9 ms·

Benefits of 1 Minute of All-Out Effort during Exercise

175 points by tosseraccount 10y ago

cpncrunch 10y ago
One question not answered is whether this regime has similar long-term health benefits to a longer exercise regime. They would need to compare long-term mortality rates to really see if it is as beneficial.
Gratsby 10y ago
This is good. That's all I have in me.
cloudjacker 10y ago
1 minute to heart attack
oarsinsync 10y ago
1 minute of hard exercise spread out over 9 minutes of gentle exercise. Still, sign me up!
- jchendy 10y ago
  Yeah, the title is definitely misleading, but I agree that it's still really helpful info.
matwood 10y ago
This is probably part of the reason why power lifting is so beneficial. If you are doing near maximal weight for few reps, every set is very hard exercise. The problem I have seen with intervals training is that few people really go all out.
- jly 10y ago
  > The problem I have seen with intervals training is that few people really go all out. Just because the duration of high-intensity interval exercise is short (maybe 10-20 minutes vs 45-60 minutes), it doesn't mean it's easy. In my experience, this is the most difficult type of exercise to do because of the amount of mental conditioning it requires to push yourself that hard, especially beyond the first couple of intense intervals. Like the commenter above stated, many people do not go all out enough to get the maximum desired benefit. What's new here in this study is how little or how few intense intervals may be required to get a large benefit, which may make it more attainable.
- ChemicalWarfare 10y ago
  exactly. the thing is though before you get to your 80%+ of your RM work sets you'll be in the gym for 30-45 min (or risk an injury on top of already reasonably high risk of getting injured).
  - matwood 10y ago
    I have been power lifting (deads, squats, bench, OH press) in addition to beach lifts for 10+ years. I have never needed 30-45 minutes to warm up. Ever. I have also never been hurt lifting. It is much safer than the stupidity I see with XFit. The key is good form and gradually warm up to work weight. I was doing okay DL singles in the #405 range the other day, and it only takes a few sets to get to work weight. If someone can DL #405, they are not adding #10 each set to warmup.
    - ChemicalWarfare 10y ago
      I pulled/squatted in a 5-plate range which ain't much by any serious standards for a 242lbs lifter so I'm just mentioning the numbers to put things in perspective as it isn't something to brag about :) So typically my GPP workouts - pull-ups, curls, direct triceps work etc would take 45 min tops. PL workouts (5/3/1 or Cube style) would typically take about the same time or longer with less work sets - warm up, rest between the sets etc. The only PL workouts that were shorter than that for me were the PR style workouts where I'd warm up, try for the PR, go home. Serious lifters (the likes of Elitefts crew) take forever to warm up but then again they are moving some insane weights. We're literally talking going up in quarters from 125 up to 600+ for the bench with 2-3 minute rest intervals once they get above 405 and sometimes would start going up in dimes from there.
- forgetsusername 10y ago
  >The problem I have seen with intervals training is that few people really go all out. This is the problem with exercise in general. You can get in shape doing practically anything if you put in maximum effort. The key is to work hard.
- NDizzle 10y ago
  What would really help is if the exercise machines were geared towards interval training. That makes me wonder if I can program my somewhat fancy elliptical. Why don't we have a machine that you can program from your phone yet? It has like 20 built in things, none of which are optimal for what I want to do, why can't I create a new program with an app and upload it to the machine?! Time to do some research!
  - matwood 10y ago
    You don't need a machine other than a watch. You can use almost any exercise. Keep a thirds ratio. So 1 minute full, 2 minutes not full. Or 20 seconds full, 40 seconds not full. I have used the treadmill and just ran. Or the stationary bike. Or when I want to really get at it I'll use the treadmill at a jog for my 'rest' and do my full on with heavy DB snatches or something. It is really not that complicated, and only requires that someone put in some effort.
gaius 10y ago
... In untrained people.
- beachstartup 10y ago
  thanks, bro. but according to my handy dandy anecdata, that's about 99% of the population and about 100% of the people who need the exercise.
  - danielweber 10y ago
    What is the name for the exercise-world equivalent of foodies?
- jchendy 10y ago
  Do we know anything about how people who are already fit respond to this kind of exercise?
  - acconrad 10y ago
    It works for everyone. Bodybuilders use HIIT as a way to cut fat by getting a lot of work done in a short amount of time (this is also great conditioning work for athletes too). The difference is a fit person who is adapted to exercise will need to do more of it to see a benefit.
    - gaius 10y ago
      1 minute per day? Shenanigans.
      - acconrad 10y ago
        I never said one minute per day works. I said that interval training also works for fit people.
      - soundwave106 10y ago
        As pointed out above, 1 minute per day is clickbait. The study used 10 minutes per session. If you are fit, you probably will need more than a 3x20s session on a stationary bike as well. HIIT "works". Even with fit people. Probably especially with fit people. Think how sprinters train for instance. It's a bit hyped now of course. I've seen a lot on the web that puts together a standard circuit training type exercise and calls it as "HIIT". Wrong. Nothing wrong with circuits at all, they are great, but you're not going to get to 90% heart rate with planks. :) "Works" too depends on your goals. "Just HIIT" is better than nothing, I'm sure. But HIIT is (typically) cardio; for best benefit, you would also strength train and do some mobility / flexibility training as well. Diet is an important part of fitness as well. I'll be honest, I personally think HIIT is a better solution for the modestly fit versus the completely untrained. HIIT is much more physically demanding than a standard circuit or jog. Consequently, I think there is a greater possibility of "overtraining" or over-exerting yourself, perhaps to the point of injury. It really shouldn't be "1 minute per day" for instance because 24 hours is probably not enough time for most people to recover from a legitimate HIIT session.
mgberlin 10y ago
The headline is clickbait. It's a huge stretch to say that the volunteers engaged in 1 minute of hard exercise. The workout was: "[they] warmed up for two minutes on stationary bicycles, then pedaled as hard as possible for 20 seconds; rode at a very slow pace for two minutes, sprinted all-out again for 20 seconds; recovered with slow riding for another two minutes; pedaled all-out for a final 20 seconds; then cooled down for three minutes." Sure, the exertions total to one minute, but the recovery periods and cooldown are a very important aspect of the workout. Muscles are still burning glucose and oxygen, clearing lactic acid, and generally doing all the things that exercise is good for during this time.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- mindcrime 10y ago
  "[they] warmed up for two minutes on stationary bicycles, then pedaled as hard as possible for 20 seconds; rode at a very slow pace for two minutes, sprinted all-out again for 20 seconds; recovered with slow riding for another two minutes; pedaled all-out for a final 20 seconds; then cooled down for three minutes." Sounds very similar to the Tabata interval protocol, with the difference being the extended rest period between the "sprint" sections. I have done a variation of this in my own training in the past. It works really well on an elliptical trainer. My subjective feeling is that training this way works pretty well for building endurance and burning fat.
- mathattack 10y ago
  For all the complaints on methodology, I think the biggest issue is sample size. 25 people?
- collinmanderson 10y ago
  So actually longer than the "7 minute workout". :)
- ASpring 10y ago
  Exactly. Let alone the fact that they are using completely untrained individuals, where doing any amount exercise will result in the adaptations they check for. Wish there was a third group that simply did 10 minutes exercise at the same exertion as the endurance group.
