Get fit with one minute of exercise a day

[Glenda]

The forum about stationary bikes wouldn't let me reply so I'm posting this way.

      In the New York Times Jan 5 an article by Gretchen Reynolds:  Repeated intense intervals of 4 seconds each  that total only a minute, In 8 weeks older sedentary adults 50 - 68   increased fitness 10%, gained considerable muscle mass and strength in their legs and reduced stiffness on their arteries & outperformed their previous selves in activities of daily living  all from about 3 - 6  minutes a week of actual exercise.    They had special bikes but with the ordinary type you  could double the time to 8 seconds.

         The group of 39 people visited a gym 3 times a week.  At first they then sprinted (peddling as hard as they could with maximum effort) for 4 seconds and rested 56 seconds, repeating the sequence 15 times for a total of 1 minute.  But in 2 months the rest was reduced to  26 seconds  and they did it 30 times.    So in 6 minutes a week on a stationary bike of intense effort you can be fit.  

15 times for a total of 1 minute a day =6 minutes a week

[Heybales · Accepted solution]

Very interesting study. Good display of potential if out of shape, and hard to get motivated for anything time consuming.

I would suggest, since the improvement was on, as the study put it "out-of-shape adults ... men and women aged 50 to 68 who were sedentary but had no other major health concerns", which means they had the most room for improvement from any exercise program - anyone in that group should get approval from their Dr first for such an intense hit of exercise to confirm they have no major health concerns.

Other caveat mentioned that allowed getting to peak intensity almost immediately for the 4 sec to be meaningful - "most of us do not have access to the kind of specialized stationary bicycles used in this study."

The article (not the study) comments that it might be a bit longer using what is available to eventually get up to same intensity, like 8 sec.

Anyone should be able to make that kind of extra time available for their health, perhaps be inspired to move on to other things to keep making improvements.

If any interested in original study info:

Allen, Jakob R.1; Satiroglu, Remzi1; Fico, Brandon2; Tanaka, Hirofumi2; Vardarli, Emre1; Luci, Jeffrey J.3; Coyle, Edward F.1 Inertial Load Power Cycling Training Increases Muscle Mass and Aerobic Power in Older Adults, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: December 29, 2020 - Volume Publish Ahead of Print - Issue -
doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002588

https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/9000/Inertial_Load_Power_Cycling_Training_Increases.9612...

[Glenda]

All good points.  Maybe this way to exercise will appeal to someone.  Even if everyone reading this already does exercise, bikes use different muscles than walking.  My husband complained I talk in shorthand.  I try to be brief for fear of boring people I guess.  It was good of you to give more information.