According to the latest guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, adults should strive to perform “at least” 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week (which includes activities such as walking) to get the health benefits of exercising. For those who prefer to push their body harder with more intense exercises, the weekly measure shrinks to about 75 to 150 minutes per week.
But for those who are willing to increase their intensity even further – and for a shorter time – a new article in the Journal of Physiology found that ‘low-intensity’ high-intensity interval training (HIIT), defined as less than 15 minutes of high-intensity exercise per session (which includes warm-up and cooling) really works. Read on for more information on this study and on what researchers believe is the least exercise you need to do each week to stay fit. And for more exercise news you can use, you should not miss the one important side effect of every day, according to a new study.
Countless studies magnify the benefits of interval exercise, or performing short bursts of rigorous, rapid fire exercise ranging from skipping rope to mountaineers or burpees and sprints. The new article published in the Journal of Physiology, conducted by researchers from The Physiological Society – an institution in the UK that coordinates exercise research in 60 countries – was inspired by a previous study published in the journal. Diabetes care.
The study, which focused on those with type 1 diabetes, “showed that as little as 4 minutes of HIIT significantly improved blood sugar levels, liver fat, and cardiorespiratory fitness in adults three times a week for 12 weeks. type 2 diabetes. ‘What’s more, the researchers found that’ these improvements were comparable to an intervention of 45 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise. ‘
An important caveat: those 4 minute attacks of HIIT do not include the important warm-up and cool-down phases of exercise. So if you have a short schedule and you want to do the shortest session, remember to take a few more minutes to loosen up your muscles and fill in your muscles for short bursts of exercise. And for more information on the importance of warming up and cooling down, make sure you are aware of the 10 mistakes you should not make when exercising.
According to the newspaper in the Journal of Physiology, which analyzed more than ten years of academic research, in addition to studies focusing specifically on diabetes: “The findings from recent trials suggest that low-volume HIIT may cause similar, and sometimes larger, improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, glucose control, blood pressure and heart function compared to more traditional forms of aerobic exercise, including high volume HIIT and moderate intensity continuous exercise, despite less time commitment and lower energy expenditure. “
In other words, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that doing less is more. If you prefer someone to exercise extra hard, you should know that it was recently published in the magazine Cell metabolism found that over-exercising – defined as performing HIIT for as much as 152 minutes a week – can actually harm your body. Exercisers who have worked so much over the course of a week have experienced side effects that affect their metabolism and insulin resistance of their body.
The latest research indicates that you can reap the benefits of the latest government and World Health Organization guidelines for physical activity in much shorter periods of time – in just under 15 minutes each time you exercise. And do not miss the 1-minute workout that builds strength and relieves pain, and the incredible four-second workout that actually works, for some amazing exercises you can do to harness this research.