adanto6840 10y ago
I very briefly skimmed the linked study[1] -- love that they actually linked to the study, especially love that the study is published openly, for free -- but there was one question/concern that I didn't see addressed. They found that both groups (long and slow & short and intense) were basically equivalent, especially compared to the control; but they didn't address potential safety concerns or risk of injuries. Surely the group doing the short, intense workouts is at a substantially higher risk of injury. My biggest question would be, what is the added risk, and given that is it still a good "value proposition" overall? The sample size (total N = 25) is also kind of low. Interesting nonetheless... 1 - http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154075 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....
- eitally 10y ago
  I can offer an anecdotal answer: it depends. This is honestly an area where "individuals should speak with their physician before beginning any new intense physical exercise program." I'm a runner and a basketball player. In basketball, especially at the higher levels, fast twitch muscles and explosive bursts are favored ... which results in quite a bit of weight+sprint training and plyometrics. The common injuries you see are generally torque related: sprains, strains, ligament tears/detachments. In distance running, it's the opposite: slow twitch muscles and cardiovascular endurance are favored, resulting in some bits of high impact work but mostly just "putting in the miles". In this sport, the common injuries are related to overuse, poor physiodynamics (bad form), and congenital/degenerative problems (mostly joint-related). The short of it is probably something along these lines: not everyone is cut out to do well at both, so there will probably be a fairly obvious option for part of the population. For the majority who are "average", it probably pays to try both, but I'd insert a caveat that easing into a new training routine is CRITICAL and also that endurance sports carry risks that may not surface immediately but which can have long lasting impacts, so be careful, talk to experts, and pay attention to your body.
- smelterdemon 10y ago
  "Surely the group doing the short, intense workouts is at a substantially higher risk of injury." I'm not so sure about this. Anecdotally the most common injuries in running and biking are caused by repetition not excessive intensity.
acconrad 10y ago
It's a clickbaity title, because it's not really one total minute of exercise. What this is unraveling is the benefits of HIIT (high intensity interval training). They did a very basic and very minimal form of intervals, because they tested on a population of untrained, unadapted individuals. They basically did a: * 2 minute warmup * 20 seconds all out sprint * 120 seconds of slow pace to catch your breath * repeat 2 more times So in total, the "hard work" was 1 minute, but you're actually active and in the gym for about 10-11 minutes. The benefit here is the metabolic boost from strenuous work lasts much longer than steady-state cardio, and this has been observed in previous studies. The problem is that humans are incredibly adaptable - so 1 minute of hard exercise cannot be applied indefinitely. You will need to increase that time in order to see continuous benefits, as well as vary the amount of strenuous exercise that is continuously performed. Anyone who has never trained before is going to see benefit from some physical activity, but as soon as they are adapted, the benefits disappear without progressive loading.
- petra 10y ago
  Even with adaptation, would something like 10 minutes of the right exercise still suffice?
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- WalterSear 10y ago
  You assume there aren't ways to make exercise more strenuous.
  - Avshalom 10y ago
    That's why acconrad said "without progressive loading", that's the point you have to continually make it more strenuous.
  - acconrad 10y ago
    There's two ways to make exercise more strenuous: increase the load/intensity, or increase the duration/volume. So practically speaking for HIIT, if the premise here was you went "all out", you can't possible go more intense than "all out" because you gave a max effort. So the only other variable to fix is to do more of it.
fasteo 10y ago
I find it quite surprising that "tabata protocol" is not mentioned in the article or in the study[1]. For reference, this is the seminal work about high intensity interval training [2] [1] It appears as a reference though (ref 28.) [2] http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/1996/10000/Effects_of_moderate_intensity_endurance_and.18.aspx?sessionEnd=true http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/1996/10000/Effect...
- jackcosgrove 10y ago
  My first thought too. Tabata workouts are fantastic, and in my experience can achieve the same weight loss as much longer cardio workouts, with proportionally less stress on the joints.
jug5 10y ago
No one here will ever do EVEN "1 minute of all-out exercise"
rm999 10y ago
Ignoring the clickbait article, HIIT (high intensity interval training) is incredible. I did this routine 3-4 times a week for a couple months: http://www.fitocracy.com/knowledge/dr-layne-nortons-best-damn-cardio-humanly-possible-in-15-minutes/ http://www.fitocracy.com/knowledge/dr-layne-nortons-best-dam... and got my resting heartrate down to 48 from the mid 60s. The best part? This was from just 45-60 minutes a week of fairly easy exercise (compared to running) on a bike machine.
- nibs 10y ago
  Agreed with this. For me, to avoid adaption and based on how I feel, I get on the bike three times a week. I will pick a number of KM to target (1-5) and do it as fast as possible, with the goal of beating my prior benchmark, even by a second. And then I just let my body decide how fast or slow to go to manage my time, but beat my prior one. Feels amazing.
  - vlan0 10y ago
    You should try a HIIT version of your workout. The results might surprise you.
brandonb 10y ago
Although this is an interesting result, beware, n=25 for the whole study, which means there were only eight people per group. We did a data analysis on several thousand Apple Watch users, looking at whether step count or exercise intensity really drives one key outcome (a lower resting heart rate): http://blog.cardiogr.am/2016/02/12/do-you-really-need-10000-steps-a-day-2/ http://blog.cardiogr.am/2016/02/12/do-you-really-need-10000-... Like this study, our conclusion was that intensity matters most: you need to get your heart rate above 150 to get the best benefit. In our data set, 45 minutes of exercise per week was the "knee" of the curve. I'd actually love to run a scaled-up version of the NYT study. I think with wearables generating so much data, we really can start to answer questions like: "What is the best workout?" Or perhaps more importantly, "What is the best workout for you?"
- ASpring 10y ago
  > Although this is an interesting result, beware, n=25 for the whole study, which means there were only eight people per group. I'm so tired of this comment being made about every single study that finds itself on HN. It's a complete misunderstanding about how statistics work. The whole point is to use a small sample to say that something about the larger population.
  - vlan0 10y ago
    Pardon my ignorance, as my memory is a little foggy when it comes to statistics and scientific studies, but doesn't the sample size need to be large enough to represent the population? I forget exactly how that works.
    - TheCoelacanth 10y ago
      Yes, but virtually every published peer-reviewed study will have a large enough sample size and will have done the math to make sure that it is large enough. If it's the first thing that comes to the mind of random HN commenters who haven't even read the actual article, it's probably also going to occur to the experts writing and reviewing the article. Peer reviewed articles aren't perfect, but it's pretty arrogant to think that the authors and reviewers are so bad at research that you can find problems with them without even reading them.
marknutter 10y ago
