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2010-02-25 08:57:05
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng, Ap Medical Writer Thu Feb 25,
12:28 am ET
LONDON People who complain they have no time to exercise may soon need
another excuse.
Some experts say intense exercise sessions could help people squeeze an entire
week's workout into less than an hour. Intense exercise regimens, or interval
training, was originally developed for Olympic athletes and thought to be too
strenuous for normal people.
But in recent years, studies in older people and those with health problems
suggest many more people might be able to handle it. If true, that could
revolutionize how officials advise people to exercise and save millions of
people hours in the gym every week. It is also a smarter way to exercise,
experts say.
"High-intensity interval training is twice as effective as normal exercise,"
said Jan Helgerud, an exercise expert at the Norwegian University of Science
and Technology. "This is like finding a new pill that works twice as well ...
we should immediately throw out the old way of exercising."
Intense interval training means working very hard for a few minutes, with rest
periods in between sets. Experts have mostly tested people running or biking,
but other sports like rowing or swimming should also work.
Helgerud recommends people try four sessions lasting four minutes each, with
three minutes of recovery time in between. Unless you're an elite athlete, it
shouldn't be an all-out effort.
"You should be a little out of breath, but you shouldn't have the obvious
feeling of exhaustion," Helgerud said.
In Britain and the U.S., officials recommend that people get about two and a
half hours each week of moderate exercise.
Helgerud says that time could be slashed dramatically if people did interval
training instead. He said officials have been too afraid of recommending
intense training, fearing it might be too much for some people.
"I'm much more afraid of people not exercising at all," he said. "Inactivity is
what's killing us."
When compared to people on a normal exercise routine, like jogging, research
has shown those doing interval training can double their endurance, improve
their oxygen use and strength by more than 10 percent, and their speed by at
least 5 percent. Even studies in the elderly and in heart patients found they
had better oxygen use and fitness after doing interval training.
Still, most studies have been done in young, healthy adults, and experts advise
people to consult a doctor before starting any fitness program.
For Adamson Nicholls, a 36-year-old Londoner and martial arts enthusiast,
interval training is a way to boost his endurance so he can outlast sparring
opponents. "It's a shortcut to explosive fitness," he said, adding the training
results in snappier and heavier punches.
Using interval training, Nicholls got into top shape last year in about six
weeks, using weekly 45-minute sessions. He estimates the same level would have
taken about three months via regular training.
Experts say that's because intense bursts of activity are precisely what the
body needs to build stronger muscles. Traditional workouts lasting an hour or
more simply don't push the body enough.
"A lot of the (benefits) from exercise are due to a stress response," said
Stephen Bailey, a sports sciences expert at the University of Exeter. "If you
disturb your muscles, there's an imbalance created and your body will start
signaling pathways that result in adjustments."
Bailey said intense bursts of exercise help the body to convert one type of
muscle fiber into another type that uses oxygen more efficiently and is capable
of exercising a lot longer. Even though interval training only takes a few
minutes, its effects last for hours.
"You've exercised at such a high intensity that you're going to create a
massive disturbance in your muscles," Bailey said. That creates a higher
metabolism for several hours afterward, which the body will bring down by
burning fat and carbohydrates.
Helgerud and others predicted that as further studies confirm interval training
is safe for wider populations, authorities will include it in their exercise
guidelines.
"This is definitely the way forward to save time on your exercise," Nicholls
said. "The results are worth it."