A recent study suggests that one minute of vigorous exercise can be just as effective for improving health as 45 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise. Researchers asked nine previously sedentary young men to do one total minute of high-intensity cycling on a stationary bike three times a week for 12 weeks.
Researchers at McMaster University have found that a single minute of very intense exercise produces health benefits similar to longer, traditional endurance training. The findings put to rest the common excuse for not getting in shape: there is not enough time.
“Brief bursts of intense exercise are remarkably effective.” First off, a caveat: 1 minute of intense exercise does not mean ‘start, 60 seconds of exercise, finish’. All up, the routine will take you 10 minutes, which includes warming up and cooling down, but really, it’s 10 minutes.
None of the workouts in there can be done in one minute. If it’s really a one minute workout that you’re after, you’re going to be disappointed. Rather, the “one minute” refers to 60 seconds of intense exercise that forms part of a longer interval workout.
“Brief bursts of intense exercise are remarkably effective.” First off, a caveat: 1 minute of intense exercise does not mean ‘start, 60 seconds of exercise, finish’. All up, the routine will take you 10 minutes, which includes warming up and cooling down, but really, it’s 10 minutes. Everyone has 10 minutes.
Just five minutes of exercise at a time may be beneficial to your health in many ways. If you’re still not sure it’s enough, try doing one of the workouts in the section above. When you finally catch your breath, ask yourself again if five minutes can get your heart pumping.
It’s so easy to ignore the science and ditch exercising in favour of doing just about anything else, but a new study has found that 1 minute of intense exercise is all you need to get the same benefits of a more moderate 45-minute session.
How effective is a 10 minute workout?
In the widely reported study earlier this year (with the irresistible 1-minute exercise headline), researchers from McMaster University found that a 10-minute workout could be just as effective as a 45-minute one.
“If you’re willing and able to go hard, it would appear that you can get away with a surprisingly small dose of exercise and still boost your fitness,” said Martin Gibala, Ph.D, professor and chair of the department of kinesiology at McMaster University and lead researcher of the study.
What is a one minute workout?
Rather, the “one minute” refers to 60 seconds of intense exercise that forms part of a longer interval workout. The author of The One Minute Workout is Martin Gibala, a professor of kinesiology at McMaster University.
In one of Gibala’s studies, 10 minutes of interval training, done three times a week, delivered many of the same benefits as 150 minutes (50 minutes, three times a week) of traditional cardio [ 1 ].
However, the interval group spent a little over five hours on the bike. Despite a five-fold lower time commitment, various measures of cardiometabolic health improved to a similar extent in both the HIIT and steady-state groups. – VO2 peak, a measure of aerobic fitness, increased by 15-20% in both groups.
Each interval was followed by two minutes of slow pedaling. The workout finished with a three-minute cool-down. From start to finish, the workout lasted 10 minutes.
People will gain more or less from HIIT depending on their starting level of fitness. If you’re already fit and want to get even fitter, you’re not going to see such rapid gains in aerobic conditioning in just three months. None of this means that you should ditch regular cardio and replace it all with HIIT.
In general, exercise doesn’t make a big contribution to fat loss. You’re far better off making changes to your diet than trying to burn a lot of calories with exercise. It’s also worth pointing out that the men taking part in the study were unfit and overweight.
Nor does it mean that HIIT is “better” than regular cardio. It’s just more time efficient. Think of it as another option on your exercise menu. HIIT by itself isn’t going to produce radical changes in body composition. For that, you’re going to need to lift some weights and get your diet in order.
How long does it take to do a 10 minute workout?
First off, a caveat: 1 minute of intense exercise does not mean ‘start, 60 seconds of exercise, finish’. All up, the routine will take you 10 minutes, which includes warming up and cooling down, but really, it’s 10 minutes. Everyone has 10 minutes.
It’s complex, because every body responds to exercise differently, but the message is that you don’t need to give up several hours of your week to ensure a healthy lifestyle.
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