I've been weightlifting all my life and I go through periods of very committed lifting followed by periods of working out whatsoever. These days I just don't have time to stick to a steady routine of lifting 2-3 times per week, so instead I've taken a different approach. When you think about it, a good portion of the time spent working out is getting ready; gathering your stuff up, getting to the gym, getting your clothes on, warming up, cooling down, taking your clothes off, maybe showering, leaving the gym to go back to wherever you need to be. This all adds up and turns what should be a quick 10-15 minute workout into an hour or more ordeal. So my new thing is to just work out immediately, in my clothes I'm wearing, in a space that's immediately accessible. I have a rack and weights in my basement and also a free workout space at work, so when I feel like I need a break from work or whatever, I just walk right over and knock out a few sets of the Stronglifts 5x5 routine in whatever I'm wearing at the time. It's very hard to use the excuse that I don't have time for it any more and I'm positive I'm getting just as much benefit.
- ianpurton 10y ago
  That makes sense to me, your body doesn't know where it is or what your wearing. Just time under load counts.
a_rad 10y ago
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154075 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.... In the paper the article references, it seems that the sample size is small . n<=9 in all the three groups (Sprint interval training, Moderate intensity , Control) in the test. This should make it really hard to generalize this result across the population , no?
edtechdev 10y ago
Here's a video showing interval training on an exercise bike https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeEHYdFhK4o&list=PL2Y4NA_zw1s3NKkUv-Wy5QgKpK3q6f2TH&index=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeEHYdFhK4o&list=PL2Y4NA_zw1... The way I've been doing it (I'm no expert), is after pedaling normally for a minute or two, I turn up the resistance and pedal all out for 30 seconds or so, then turn the resistance back down and pedal normally for a few minutes until my heart settles back down, then repeat a few times or so. I go more by distance than time. I try to pedal at least a mile, with high intensity bursts of at least a tenth of a mile or more. It will make you sweat and heart race if you are really going all out.
- Cyph0n 10y ago
  Has it been effective with you? I'm just looking to lose some weight and general fitness. I currently do 20-30 min of on-off jogging, followed by some light weight exercises for my upper body.
  - beachstartup 10y ago
    to lose weight with just exercise is extremely difficult. you need to count calories also. if you're not seeing results, that's why.
  - mrmincent 10y ago
    I can't speak for edtechdev, but it certainly has been effective for me. I've dropped about 20kg since christmas through a combination of diet changes and doing HIIT on an exercise bike 2 - 3 times a week. Obviously the diet has the most to do with the weight loss, but over the past 4 months I've gone from barely being able to do 30 seconds high intensity / 1:30m low over 20 minutes(total time), to being able to do 1 min high 1 min low at a higher resistance for around 40 minutes.
    - revelation 10y ago
      If you want weight loss, "HIIT" is of no use to you. The best track sprinters in the world can barely summon the power necessary for toasting a single slice of bread. Very few people have energy reserves >30kJ when doing work above VO2max. Meanwhile, you can just spin at 150W on a cycle trainer and burn >2 MJ (that's quite a few slices of toast) for every hour you put in.
nbschulze 10y ago
Forgive me if I'm wrong here, but all of the recent articles on HIIT seem so odd to me. I feel like a lot of these articles are geared for people to read and go 'Finally! I can get my entire workout done in one minute' and that's kind of missing the point. There's not really a way to cheat your body or find an easy way out of a workout. It's supposed to hurt and be hard, that's the idea. I don't think a lot of people truly understand what 'max effort' is and how hard HIIT actually is. I ran in college and we would do workouts like this once or twice in a season because of how hard they are on you. Nothing about this type of workout is supposed to be a way to get a quick workout in. It is, however, a great way to feel like your lungs are going to explode and an even better way to forget how to walk normally. If that's your thing, great! I try and do a workout like this every week. I just think it's a little dangerous to be preaching this type of workout to people who can't find the motivation to do a 20 minute jog. I have a hard time believing they're going to suddenly find the motivation to do the hardest workout they've ever done in their life. Nothing wrong with having some inexperience with exercise, HIIT is just not the right way to help a beginner 'get into shape'.
- jessriedel 10y ago
  I agree that many people don't understand what a 100% workout is, but "There's not really a way to cheat your body or find an easy way out of a workout" is unjustified by the evidence. It's suspiciously close to appealing to justice, e.g., "You won't get fit without hard work because you won't deserve it." People have swore by all sorts of unpleasant fitness regimes in the past which are later shown to be unproductive. Now, we have good reason to believe that you can't be an elite athlete without putting in lots of time, simply because elite athletes can be easily identified; we'd see more elite athlete with short training regimes if it was possible. But, like the incredibly muddied literature on nutrition, it's not at all clear how to optimize moderate (non-elite) exercise for long-term health benefits. We really don't know where the low-hanging fruit is, and its entirely possible that most people are wasting their time.
  - nbschulze 10y ago
    I think you're being a little nitpicky with my language here. And I in no way implied, "You won't get fit without hard work because you won't deserve it." Going for a short walk is still exercise and isn't all that hard. I suppose I'm a little unclear as to what exercises exist that you can put little effort in and get a lot out of. With regards to HIIT, it's been pitched as 'get fit quick', but without proper training in how to actually push yourself, it's kind of a moot point. My only real argument against any of this is that almost every article focuses on the time of the workout instead of the intensity of it and I think it misleads people who are looking for a more efficient way to get a workout in. The time of the workout is really irrelevant, the intensity involved is what makes it so effective. When people see these quick workouts and attempt to implement them, but don't see these amazing results that are promised, I'm sure it's incredibly frustrating. That could all be avoided by stating 'Hey, these workouts are really, really, really hard and they will be uncomfortable and you will be gasping for air'.
mjhoy 10y ago
It always surprises me how easy people take it at the gym, on bikes or the elliptical or the treadmill. Many read the newspaper or a book, hardly break a sweat, and seem to go for around an hour. I push myself pretty hard on the treadmill (I find it enjoyable with the right playlist) for at most 20 minutes, and I've never felt healthier.
ak217 10y ago
and there were significant increases in the number and function of certain microscopic structures in the men’s muscles that are related to energy production and oxygen consumption. AKA mitochondria - I thought that was an unnecessarily cryptic reference.
ainiriand 10y ago
I've been doing HIIT (freeletics.com) for over a year now and I can confirm that the effects on my body of only a few minutes a day of exercise are far beyond what I expected. I started as a weak person and in 8 weeks I could do pullups easily. Now I do 50 in less than 3 minutes. It is the most extenuating exercise that I can imagine in just about 8-10 minutes a day, 4 times per week.
- danielweber 10y ago
  Is there a way to use freeletics.com without Facebook?
  - xenonite 10y ago
    Yes, there is an option to sign up with only an email address.
not_that_noob 10y ago
