

Can three minutes of exercise a week help make you fit? - ColinWright
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17177251

======
caidan
My brother was studying for a degree in Sports Science in London a few years
ago and asked me to come in to serve as a guinea pig for a project he was
working on. He tells me that all I'll have to do is ride a stationary bicycle
in bursts of 30 seconds full out 1 minute rest, repeated three or four times.
I do basically no exercise, but this sounded like something I could handle and
after all I have a filial responsibility.

So I think no problem, head down to his lab, and the first sign that something
is going to be rough is that his friends are there (other students/guinea
pigs) joking about how likely they are to throw up this time. Apparently it's
fairly common to throw up after doing the trial properly, but it just doesn't
seem plausible. After all, you are only cycling for a couple minutes. Even for
a lazy bastard like me, that seemed doable.

I sit there with growing concern as the guy before me finishes his run and
staggers over to one of the tables and crawls upon it. He lays there
alternately going bright red and white and trembling like a fish too long out
of water. He doesn't speak, and doesn't respond when spoken to.

My turn comes and my brother, laughing, takes me over to the stationary cycle
where he tells me it has been set to an incline calibrated against my
weight/height to cause maximum stress during the all out segments.

I start peddling slowly until he shouts NOW in my ear and then I grab the
handle bars and peddle for all I'm worth, elbows and knees flying everywhere.
Meanwhile my brother is shouting at me like a drill sergeant and through a
combination of naivety and adrenaline I make it through my first 30 second
sprint without too much difficulty. At this point my legs are burning quite a
bit and I'm bright red with exertion, but otherwise ok. I coast for another 60
seconds and then the yelling starts again. RIDE YOU BASTARD, RIDE!!! I give it
my best, but it's a bit harder this time, my legs haven't recuperated from the
previous sprint and I am even more ungainly if possible. Twice more we go
through the cycle and by the last time my legs don't even seem to be
responding to my brain, they feel hard liked they have been pumped full of oh
I don't know, blood and acid, and have barely any power to them. My final
sprint is so uncoordinated that my brother has to lean on the cycle to stop it
from flopping over. Lance Armstrong's testicle was undoubtedly spinning in its
grave. A group of my brothers friends cheer me on, however the guy who went
before me is still absent.

Finally, I make the end of the sprint, and stagger off the bike. My legs don't
work, I feel like one of those floppy inflatable plastic guys they attach to a
fan and use to promote used car lots, alternately staggering around stiff and
floppy legged. I don't feel too bad yet, and some sort of manic euphoria has
hold of me. You see, I tell my brother, some of us are just built out of
tougher stuff. He laughs in my face and tells me to go sit down in a corner. I
start to repeat my claims of being fine, but suddenly I feel like the earth
has dropped away and I am in free fall. He looks at me again and his smile
fades and a look of concern comes into his eyes. Seriously, go sit down.
Apparently, I have turned an unholy shade of green. I stagger over to a
corner, now feeling like I have reached terminal velocity and sort of flump to
the floor. Apparently my body is so full of lactic acid or what have you, that
it is overwhelmed, and starts wondering if perhaps a good upchuck would help.
At this point my vision narrows to about the size of a penny, filled with
dancing patterns and lights. I don't throw up but I assume it's only because
my body just can't get it together to do that. I am vaguely aware of people
standing over me, concerned, calling my name, but responding to them seems
like an Everest of a task so I lay there in my flump, thinking to myself: You
see? I was right, exercise is a terrible terrible thing. Even 2 minutes is too
much. Never ever again. I begin to vibrate softly as every muscle in my body
twitches.

My brother leans down and puts his hand on my head and says: "You'll be ok. If
you need to throw up, please use the bucket in the corner. Sometimes people
just throw up on themselves and it makes a mess. And hey, at least now you
know what it's like so it won't be so bad when you come back next week".

I suppose he must have spotted the sort of mad murderous gleam that popped
into my eye, because I doubt my mangled bleat of
"whaaabastardfuhnextweekafuhcrazy" through nerveless lips was all that
intelligible. He laughed and said, "yeah, I have to get two sample points, a
week apart! So you have to come back, didn't I mention that?"

