Interval Training Can Cut Exercise Hours Sharply

discovery ^ | Feb 25, 2010 | Maria Cheng

[JoeProBono]

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....."

[JoeProBono]

[Praxeologue]

Every type of exercise should be to an intensity that you can't think about anything else than how your body is responding. That goes for cardio, strength training, aerobic, anerobic intervals, no intervals, slow twitch, fast twitch, whatever. Circuiting training advocates claim time savings, but there really is no saving. They work different systems.

I try to do an hour per day, plus warm-up plus cool-down. I mix up what is in that hour, but the basic principle is that the intensity does not permit me to think about anything else.

[JoeProBono]

[llevrok]

I do interval training, Joe. I execised in 1995, then again in 2001. I am about due for my next interval.

[JoeProBono]

Yeah, me too ;-{)