For the people posting "sample size was only 25" and related comments, the below is from the PLOS abstract. p values <0.05 indicate that the results are not due to just chance. The p values of their results are quite low for the test group, but large for the control group. This indicates the results are statistically significant. "Results Peak oxygen uptake increased after training by 19% in both groups (SIT: 32±7 to 38±8; MICT: 34±6 to 40±8ml/kg/min; p<0.001 for both). Insulin sensitivity index (CSI), determined by intravenous glucose tolerance tests performed before and 72 hours after training, increased similarly after SIT (4.9±2.5 to 7.5±4.7, p = 0.002) and MICT (5.0±3.3 to 6.7±5.0 x 10−4 min-1 [μU/mL]-1, p = 0.013) (p<0.05). Skeletal muscle mitochondrial content also increased similarly after SIT and MICT, as primarily reflected by the maximal activity of citrate synthase (CS; P<0.001). The corresponding changes in the control group were small for VO2peak (p = 0.99), CSI (p = 0.63) and CS (p = 0.97)." http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154075 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....
- and-can 10y ago
  > p values <0.05 indicate that the results are not due to just chance This is not how p values are used. See Gelman: > The p-value does not tell you if the result was due to chance. It tells you whether the results are consistent with being due to chance. That is not the same thing at all. http://andrewgelman.com/2013/03/12/misunderstanding-the-p-value/ http://andrewgelman.com/2013/03/12/misunderstanding-the-p-va...
  - not_that_noob 10y ago
    Hence the use of the word 'indicate' - entirely consistent with your cut-n-paste.
martingoodson 10y ago
This is a very weak result indeed. The authors have made no attempt at accounting for multiple testing [1]. Any such correction, such as the Bonferroni, would likely result in a negative (and less headline-worthy) result. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_comparisons_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_comparisons_problem
hghar 10y ago
This is interesting but some studies has shown that longer cardio exercises as running for 20-30 min increase the production of neurons and gives you a clearer mind, of course this 1 min exercise is really attractive for the "I have only 5 min" people but I prefer the benefits from a long run.
js2 10y ago
Yesterday's submission to a different source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11583063 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11583063 McMaster press release ("No time to get fit? Think again"): http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/no-time-to-get-fit-think-again/ http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/no-time-to-get-fit-thin... Study ("Twelve Weeks of Sprint Interval Training Improves Indices of Cardiometabolic Health Similar to Traditional Endurance Training despite a Five-Fold Lower Exercise Volume and Time Commitment"): http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154075 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.... Also, consider watching Michael Mosley's documentary "The Truth About Exercise": https://vimeo.com/51836895 https://vimeo.com/51836895
joelthelion 10y ago
... in out of shape volunteers. I would be interested to know if the same is true for already fit people.
themgt 10y ago
My favorite is to use an elliptical machine, warm up a little then crank it to maximum resistance and just go as hard as I can until I'm done. I can induce a "runner's high" within a few minutes that feels amazing, and I prefer it to treadmill/cycle for the whole-body workout (you can really utilize arms/shoulders/back/core on the elliptical) I'm usually done within 10 minutes, and if I've been out of practice I can certainly feel it the next day.
revelation 10y ago
Ugh, this kind of "research" keeps coming up. Yes, if you take totally untrained people and subject them to your favorite exercising regime.. they will improve massively. This is pretty much true regardless of exercise regime. It tells you nothing about the effectiveness of your regime after that initial exponential bit of learning curve.
mrcactu5 10y ago
Isn't this the idea behind Crossfit? I was always surprised the workouts were actually quite short maybe 10-15 minutes total of movement. Yet strangely I was losing weight and toning up fast. From one week to the next. Even in a real gym -- if we subtract out all the time we spend changing our clothes, looking at our phones, talking to our friends, resting between sets, drinking water -- it only adds up to about 5-10 minutes of real exercise.
- SeripisChad 10y ago
  I workout at home (so no waiting on equipment) and am doing 2 minute rest period between sets. Since I track each start and end of each set with an App I can see my time under load. My average is 26% of the time is workout time and 74% is rest and reconfigure equipment.
nikkwong 10y ago
This should be especially confusing to HN readers because it wasn't just a few weeks ago that a similar article was posted on HN which reported that only prolonged exercise would have any positive effects on improving cognition, with HIIT purportedly having very minor effects on cognition. I assume that though many of us exercise for the health effects, many do so specifically for the benefits that exercise can have on our brains. Now after reading this study--well, it seems our entire understanding of the subject is inconclusive.
- nathan_f77 10y ago
  I would also assume that a lot of us barely exercise at all. (Myself included.) For people like us, jumping around and doing burpees for 1 minute every morning might seem something that's achievable, and could be a very positive thing.
nathan_f77 10y ago
This is very interesting. I'm all about avoiding monotonous, boring, and time-consuming exercise. At the risk of getting a small dopamine high by telling you about my plans and then not actually doing it, I'm going to try to make a new daily habit of stretching and then jumping around my house and doing burpees for 1 or 2 minutes at the beginning of the day. I've also been regularly using the Calm.com app for meditation practice. (It's less an app and more just a recorded voice walking you through some guided meditation.) But it's been really good, and I feel like it's having a positive effect on my day. I should also try to keep doing a few minutes on Duolingo. But man, forming habits is hard.
ninjavis 10y ago
I think everyone who regards this post's title as clickbait need to have their eyes checked. It clearly says, the benefits of "x" DURING exercise. In other words, incorporating this one minute superblast into your already active session will lead to the benefit. Sheesh!
ninjavis 10y ago
I think everyone who regards this post's title as clickbait need to have their eyes checked. It clearly says, the benefits of "x" DURING exercise. In other words, incorporating this one minute superblast into your already active session will lead to the benefit. Sheesh!
todd8 10y ago
I really like reading these articles but the comments here on HN provide even more helpful suggestions and links. As an ex marathon runner, I'd like to add a few comments on my personal experiences which in summary are: interval training helped me achieve my goals, I kept total milage down to avoid injuries, and it would have been impossible for me to do a marathon without the long slow runs every other week. Here are more details for those that are interested: I started at age 50 and used the run/walk/run method promulgated by Jeff Galloway[1]. This worked well and I ran my first marathon in 3:48 (and lost about 25 pounds), not bad for 50 year old programmer's first real try at running. The walking phases (about 1 minute out of every 10) seemed kind of amateurish and so I stopped doing the run/walk/run method but found it difficult in the subsequent years to do any better than my first marathon--the run/walk/run method really works. I finally qualified for and ran the Boston Marathon. I changed my training for this and added more intervals at a track and on hills. I kept the total milage below around 35 miles/week just to prevent overuse injuries to my aging body. For an event like a marathon, the long, low intensity runs seem very important. They thicken the skin on ones feet preventing blisters, they exercise the small supporting muscles of the legs and feet which eventually adapt to running on pavement for 26 miles without failing, and they give one practice at efficient running style (staying relaxed and not over striding, etc.). Furthermore, just getting a handle on ones long-distance physiology is important, and the long runs give practice with water consumption, salt intake, snacking to avoid bonking, dressing for the weather, and bathroom management. [1] http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/run-walk/ http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/run-walk/
ddmma 10y ago
I guess they are referring to a climax point and that momentum must be built up.

