce wrist curls:
1. Pop open that beer/soda/caffeinated drink. 6 reps, one for each gulp, right wrist first.
2. Do 6 reps for left wrist as well.
Use your imagination, and your regular work area could be a workout area as well. Practice saying, "Yeah, I work out" with the intensity showing in your eyes.
Re:Why don't I exercise? (Score:5, Funny)
> Because I think it's boring.
You'll find diabetes and heart disease boring as well. But don't worry: Alzheimer's will help you forget the boredom.
Re:er what? (Score:4, Funny)
"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"
"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."
Re:Interval Training (Score:5, Funny)
I guess I am the sociopath here. I save it for the elevator where there is no escape.
Mwuhahahahahahahhahahha
Re:Interval Training (Score:5, Funny)
Re:While that 40 minutes a week might help the hea (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sex (Score:4, Funny)
Just don't forget to switch arms periodically.
Re:Interval Training (Score:5, Funny)
use those lungs and get your liver in fighting trim
My Doctor said this too; that I should do something once a day that makes me out of breath, so I've taken up smoking.
(with thanks to Jo Brand)