14 DAY TRIAL // One of the most commonly used excuses for not working out is the lack of time. After all, it’s understandable not to feel like breaking a sweat at the gym after a long workday, when we also have to fit in other things in our hectic schedule, like socializing with friends and getting some time off for ourselves to rest. The good news is, as eScience News puts it, that we can actually get results with less working out.
Even more, we can get better results, but only on the condition of starting interval training. That means that we can’t just sit on the couch and hope for sustainable weight loss and a better definition for our figure. We have to change the way we do our workouts. Instead of exercising for longer periods of time (which means longer sessions) at moderate intensity, we can do highly intense exercises for less time. The results will actually be better than in the first case, experts assure us based on the findings of a new study.
“HIT [high-intensity interval training] means doing a number of short bursts of intense exercise with short recovery breaks in between. The authors have already shown with young healthy college students that this produces the same physical benefits as conventional long duration endurance training despite taking much less time (and amazingly, actually doing less exercise!)” eScience News writes. So, instead of pedaling on a stationary bike at moderate speed, we can maximize the results by bursts of high intensity pedaling, separated by short breaks.
“We have shown that interval training does not have to be ‘all out’ in order to be effective. Doing 10 one-minute sprints on a standard stationary bike with about one minute of rest in between, three times a week, works as well in improving muscle as many hours of conventional long-term biking less strenuously. While still a demanding form of training, the exercise protocol we used should be possible to do by the general public and you don’t need more than an average exercise bike,” Professor Martin Gibala says of the findings of the study.
Furthermore, Prof. Gibala points out, no one will be able now to say that they don’t work out because it’s a too time-consuming activity, since HIT can be tailored to suit all types of schedules.