Long Duration or Short Burst Exercising - Deciding Which Is Best for Health and Fat Loss

(NaturalNews) With Exercise, keeping it short is the best way to go. Did you know that a short burst of intense exercise is extremely beneficial not only for overall fitness but for building lean muscle tissue and promoting longevity? Just imagine -- exercising anywhere from only 2 minutes to a maximum of 17 a couple of times a week and still reaping the benefits of cardiovascular fitness. With lack of time being one of the major factors why most people can't make a commitment to regular exercise, very short, intense bouts of exercise presents a solution and with added benefits over long duration workouts.

Let's explore more on the world of training for fitness and overall health.

According to a study published in Journal of Applied Physiology (April 2005), 23 men and women aged between 25 and 35 were tested to see how long it took them to cycle 18.6 miles. These men and women all did some form of regular exercise, and were then given varying exercise programmes three times a week as part of the study to see which one was the most effective for overall fitness.
The first group cycled for two hours a day at a moderate pace. The second group rode harder for 10 minutes a day in 60 second bursts. The last group cycled at an intense sprint for two minutes in 30-second bursts, with four minutes of rest in between each sprint.

At the end of the two weeks, each of the three groups was asked to repeat the 18.6 mile cycling test. Every subject was found to have improved to the same degree. Further tests showed that the rate at which the subjects' muscles were able to absorb oxygen also improved to the same level.

What this study showed is that in terms of overall health and fitness, the group that did just the two-minute workout produced the same muscle fitness results. In addition, this group also showed improved muscle enzymes which are essential for the prevention of Type 2 diabetes. Yet, the interesting correlation was that this group showed the same benefits of cardiovascular fitness as did the group who exercised for 10 times as long (20 minutes). Now that is a huge bonus in the face of growing levels of unfitness and obesity, which is becoming an epidemic in Australia, U.S. and the U.K.
The author of the study, Prof. Martin Gibala, of the Health Department of McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, said: "We thought there would be benefits but we did not expect them to be this obvious. It shows how effective short intense exercise can be."
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...)

The following excerpt from an article published in the UK Telegraph, "6 Minutes of Exercise A Week As Good As 6 Hours" by Peter Zimonjic, elaborates on this study.

"Just six minutes of intense exercise a week does as much to improve a person's fitness as a regime of six hours... Moderately healthy men and women could cut their workouts from two hours a day, three times a week, to just two minutes a day and still achieve the same results, claim medical researchers".

Learn more here.