Fitness in 6 Minutes a Week
Fitness in 6 Minutes a Week
June 3, 2005 -- If you don't exercise because it takes too long, find another excuse.
Just six minutes of intense exercise a week can keep people as fit as three hour-long jogs, Canadian researchers report in the June issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology.
Is there a catch? Of course. Those six minutes come from four 30-second bursts of all-out effort with four-minute rests in between each sprint. This "sprint interval training" adds up to three 20-minute sessions a week, says Martin J. Gibala, PhD, associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
"Interval-type training is effective for improving health and fitness in a relatively short period of time," Gibala tells WebMD. "Whether you are already active or just getting into it, you can benefit. People can choose whether they want to exercise faster or exercise longer."
If you're thinking of trying this, Gibala says, first check with your doctor. But he adds that with proper medical supervision, all kinds of people -- even those with heart disease -- can benefit from this approach.
The researchers were testing improvements in cardiovascular fitness. This type of exercise would not be appropriate for someone trying to lose weight. Aerobic exercise, such as jogging or bicycling, continuously for 30 minutes burns significantly more fat and would be a more effective weight loss strategy in combination with diet.
The idea of sprint interval training is at least 70 years old. Elite athletes often train this way. But this elite training technique has only recently come under scientific scrutiny. How well can it work? Gibala and colleagues looked at the effect of just a few training sessions.
They enrolled 18 college students in their study. All were "recreationally active," although none of these 21- to 27-year-old students was engaged in any kind of structured athletic training. All the students practiced using a special stationary bicycle used to test fitness capacity.
After the practice sessions, half the students got two weeks off. The other half did six sessions of sprint interval training over the same two weeks. What happened?
Fitness in 6 Minutes a Week
A Few Intense Sprints as Good as an Hour of Jogging, Study Says
June 3, 2005 -- If you don't exercise because it takes too long, find another excuse.
Just six minutes of intense exercise a week can keep people as fit as three hour-long jogs, Canadian researchers report in the June issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology.
Is there a catch? Of course. Those six minutes come from four 30-second bursts of all-out effort with four-minute rests in between each sprint. This "sprint interval training" adds up to three 20-minute sessions a week, says Martin J. Gibala, PhD, associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
"Interval-type training is effective for improving health and fitness in a relatively short period of time," Gibala tells WebMD. "Whether you are already active or just getting into it, you can benefit. People can choose whether they want to exercise faster or exercise longer."
If you're thinking of trying this, Gibala says, first check with your doctor. But he adds that with proper medical supervision, all kinds of people -- even those with heart disease -- can benefit from this approach.
The researchers were testing improvements in cardiovascular fitness. This type of exercise would not be appropriate for someone trying to lose weight. Aerobic exercise, such as jogging or bicycling, continuously for 30 minutes burns significantly more fat and would be a more effective weight loss strategy in combination with diet.
Elite Athletes' Secret
The idea of sprint interval training is at least 70 years old. Elite athletes often train this way. But this elite training technique has only recently come under scientific scrutiny. How well can it work? Gibala and colleagues looked at the effect of just a few training sessions.
They enrolled 18 college students in their study. All were "recreationally active," although none of these 21- to 27-year-old students was engaged in any kind of structured athletic training. All the students practiced using a special stationary bicycle used to test fitness capacity.
After the practice sessions, half the students got two weeks off. The other half did six sessions of sprint interval training over the same two weeks. What happened?
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