LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

high intensity interval training

Weight Loss Exercise Plan: How Long is a Good Cardio Workout?

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We know that exercise is a critical part of a good cardio workout, but how much do we need? 45 minutes at least 3 times per week is the dogma we all follow.

You have to love our viewpoint here in the United States.  We don’t want to spend money on research to determine how much exercise is too much.  Nope.  We want to know just how little we have to do and still get a benefit.

Now, I’m not saying we shouldn’t be efficient with how we spend our time exercising, but this article begins to push the limits of efficiency.

For those who are patients of the clinic, read this blog regularly or have heard me speak at an event know I am a very big fan of short burst interval training.  For most, this means 30 seconds of high intensity exercise on something like a stationary bike or treadmill.  Perform 4, 6 or even 10 of these sessions with rest times in between and you have likely just met the demands for what you need to keep your heart healthy.

Most often, when I present this information to patients and groups I am speaking to, they are very happy to hear that hopping on the treadmill for 45 to 60 minutes and running through an entire album on your Walkman may be way overkill.  (Ok..so maybe it’s NOT your Walkman, but you can tell how long it’s been since I’ve been on a treadmill….).

This approach has been holding its own in the medical literature for the past few years (you can read up on the latest research in a previous article that can be read by clicking here) and I feel confident sharing this concept with others.  So, in summary, YES–5 minutes worth of actual exercise may be enough.

Keep in mind that this is NOT jogging for 30 seconds and taking a break.  This is a darn near all out burst for 30 seconds.  The rest time between sets is basically however long it takes your heart rate to return back to normal.  Overall, it’s pretty simple and could reasonably be completed in 20 minutes (shorter if your rest time improves).

But, as I mentioned in the beginning of this article, what if we could shorten this time even further?

I’m not ready to promote this as a standard approach to exercise for all of my patients, but this particular study certainly makes one ponder.  In this small study, researchers took 10 overweight or obese men and had them perform 3 2-day trials.  Here were the 3 types of exercise:

  1. None.  Full blown couch potato.
  2. 4 all out 30 second sprints, followed by 4 1/2 minute breaks.
  3. 1 single intense exercise burst, matched in the amount of calories burned in group #2 (average 198 seconds).

Sounds pretty simple as far as designs go.  So what did they find?

  • Insulin sensitivity was improved by 44.6%  in the single burst exercise compared to the couch potato.
  • There was not much of a difference in insulin sensitivity between the short burst and couch potato.
  • In the day following the interval training, fat oxidation was improved by 38%.
  • Most striking, the day following exercise fat oxidation increased by 63% in the single burst (Tweet this).

Wow.

A mere 3 1/2 minutes of straight high intensity exercise led to a huge increase in fat burning the next day.  That’s under 4 minutes and slightly more than 3 minutes.

Granted, this study was done on a group of men who were arguably out of shape to begin with, but this is likely the population that needs the most help anyway.  So I don’t know if I’m ready to cut patients down to 3.5 minutes of exercise a day, but I will definitely keep my radar up on this one.

How much do YOU exercise per day?

Fitness Training to Burn Fat; Work Smarter, Not Harder

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I think many of us do not do fitness training because they perceive they don’t have time. NOT true. If you’re looking to burn fat, you need to exercise smarter.

This will not be the first time I have posted about short-burst aerobic activity.  As a matter of fact, this topic has been coming up again and again in the medical literature and continues to show benefits above and beyond sustained aerobic exercise.  And really–in today’s society, who the heck has 45 minutes to spare?  I could almost crank out a blog post in this amount of time…

What seems to constitute short burst aerobic activity?  Depends on the study, but they’re all similar:

  1. 10 – 30 second bursts on an exercise bike at 90% maximal rate
  2. 4-6 sets of 30 second bursts on an exercise bike
  3. 3 sets of 12 – 30 second bursts at 50% maximal rate with a one minute break

Overall, I think you get the idea.  For someone like me, who has a hard time staying focused for more than about 30 seconds at a time, this is just about perfect.

This particular study takes a slightly different angle on the short burst aerobic exercise story.  Here are the details:

  • 18 boys (aged 8-12), of which nine were overweight and nine normal weight boys
  • On 3 separate mornings these boys performed cycling exercises
  • 2 groups: 30 min of continuous cycling or sprint interval (continuous cycling with four-second maximal sprints every two minutes)
  • Exercise was followed by a buffet-like breakfast to measure post-exercise energy intake

So basically, both groups were doing the 30 minute cycling, but 1/2 the boys kicked up the pace for a mere 4 seconds every 2 minutes.  For the math challenged out there, that’s about 1 total minute of higher level exercise.

So what were the results from this 1 minute of faster cycling?

  • Fat burning was similar between both types of exercise
  • However, the interval group burned more calories but did NOT eat more at breakfast
  • The kids noted that they preferred the interval training more and did not find it any harder

So, basically, same time frames, same perceived level of exertion, more enjoyable and more calories burned.  Sounds like a winning program to me.

So, after reading these blog posts on short burst aerobic activity, how have you changed your workouts?  Or, even better, have you started an exercise routine because you now understand that it doesn’t always have to be 45-60 minutes of continuous activity?

DOES HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING IMPROVE INSULIN? (08-24-09)

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Extremely short duration high intensity interval training substantially improves insulin action in young healthy males

I’ve become more and more of a fan of interval type training when it comes to aerobics. Personally, I subscribe to Dr. Sears’ PACE program (Progressive Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Exertion), which involves sets of increasing intensity but shorter duration. Makes sense when you look at what our bodies were designed to do (can’t imagine any type of sustained aerobic jog to chase after a running antelope for food…). The research is increasingly in support of this type of program.

In this particular study, a miniscule level of intense exercise (15 mins over 2 wks) led to a 23% improvement in the way insulin was functioning in the body in a small group of sedentary young men.  We’re talking 4-6 sets of cycling as fast as they could for 30 seconds.  This was done in 6 sessions over the course of 2 wks.  Listen..if you can’t do 9 minutes of exercise per week, you should just hang it up now.

Read entire article here