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Who really has hours to spend in the gym? There are friends to see, work to be done, and Netflix binges to be had. But it turns out that all you need is a minute to get the body you’ve always wanted.
According to a new study by researchers at McMaster University in Canada, doing an intense workout for just 60 seconds can have the same affects on your bod as a moderate 45-minute gym session, so you can tell your high school gym teacher to suck it.
The study involved gathering 25 men who don’t regularly exercise. They were divided into three groups: the first changed nothing out their workout routines (the controls), the second rode stationary bikes at a moderate pace for 45 minutes plus a short warm-up and cool down, and the third group did interval training. Specifically, the third group warmed up on stationary bikes for two minutes, 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 — one minute of that time was strenuous.
At the end of 12 weeks, both the second and third groups improved their cardio-metabolic health “to the same extent as traditional endurance training in sedentary men, despite a five-fold lower exercise volume and time commitment.”
The team concluded,
In summary, we report that a SIT protocol involving 3 minutes of intense intermittent exercise per week, within a total time commitment of 30 minutes, is as effective as 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity continuous training for increasing insulin sensitivity, cardiorespiratory fitness and skeletal muscle mitochondrial content in previously inactive men.
So there you have it. No more excuses for not working out – you just need 10 minutes of time and one minute of hard work.