175 points by tosseraccount 10y ago

One question not answered is whether this regime has similar long-term health benefits to a longer exercise regime. They would need to compare long-term mortality rates to really see if it is as beneficial.

Gratsby 10y ago

This is good. That's all I have in me.

cloudjacker 10y ago

1 minute to heart attack

oarsinsync 10y ago

1 minute of hard exercise spread out over 9 minutes of gentle exercise. Still, sign me up!

jchendy 10y ago
Yeah, the title is definitely misleading, but I agree that it's still really helpful info.

matwood 10y ago

This is probably part of the reason why power lifting is so beneficial. If you are doing near maximal weight for few reps, every set is very hard exercise. The problem I have seen with intervals training is that few people really go all out.

jly 10y ago
> The problem I have seen with intervals training is that few people really go all out. Just because the duration of high-intensity interval exercise is short (maybe 10-20 minutes vs 45-60 minutes), it doesn't mean it's easy. In my experience, this is the most difficult type of exercise to do because of the amount of mental conditioning it requires to push yourself that hard, especially beyond the first couple of intense intervals. Like the commenter above stated, many people do not go all out enough to get the maximum desired benefit. What's new here in this study is how little or how few intense intervals may be required to get a large benefit, which may make it more attainable.
ChemicalWarfare 10y ago
exactly. the thing is though before you get to your 80%+ of your RM work sets you'll be in the gym for 30-45 min (or risk an injury on top of already reasonably high risk of getting injured).
- matwood 10y ago
  I have been power lifting (deads, squats, bench, OH press) in addition to beach lifts for 10+ years. I have never needed 30-45 minutes to warm up. Ever. I have also never been hurt lifting. It is much safer than the stupidity I see with XFit. The key is good form and gradually warm up to work weight. I was doing okay DL singles in the #405 range the other day, and it only takes a few sets to get to work weight. If someone can DL #405, they are not adding #10 each set to warmup.
  - ChemicalWarfare 10y ago
    I pulled/squatted in a 5-plate range which ain't much by any serious standards for a 242lbs lifter so I'm just mentioning the numbers to put things in perspective as it isn't something to brag about :) So typically my GPP workouts - pull-ups, curls, direct triceps work etc would take 45 min tops. PL workouts (5/3/1 or Cube style) would typically take about the same time or longer with less work sets - warm up, rest between the sets etc. The only PL workouts that were shorter than that for me were the PR style workouts where I'd warm up, try for the PR, go home. Serious lifters (the likes of Elitefts crew) take forever to warm up but then again they are moving some insane weights. We're literally talking going up in quarters from 125 up to 600+ for the bench with 2-3 minute rest intervals once they get above 405 and sometimes would start going up in dimes from there.
forgetsusername 10y ago
>The problem I have seen with intervals training is that few people really go all out. This is the problem with exercise in general. You can get in shape doing practically anything if you put in maximum effort. The key is to work hard.
NDizzle 10y ago
What would really help is if the exercise machines were geared towards interval training. That makes me wonder if I can program my somewhat fancy elliptical. Why don't we have a machine that you can program from your phone yet? It has like 20 built in things, none of which are optimal for what I want to do, why can't I create a new program with an app and upload it to the machine?! Time to do some research!
- matwood 10y ago
  You don't need a machine other than a watch. You can use almost any exercise. Keep a thirds ratio. So 1 minute full, 2 minutes not full. Or 20 seconds full, 40 seconds not full. I have used the treadmill and just ran. Or the stationary bike. Or when I want to really get at it I'll use the treadmill at a jog for my 'rest' and do my full on with heavy DB snatches or something. It is really not that complicated, and only requires that someone put in some effort.