I did go back in the end, but I sure as shit didn't pedal all out. So I'm not
sure if the body got better aerobics or insulin whatevers, but the brain, the
brain learned its lesson.

~~~
dhimes
If you get the chance to try it again, don't just stop suddenly when you have
finished the exercise, but do a small warm-down phase of very little effort.
That may keep the pass-out response at bay.

I'm not sure if this is a vasovagal response or not
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasovagal_response>) but I have this response
also. In fact, mentioning it to my doc won me a full cardio work-up from a
cardiologist. I get the response from intense weight-lifting and anaerobic
cardio exercise (like what you describe) if I suddenly stop. If, however, I
keep doing very light exercise, I don't "nearly" pass out (I've never fully
passed out from it, only gotten to the dim-vision gray-out/dizziness described
here, so I think I was close to passing out but not exactly sure).

------
cmurphycode
The generally accepted wisdom in the running community (backed up by a couple
of studies, but what isn't these days) is that HIIT is great for making big
gains in the short term, but that the gains will peak before a program with
proper high volume base training would.

In fact, the way most people are encouraged to train is to build up to some
decent mileage (at least 20 miles per week) and then mix in speed work, which
varies from simply faster runs, to Fartlek (speed play), to intervals.

Knowing this, it becomes obvious why runners fall in love with speed work:
they might do a "traditional" training plan and run slow, high volume for 3
months, and see minimal but steady gains. Then they do 3 weeks of sprints and
make huge gains! Awesome! But those gains were a reflection of the base work.
Think of it like sharpening an old, abused, rusty knife: you don't go right
for the fine grit. First, you grind it down, then successively apply finer
grits. The knife won't cut a tomato without the fine grits, but if you skipped
straight to them, you'd be at it forever.

The other reason one should be wary of HIIT is the increased risk of injury.
Especially in running, if you go from couch to sprinting, you're highly likely
to be injured. It is important to run slow and often, so that your tendons,
ligaments, and joints (not just your muscles and heart!) are ready for the
strenuous demands of running.

Similar concepts are often spoken of in weightlifting, where you are
encouraged to start with just the bar and work up.

------
dredmorbius
This article confuses the term HIT (high intensity training), a strength
training protocol) with HIIT (high intensity _interval_ training), a cardio
protocol.

Other than that, yes, HIIT is an effective cardio protocol, and much research
has shown that intensity matters when it comes to cardio.

What's discounted here is the full picture of fitness and training: cardio
alone isn't sufficient, especially as you leave your 20s and 30s and suffer
age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia).

The pretty cool thing about effective training programs is that significant
gains, and certainly maintenance of a pretty high level of performance, can be
attained on fairly minimal training. Three times a week, 10-20 minutes of
cardio, and 30-40 minutes of lifting (less if you stick to big compound lifts)
can do a huge amount for general fitness. Some abilities take longer to train
-- especially skill sports. But the body is amazingly adaptive to constructive
stress.

~~~
gxs
Perhaps this isn't the correct forum, but quick question.

For 2 months I've been doing 50 minutes of cardio M-F at 6AM before breakfast,
before work. So far I've lost about 12 lbs, but most importantly my energy
level and focus throughout the working day is vastly improved.

I would like to incorporate strength/weight training into my routine. What
would be the best way to go about this? Do I have to stop doing the cardio?
Can I do both (as I would prefer to)? Can you point me to some good routines
to get started? I posted on /r/fitness but didn't really get any valuable
responses.

~~~
dredmorbius
Dittos on the fittit faq: <http://code.reddit.com/wiki/help/faqs/Fitness>

Another good basic primer: <http://www.liamrosen.com/fitness>

If you're looking for a good solid strength program, buy Mark Rippetoe's
_Starting Strength_ and do the program.

A slightly more varied, and less hardcore program is in Schuler & Cosgrove's
_The New Rules of Lifting_. I find the texts complementary. SS has the better
(IMO) beginner's program, TNROL has more complete information on overall
fitness and diet.

SS is also going to benefit more from access to a proper gym with power cages,
chin bars, and bumper plates (ideally). TNROL can be done largely at home with
fairly a bit of equipment.

Once you pick a program and start doing it, re-read the FAQs and basics, then
post any specific questions you've got to a decent forum (/r/fitness is pretty
good).

------
Sargis
I wonder if burpees could be qualified as an intense exercise. 1 minute
exercise and 1 minute rest that goes on for 10-20 minutes and it gets me
sweating like a pig.

I highly recommended it for people with lack of space or exercise equipment

