health and fitness: Is one minute of high-intensity exercise really enough to get fit?

dimanche 2 août 2015

Is one minute of high-intensity exercise really enough to get fit?

Experts now believe that, rather than spending hours on the treadmill, the smart way to condition your body is to do shorter, more intensive bursts of exercise

Too busy to get fit? No longer an excuse. The world of workouts is moving to ever-shorter bursts of activity. The New York Times recently released a seven-minute workout app based on research showing the benefit of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), while the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse found that 20 minutes of an intense workout burned an average of 15 calories per minute – twice the amount used on a long run.

Typically, HIIT involves 60 seconds of exercise near your peak ability, followed by a recovery period of the same amount, repeated for 20 minutes, three times a week. Your peak ability is around 80 to 90% of your maximum heart rate. Roughly, that involves subtracting your age from 220, but it’s more reliable to use your “rate of perceived exertion”. If six is sitting on a chair calmly and 20 is “I can’t do any more”, you should pitch yourself at no more than 18. You can do HIIT on a bike, running, swimming, on gym equipment like a cross trainer, or by sprinting up and down the stairs. So has HIIT really replaced a gentle jog around the block?