gaius 10y ago

... In untrained people.

beachstartup 10y ago
thanks, bro. but according to my handy dandy anecdata, that's about 99% of the population and about 100% of the people who need the exercise.
- danielweber 10y ago
  What is the name for the exercise-world equivalent of foodies?
jchendy 10y ago
Do we know anything about how people who are already fit respond to this kind of exercise?
- acconrad 10y ago
  It works for everyone. Bodybuilders use HIIT as a way to cut fat by getting a lot of work done in a short amount of time (this is also great conditioning work for athletes too). The difference is a fit person who is adapted to exercise will need to do more of it to see a benefit.
  - gaius 10y ago
    1 minute per day? Shenanigans.
    - acconrad 10y ago
      I never said one minute per day works. I said that interval training also works for fit people.
    - soundwave106 10y ago
      As pointed out above, 1 minute per day is clickbait. The study used 10 minutes per session. If you are fit, you probably will need more than a 3x20s session on a stationary bike as well. HIIT "works". Even with fit people. Probably especially with fit people. Think how sprinters train for instance. It's a bit hyped now of course. I've seen a lot on the web that puts together a standard circuit training type exercise and calls it as "HIIT". Wrong. Nothing wrong with circuits at all, they are great, but you're not going to get to 90% heart rate with planks. :) "Works" too depends on your goals. "Just HIIT" is better than nothing, I'm sure. But HIIT is (typically) cardio; for best benefit, you would also strength train and do some mobility / flexibility training as well. Diet is an important part of fitness as well. I'll be honest, I personally think HIIT is a better solution for the modestly fit versus the completely untrained. HIIT is much more physically demanding than a standard circuit or jog. Consequently, I think there is a greater possibility of "overtraining" or over-exerting yourself, perhaps to the point of injury. It really shouldn't be "1 minute per day" for instance because 24 hours is probably not enough time for most people to recover from a legitimate HIIT session.

mgberlin 10y ago

The headline is clickbait. It's a huge stretch to say that the volunteers engaged in 1 minute of hard exercise. The workout was: "[they] warmed up for two minutes on stationary bicycles, then pedaled as hard as possible for 20 seconds; rode at a very slow pace for two minutes, sprinted all-out again for 20 seconds; recovered with slow riding for another two minutes; pedaled all-out for a final 20 seconds; then cooled down for three minutes." Sure, the exertions total to one minute, but the recovery periods and cooldown are a very important aspect of the workout. Muscles are still burning glucose and oxygen, clearing lactic acid, and generally doing all the things that exercise is good for during this time.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
mindcrime 10y ago
"[they] warmed up for two minutes on stationary bicycles, then pedaled as hard as possible for 20 seconds; rode at a very slow pace for two minutes, sprinted all-out again for 20 seconds; recovered with slow riding for another two minutes; pedaled all-out for a final 20 seconds; then cooled down for three minutes." Sounds very similar to the Tabata interval protocol, with the difference being the extended rest period between the "sprint" sections. I have done a variation of this in my own training in the past. It works really well on an elliptical trainer. My subjective feeling is that training this way works pretty well for building endurance and burning fat.
mathattack 10y ago
For all the complaints on methodology, I think the biggest issue is sample size. 25 people?
collinmanderson 10y ago
So actually longer than the "7 minute workout". :)
ASpring 10y ago
Exactly. Let alone the fact that they are using completely untrained individuals, where doing any amount exercise will result in the adaptations they check for. Wish there was a third group that simply did 10 minutes exercise at the same exertion as the endurance group.

adanto6840 10y ago

I very briefly skimmed the linked study[1] -- love that they actually linked to the study, especially love that the study is published openly, for free -- but there was one question/concern that I didn't see addressed. They found that both groups (long and slow & short and intense) were basically equivalent, especially compared to the control; but they didn't address potential safety concerns or risk of injuries. Surely the group doing the short, intense workouts is at a substantially higher risk of injury. My biggest question would be, what is the added risk, and given that is it still a good "value proposition" overall? The sample size (total N = 25) is also kind of low. Interesting nonetheless... 1 - http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154075 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....

eitally 10y ago
I can offer an anecdotal answer: it depends. This is honestly an area where "individuals should speak with their physician before beginning any new intense physical exercise program." I'm a runner and a basketball player. In basketball, especially at the higher levels, fast twitch muscles and explosive bursts are favored ... which results in quite a bit of weight+sprint training and plyometrics. The common injuries you see are generally torque related: sprains, strains, ligament tears/detachments. In distance running, it's the opposite: slow twitch muscles and cardiovascular endurance are favored, resulting in some bits of high impact work but mostly just "putting in the miles". In this sport, the common injuries are related to overuse, poor physiodynamics (bad form), and congenital/degenerative problems (mostly joint-related). The short of it is probably something along these lines: not everyone is cut out to do well at both, so there will probably be a fairly obvious option for part of the population. For the majority who are "average", it probably pays to try both, but I'd insert a caveat that easing into a new training routine is CRITICAL and also that endurance sports carry risks that may not surface immediately but which can have long lasting impacts, so be careful, talk to experts, and pay attention to your body.
smelterdemon 10y ago
"Surely the group doing the short, intense workouts is at a substantially higher risk of injury." I'm not so sure about this. Anecdotally the most common injuries in running and biking are caused by repetition not excessive intensity.

acconrad 10y ago

It's a clickbaity title, because it's not really one total minute of exercise. What this is unraveling is the benefits of HIIT (high intensity interval training). They did a very basic and very minimal form of intervals, because they tested on a population of untrained, unadapted individuals. They basically did a: * 2 minute warmup * 20 seconds all out sprint * 120 seconds of slow pace to catch your breath * repeat 2 more times So in total, the "hard work" was 1 minute, but you're actually active and in the gym for about 10-11 minutes. The benefit here is the metabolic boost from strenuous work lasts much longer than steady-state cardio, and this has been observed in previous studies. The problem is that humans are incredibly adaptable - so 1 minute of hard exercise cannot be applied indefinitely. You will need to increase that time in order to see continuous benefits, as well as vary the amount of strenuous exercise that is continuously performed. Anyone who has never trained before is going to see benefit from some physical activity, but as soon as they are adapted, the benefits disappear without progressive loading.

