Is 60 Seconds Enough?

By Rick Began, Director of Fitness

In a new article from LiveScience, senior writer, Rachel Rettner, cites a study making a case for a for a 1 minute workout:

“People who say they don’t have time to exercise may be out of excuses: A new study finds that just 1 minute of sprinting, along with 9 minutes of light exercise, leads to similar improvements in health and fitness as a 50-minute workout at a moderate pace.”

The article has a wealth of knowledge and the study seems to be scientifically sound, despite its smaller sample size.

“In the study, 25 men who previously did no exercise were randomly assigned to either a sprint interval workout or an endurance workout. They performed the exercise three times a week for 12 weeks on a stationary bicycle. A smaller group of men did no exercise at all for the 12 weeks, to serve as a control.

The sprint workout consisted of warming up for 2 minutes, sprinting all-out for 20 seconds, recovering at a slow pace for 2 minutes, sprinting for 20 seconds, recovering again for 2 minutes, sprinting for a last 20 seconds and cooling down for 3 minutes. The endurance workout consisted of warming up for 2 minutes, riding at a moderate pace for 45 minutes and cooling down for 3 minutes.

After the 12-week program, the two training groups showed similar improvements in aerobic fitness.”

What I would argue though is that we ought to be putting more than more time into our activities or workouts. Nothing as beneficial as good Health can be achieved in 10 minutes a day – plain and simple. That being said the main point in correct. Intensity during a workout will make our time spent far more effective and efficient.  We also need to make the time to take care of our health and not use our life’s circumstances as an excuse to be unhealthy.