One of the biggest obstacles to regular exercise is a lack of time. But that might not be a viable excuse anymore.
We have busy lives! How do you fit in 50 minutes of exercise three to five times a week? It’s not really 50 minutes, anyway, is it? You have to get changed, you have to warm up, cool down, stop for a drink, maybe drive to and from the gym. That could change your 50 minutes into two hours!
Sprint Interval Training (ironically referred to as ‘SIT’) may be the solution for some people. In a 2016 study, PLOS One set out to determine if training in shorter, higher-intensity bursts would provide the same health benefits of the commonly recommended longer, moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT).
The study involved a cycling program. They established the pedal speed for moderate effort at approximately 50 watts (50 rpm). For MICT, this speed was maintained for 50 minutes. The SIT program involved this moderate pace punctuated by three 20-second “full-out” bursts within a 10-minute session. Both time factors included a warm up period and a cool down.
After 12 weeks, the study found that higher intensity exercise evokes the same improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness as MICT but with only 20 percent of the time commitment. It also showed SIT and MICT provided similar increases in insulin sensitivity, another important benefit of exercise.
So get intense in your workouts and get them done faster.
