A whole minute? Who has time for that?
Man, working out is just the worst. You have to put on different shoes, usually go somewhere that isn't your house, and expend a bunch of energy and maybe even get a little bit sweaty. And it's super hard to text while this is happening, so we absolutely hate doing it. And the "doctors" recommend 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise a week? Unless you count self love, we'll never get close to that number. Never.
But thank god scientists have put their heads together and researched something important. As per a report from the New York Times, they've found that you don't need anywhere close to that much exertion.
Their unbelievable findings: One minute of arduous exercise was comparable in its physiological effects to 45 minutes of gentler sweating.
Holy shit.
Their new study tested the effects of endurance training versus intense interval training. Twenty-five out-of-shape men were split into three groups: a control group, an endurance group that exercised for 45 minutes, and an interval group that exercised for 10 minutes, only one of which was strenuous. All exercise was done on stationary bikes.
And the results?
But when the scientists retested the men’s aerobic fitness, muscles and blood-sugar control now, they found that the exercisers showed virtually identical gains, whether they had completed the long endurance workouts or the short, grueling intervals. In both groups, endurance had increased by nearly 20 percent, insulin resistance likewise had improved significantly, and there were significant increases in the number and function of certain microscopic structures in the men’s muscles that are related to energy production and oxygen consumption.
If you really want to nerd out, you check the actual study here.
But basically, one minute of really, really busting your ass can be just as good as plodding along for 45 minutes of jogging hell.
Here's exactly what you need to do, as per the study:
The final group was assigned to interval training, using the most abbreviated workout yet to have shown benefits. Specifically, the volunteers warmed up for two minutes on stationary bicycles, then pedaled as hard as possible for 20 seconds; rode at a very slow pace for two minutes, sprinted all-out again for 20 seconds; recovered with slow riding for another two minutes; pedaled all-out for a final 20 seconds; then cooled down for three minutes. The entire workout lasted 10 minutes, with only one minute of that time being strenuous.
Wow. And just think about all those jerks wasting their lives on treadmills … but really, couldn't they make it any shorter than a minute? It still sounds like a lot of work …
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