~~~
gaius
Bastards, we did when I was at school. Squat-thrust, press-up, star jump,
shout "bastard!" and do it again.

~~~
arethuza
Ah yes, I can remember in school having to do something like that to the point
where we were all throwing up. I think that was just the warm up...

Even though I attended a humble Scottish state school, a lot of the time our
PE sessions seemed like something from an episode of Ripping Yarns.

Happy days.

------
boothead
I use the tabata protocol <http://www.intervaltraining.net/tabata.html> a fair
bit, either on the rower or doing a squating type excercise with fairly light
weight (thrusters work well). It's truely horrible and, for a four minute
workout extremely effective!

~~~
lpolovets
The study/science behind the Tabata protocol is pretty fascinating:
[http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/effects-
of-...](http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/effects-of-moderate-
intensity-endurance-and-high-intensity-intermittent-training-on-anaerobic-
capacity-and-vo2-max.html)

------
uberalex
There are other HIIT techniques, [http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-
intensity_interval_train...](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-
intensity_interval_training) and I gather a common problem with the model is
that you have to squeeze the real intensity out of each session, which can be
hard.

It's also interesting to read about the genetic test for aerobic fitness
progress. I wonder will the future allow better tailoring of health care where
genetic evidence helps people get far more precise nutritional and exercise
profiles? For example, if you are a non-responder you might be hurt by too
much exercise, which is non-productive and which makes you hungry.

------
radu_floricica
If you want to try HIIT I suggest you do it properly, timing your exercises
and really giving your all. I haven't stuck to them (have a more comfortable
alternative), but when I tried Tabata I was stunned by how much it can take
out of you. I actually couldn't finish a full round of exercises - which if
you read the description sounds laughable - a mere 4 minutes. And I am
reasonably fit btw. It's completely different from other exercises you may
consider "high intensity".

------
vellum
There was also another recent article in the NY Times about HIIT.

[http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/how-1-minute-
interv...](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/how-1-minute-intervals-
can-improve-our-health/)

------
MattBearman
I'm intrigued by the 'non-responder' genetic predisposition: does this mean
that no matter what form of exercise he does, and no matter how much, his
fitness will NEVER improve?!

~~~
noelwelsh
No, they just respond more slowly. That study had people doing four hours of
exercise a week. That is not very much. A lot of people would exceed that in
one training session (e.g. someone training for an endurance event like a
triathlon). Furthermore, there are more facets to fitness than endurance.
Strength, flexibility, balance, and so on are all important to fitness,
whether you define fitness in terms of quality of life or athletic
achievement.

------
NDizzle
My experience with HIIT has been jogging/running outdoors. It works fantastic
until you injure yourself - and you injure yourself pretty quickly if you
don't flat-out sprint that often.

Do they have a 'HIIT mode' on exercise equipment yet? Attempting to do the
intervals on stationary bikes or treadmills while mashing the down button
after a sprint is difficult.

~~~
jacalata
I am not a fan of flat out sprinting on treadmills because it seems scary, but
all the ones I've used definitely have an option to stop/slow down after a set
period of time. Here's an example manual:
[http://www.bhnorthamerica.com/BHFH/reso/bhf/ownersmanual/Tre...](http://www.bhnorthamerica.com/BHFH/reso/bhf/ownersmanual/Treadmills/P350.pdf)

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gaius
_Any_ exercise will make a difference to a sedentary lifestyle. But is anyone
training for Marathons with Tabata? Of course not!

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pavel_lishin
A rare example of a question-headline where the answer isn't "No", but
"Maybe."

~~~
tripzilch
It's also not 3 minutes, but 12 or 36 (not entirely clear).

------
mmorey
If you want to try some HIIT training (not running based)check out:
<http://www.maxcapacitytraining.com/>. Pretty simple Web App, but it works.
I'm currently on day 5 and enjoying the program.

------
frobozz
According to the article, it's 12 minutes per week.