petra 10y ago
Even with adaptation, would something like 10 minutes of the right exercise still suffice?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
WalterSear 10y ago
You assume there aren't ways to make exercise more strenuous.
- Avshalom 10y ago
  That's why acconrad said "without progressive loading", that's the point you have to continually make it more strenuous.
- acconrad 10y ago
  There's two ways to make exercise more strenuous: increase the load/intensity, or increase the duration/volume. So practically speaking for HIIT, if the premise here was you went "all out", you can't possible go more intense than "all out" because you gave a max effort. So the only other variable to fix is to do more of it.

fasteo 10y ago

I find it quite surprising that "tabata protocol" is not mentioned in the article or in the study[1]. For reference, this is the seminal work about high intensity interval training [2] [1] It appears as a reference though (ref 28.) [2] http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/1996/10000/Effects_of_moderate_intensity_endurance_and.18.aspx?sessionEnd=true http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/1996/10000/Effect...

jackcosgrove 10y ago
My first thought too. Tabata workouts are fantastic, and in my experience can achieve the same weight loss as much longer cardio workouts, with proportionally less stress on the joints.

jug5 10y ago

No one here will ever do EVEN "1 minute of all-out exercise"

rm999 10y ago

Ignoring the clickbait article, HIIT (high intensity interval training) is incredible. I did this routine 3-4 times a week for a couple months: http://www.fitocracy.com/knowledge/dr-layne-nortons-best-damn-cardio-humanly-possible-in-15-minutes/ http://www.fitocracy.com/knowledge/dr-layne-nortons-best-dam... and got my resting heartrate down to 48 from the mid 60s. The best part? This was from just 45-60 minutes a week of fairly easy exercise (compared to running) on a bike machine.

nibs 10y ago
Agreed with this. For me, to avoid adaption and based on how I feel, I get on the bike three times a week. I will pick a number of KM to target (1-5) and do it as fast as possible, with the goal of beating my prior benchmark, even by a second. And then I just let my body decide how fast or slow to go to manage my time, but beat my prior one. Feels amazing.
- vlan0 10y ago
  You should try a HIIT version of your workout. The results might surprise you.

brandonb 10y ago

Although this is an interesting result, beware, n=25 for the whole study, which means there were only eight people per group. We did a data analysis on several thousand Apple Watch users, looking at whether step count or exercise intensity really drives one key outcome (a lower resting heart rate): http://blog.cardiogr.am/2016/02/12/do-you-really-need-10000-steps-a-day-2/ http://blog.cardiogr.am/2016/02/12/do-you-really-need-10000-... Like this study, our conclusion was that intensity matters most: you need to get your heart rate above 150 to get the best benefit. In our data set, 45 minutes of exercise per week was the "knee" of the curve. I'd actually love to run a scaled-up version of the NYT study. I think with wearables generating so much data, we really can start to answer questions like: "What is the best workout?" Or perhaps more importantly, "What is the best workout for you?"

ASpring 10y ago
> Although this is an interesting result, beware, n=25 for the whole study, which means there were only eight people per group. I'm so tired of this comment being made about every single study that finds itself on HN. It's a complete misunderstanding about how statistics work. The whole point is to use a small sample to say that something about the larger population.
- vlan0 10y ago
  Pardon my ignorance, as my memory is a little foggy when it comes to statistics and scientific studies, but doesn't the sample size need to be large enough to represent the population? I forget exactly how that works.
  - TheCoelacanth 10y ago
    Yes, but virtually every published peer-reviewed study will have a large enough sample size and will have done the math to make sure that it is large enough. If it's the first thing that comes to the mind of random HN commenters who haven't even read the actual article, it's probably also going to occur to the experts writing and reviewing the article. Peer reviewed articles aren't perfect, but it's pretty arrogant to think that the authors and reviewers are so bad at research that you can find problems with them without even reading them.

marknutter 10y ago

I've been weightlifting all my life and I go through periods of very committed lifting followed by periods of working out whatsoever. These days I just don't have time to stick to a steady routine of lifting 2-3 times per week, so instead I've taken a different approach. When you think about it, a good portion of the time spent working out is getting ready; gathering your stuff up, getting to the gym, getting your clothes on, warming up, cooling down, taking your clothes off, maybe showering, leaving the gym to go back to wherever you need to be. This all adds up and turns what should be a quick 10-15 minute workout into an hour or more ordeal. So my new thing is to just work out immediately, in my clothes I'm wearing, in a space that's immediately accessible. I have a rack and weights in my basement and also a free workout space at work, so when I feel like I need a break from work or whatever, I just walk right over and knock out a few sets of the Stronglifts 5x5 routine in whatever I'm wearing at the time. It's very hard to use the excuse that I don't have time for it any more and I'm positive I'm getting just as much benefit.

ianpurton 10y ago
That makes sense to me, your body doesn't know where it is or what your wearing. Just time under load counts.

a_rad 10y ago

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154075 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.... In the paper the article references, it seems that the sample size is small . n<=9 in all the three groups (Sprint interval training, Moderate intensity , Control) in the test. This should make it really hard to generalize this result across the population , no?

edtechdev 10y ago

Here's a video showing interval training on an exercise bike https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeEHYdFhK4o&list=PL2Y4NA_zw1s3NKkUv-Wy5QgKpK3q6f2TH&index=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeEHYdFhK4o&list=PL2Y4NA_zw1... The way I've been doing it (I'm no expert), is after pedaling normally for a minute or two, I turn up the resistance and pedal all out for 30 seconds or so, then turn the resistance back down and pedal normally for a few minutes until my heart settles back down, then repeat a few times or so. I go more by distance than time. I try to pedal at least a mile, with high intensity bursts of at least a tenth of a mile or more. It will make you sweat and heart race if you are really going all out.

