30 Second Sprints As Effective as 60 Minute Run
Just six minutes of intense exercise a week could be as effective as an hour of daily moderate activity suggests new findings from researchers at McMaster University.
“Short bouts of very intense exercise improved muscle health and performance comparable to several weeks of traditional endurance training,” says Martin Gibala, an associate professor in the department of kinesiology of McMaster.
The research, which is published in the June edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology, found that performing repeated bouts of high-intensity “sprint”-type exercise resulted in profound changes in skeletal muscle and endurance capacity, similar to training that requires hours of exercise each week.
The Study
16 Subjects: 8 doing intervals, 3 no exercise
Training protocol: 30 seconds work to 4 minutes rest ratio for 4-7 sets “all out.”
Frequency: 3x per week for 4 weeks
Findings for interval training group:
- Endurance capacity nearly doubled
- Increased enzyme (citrate sythase) activity. This enzyme indicates the muscle’s ability to utilize oxygen
The researchers suggested that implementation of an interval training program may offer a time saving alternative to individuals with a time crunch. “This type of training is very demanding and requires a high level of motivation, however, less frequent, higher intensity exercise can indeed lead to improvements in health and fitness.”
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