Get fit in minutes with these super-quick workouts you can tailor to your free time
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GYM exercise classes are off the agenda again, to keep us safe from coronavirus. It may test those who are most committed to getting fitter in the new year and provide those with less than iron resolve with a readymade excuse not to bother. But what if scientists insisted that in only a minute or two of effort every day you can progress towards a healthier and more toned new you in 2021?
Two recent studies promise just that suggesting we can enhance our health and fitness with super-short workouts that don’t eat into the day and can be performed at home or outside.
Abbreviated exercise is nothing new – scientists have been telling us for several years that the more effort we put in to exercise, the quicker we see all-round results – but the news that as little as 11 or 12 minutes a day can be enough is encouraging for serial sitters.
In the first of the new papers, published in the journal , a team from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) analysed data on 411 middle-aged men and women as part of the ongoing from the Framingham Heart Study. They found that vigorous exercise lasting as little as 12 minutes had a significant impact on metabolites - substances produced during metabolism, such as amino acids, fatty acids, and carbohydrates that are used to predict future cardiovascular disease and mortality.
"What was striking to us was the effects a brief bout of exercise can have on the circulating levels of metabolites that govern such key bodily functions as insulin resistance, oxidative stress, vascular reactivity, inflammation and longevity," says lead investigator Gregory Lewis, associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
A second new review in the involved more than 44,000 middle aged (and older) participants from Europe and the USA all of whom wore fitness trackers.
It suggested that just 11 minutes of walking a day can offset many of the undesirable side effects of long-term sitting. In this trial, those who sat the longest – often up to 10 hours a day – and who were in the bottom third for activity were 260% more likely to die prematurely compared with those in the top third for activity. While 35 minutes of activity a day was found to produce the greatest statistical health gains, those in the middle third for daily activity – who walked or exercises for 11 minutes a day – were better off than the perpetual sitters.
Of course, amassing as many daily steps as you can still counts for a lot in terms of cardiovascular health and fitness. But what else can you pack in if you only have a minute or two?
A few four-second sprints on a bike, in the garden, upstairs or on the spot every hour of your home-working day.
Recently, Edward Coyle, professor of Kinesiology and Health Education at the University of Texas, reported in the journal that five four-second lung-busting bursts on lab bikes (although any form of ‘sprinting’ will do) interspersed with 45 seconds recovery - amounting to a total of 160 seconds of total effort – could kickstart a sluggish metabolism and reduce unhealthy levels of fats in the bloodstream in people otherwise sitting down for eight-hour stints at their desk.
Run fast up a flight of stairs in 20 seconds, taking one step at a time and pumping your arms as you go; repeat three times a day.
Even a tiny exercise ‘snack’ such as this can provide a health boost. And the real beauty is they can even be performed hours apart.
When researchers at McMaster University in Canada asked 24 healthy but sedentary students to sprint upstairs for 20 seconds three times a day (usually in the morning, lunchtime and afternoon) for a grand total of 60 seconds of daily effort, they found that, after six weeks, their aerobic fitness had improved by 5% and their leg power increased by 12%.
A previous study by the same researchers showed that when three 20-second stair sprints were performed with just a few minutes recovery time between each, as opposed to several hours, a group of women volunteers increased their fitness levels by 12% in six weeks.
Three to six 60-second bursts with 60 seconds recovery performed running, cycling, skipping or indoor rowing
Exercise scientists at Liverpool John Moores University suggested that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) improves fitness only when the 60-second rule is applied.
Comparing the effects of a 30HIIT session (four to eight sets of 30-second bursts with 120 seconds of rest) with a 60HIIT session (six to ten bursts lasting 60 seconds with 60 seconds recovery) over six weeks, they found the 60-second version improved aerobic fitness whereas the 30HIIT did not.
“We found the 30-second intervals with 120 seconds rest meant participants’ heart rates didn’t stay up,” says researcher Hannah Church. “For this type of training, 120 seconds recovery is just too long.”
One four-minute burst of running or walking at a hard pace
Norwegian scientists came up with this option for people who can’t be bothered with repetitive bursts or long-duration walking and running. Instead, they asked two groups of overweight middle-aged men either to perform a treadmill run of four minutes at 90% of their maximal effort (they could just about talk) and repeat it three times with a break of three minutes walking between each or to perform a single strenuous four-minute run.
Both groups did their prescribed workout three times a week for 10 weeks. By the end of the trial, endurance fitness had been boosted by about 10%, metabolic and cardiovascular health improved and all had better blood sugar control - with no marked difference between the groups.
Walk for five minutes every hour
Long bouts of uninterrupted sitting are not good for your health, as we all know, but if you can’t get your head around taking half an hour off to go for a daily walk, this might actually prove a better option.
Standing up to walk around for five minutes every hour was shown by researchers at the University of Colorado to lift mood and dull hunger pangs in a group of office workers.
On separate occasions, volunteers were asked either to sit at their desk, not moving at all (except to go to the toilet) for six hours, to fit in a 30 min walk before their working day or to walk at a moderate pace for five mins every hour. Both walking interventions led to a reported energy boost, but the five-minute walks produced higher levels of happiness, lower fatigue and far fewer food cravings throughout the day.
A 10-minute interval session comprising two minutes warm-up, 20 seconds flat-out indoor cycling, two minutes slow pace activity, another 20-second sprint and another slow, two-minute recovery followed by a final 20-second burst and a three minute cool down.
In a paper published in the journal , a group of unfit but otherwise healthy men were assigned to do three weekly sessions of either the 10-minute session above or moderate training (a 45-minute indoor cycle) for 12 weeks, or to a control group that did not exercise.
By the end of the trial, both exercise groups had achieved almost identical improvements, boosting their endurance by around 20%, even though the moderate training involved five times as much exercise and a five-fold greater time commitment.
Going for an arduous 12-minute cycle, run, or swim. Start at a gentle pace and pick up the intensity, aiming for 10-12 minutes at a pace you find tough. Gradually slow down again for a few minutes to allow recovery.
In the new Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) paper, a 12-minute workout had a positive effect on more than 80% of the 588 tested by the MGH team. As an example, glutamate, a key metabolite linked to heart disease, diabetes and decreased longevity, fell by 29% after a 12-minute workout and DMGV, a metabolite associated with increased risk of diabetes and liver disease, fell by 18%.
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