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Sprinting, swimming at full tilt, paddling all out on a SUP or any kind of full-blown exercise in interval format, even just for one minute does as much good for you as moderate speeds of anything for 45. So says a recent study from Canada’s McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
The study was published in the research journal PLOS ONE and researchers used 27 men who did one of two exercise routines for a 12-week period: either three, 20-second all out cycle sprints with two minutes of slow down in between or 45 minutes of continuous cycling at moderate effort. Each workout included a two-minute warmup and three-minute cool down.
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The results were fairly epic. Both groups increased oxygen update by 19 percent, both improved insulin sensitivity and muscle mass at the same rate.
What does it all mean? It means you have no excuses to exercise every day. Even if you can do your favorite past time at sprint speed for the equivalent of a single minute, you’ll improve your health tenfold. With warm up, cool down and brief rest, all you need is 10 minutes to improve your life, even it’s just on a set of stairs. “Most people cite ‘lack of time’ as the main reason for not being active,” Dr. Martin Gibala, a professor kinesiology at McMaster University, said. “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.”