Cyph0n 10y ago
Has it been effective with you? I'm just looking to lose some weight and general fitness. I currently do 20-30 min of on-off jogging, followed by some light weight exercises for my upper body.
- beachstartup 10y ago
  to lose weight with just exercise is extremely difficult. you need to count calories also. if you're not seeing results, that's why.
- mrmincent 10y ago
  I can't speak for edtechdev, but it certainly has been effective for me. I've dropped about 20kg since christmas through a combination of diet changes and doing HIIT on an exercise bike 2 - 3 times a week. Obviously the diet has the most to do with the weight loss, but over the past 4 months I've gone from barely being able to do 30 seconds high intensity / 1:30m low over 20 minutes(total time), to being able to do 1 min high 1 min low at a higher resistance for around 40 minutes.
  - revelation 10y ago
    If you want weight loss, "HIIT" is of no use to you. The best track sprinters in the world can barely summon the power necessary for toasting a single slice of bread. Very few people have energy reserves >30kJ when doing work above VO2max. Meanwhile, you can just spin at 150W on a cycle trainer and burn >2 MJ (that's quite a few slices of toast) for every hour you put in.

nbschulze 10y ago

Forgive me if I'm wrong here, but all of the recent articles on HIIT seem so odd to me. I feel like a lot of these articles are geared for people to read and go 'Finally! I can get my entire workout done in one minute' and that's kind of missing the point. There's not really a way to cheat your body or find an easy way out of a workout. It's supposed to hurt and be hard, that's the idea. I don't think a lot of people truly understand what 'max effort' is and how hard HIIT actually is. I ran in college and we would do workouts like this once or twice in a season because of how hard they are on you. Nothing about this type of workout is supposed to be a way to get a quick workout in. It is, however, a great way to feel like your lungs are going to explode and an even better way to forget how to walk normally. If that's your thing, great! I try and do a workout like this every week. I just think it's a little dangerous to be preaching this type of workout to people who can't find the motivation to do a 20 minute jog. I have a hard time believing they're going to suddenly find the motivation to do the hardest workout they've ever done in their life. Nothing wrong with having some inexperience with exercise, HIIT is just not the right way to help a beginner 'get into shape'.

jessriedel 10y ago
I agree that many people don't understand what a 100% workout is, but "There's not really a way to cheat your body or find an easy way out of a workout" is unjustified by the evidence. It's suspiciously close to appealing to justice, e.g., "You won't get fit without hard work because you won't deserve it." People have swore by all sorts of unpleasant fitness regimes in the past which are later shown to be unproductive. Now, we have good reason to believe that you can't be an elite athlete without putting in lots of time, simply because elite athletes can be easily identified; we'd see more elite athlete with short training regimes if it was possible. But, like the incredibly muddied literature on nutrition, it's not at all clear how to optimize moderate (non-elite) exercise for long-term health benefits. We really don't know where the low-hanging fruit is, and its entirely possible that most people are wasting their time.
- nbschulze 10y ago
  I think you're being a little nitpicky with my language here. And I in no way implied, "You won't get fit without hard work because you won't deserve it." Going for a short walk is still exercise and isn't all that hard. I suppose I'm a little unclear as to what exercises exist that you can put little effort in and get a lot out of. With regards to HIIT, it's been pitched as 'get fit quick', but without proper training in how to actually push yourself, it's kind of a moot point. My only real argument against any of this is that almost every article focuses on the time of the workout instead of the intensity of it and I think it misleads people who are looking for a more efficient way to get a workout in. The time of the workout is really irrelevant, the intensity involved is what makes it so effective. When people see these quick workouts and attempt to implement them, but don't see these amazing results that are promised, I'm sure it's incredibly frustrating. That could all be avoided by stating 'Hey, these workouts are really, really, really hard and they will be uncomfortable and you will be gasping for air'.

mjhoy 10y ago

It always surprises me how easy people take it at the gym, on bikes or the elliptical or the treadmill. Many read the newspaper or a book, hardly break a sweat, and seem to go for around an hour. I push myself pretty hard on the treadmill (I find it enjoyable with the right playlist) for at most 20 minutes, and I've never felt healthier.

ak217 10y ago

and there were significant increases in the number and function of certain microscopic structures in the men’s muscles that are related to energy production and oxygen consumption. AKA mitochondria - I thought that was an unnecessarily cryptic reference.

ainiriand 10y ago

I've been doing HIIT (freeletics.com) for over a year now and I can confirm that the effects on my body of only a few minutes a day of exercise are far beyond what I expected. I started as a weak person and in 8 weeks I could do pullups easily. Now I do 50 in less than 3 minutes. It is the most extenuating exercise that I can imagine in just about 8-10 minutes a day, 4 times per week.

danielweber 10y ago
Is there a way to use freeletics.com without Facebook?
- xenonite 10y ago
  Yes, there is an option to sign up with only an email address.

not_that_noob 10y ago

For the people posting "sample size was only 25" and related comments, the below is from the PLOS abstract. p values <0.05 indicate that the results are not due to just chance. The p values of their results are quite low for the test group, but large for the control group. This indicates the results are statistically significant. "Results Peak oxygen uptake increased after training by 19% in both groups (SIT: 32±7 to 38±8; MICT: 34±6 to 40±8ml/kg/min; p<0.001 for both). Insulin sensitivity index (CSI), determined by intravenous glucose tolerance tests performed before and 72 hours after training, increased similarly after SIT (4.9±2.5 to 7.5±4.7, p = 0.002) and MICT (5.0±3.3 to 6.7±5.0 x 10−4 min-1 [μU/mL]-1, p = 0.013) (p<0.05). Skeletal muscle mitochondrial content also increased similarly after SIT and MICT, as primarily reflected by the maximal activity of citrate synthase (CS; P<0.001). The corresponding changes in the control group were small for VO2peak (p = 0.99), CSI (p = 0.63) and CS (p = 0.97)." http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154075 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....

and-can 10y ago
> p values <0.05 indicate that the results are not due to just chance This is not how p values are used. See Gelman: > The p-value does not tell you if the result was due to chance. It tells you whether the results are consistent with being due to chance. That is not the same thing at all. http://andrewgelman.com/2013/03/12/misunderstanding-the-p-value/ http://andrewgelman.com/2013/03/12/misunderstanding-the-p-va...
- not_that_noob 10y ago
  Hence the use of the word 'indicate' - entirely consistent with your cut-n-paste.

martingoodson 10y ago

This is a very weak result indeed. The authors have made no attempt at accounting for multiple testing [1]. Any such correction, such as the Bonferroni, would likely result in a negative (and less headline-worthy) result. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_comparisons_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_comparisons_problem

hghar 10y ago

This is interesting but some studies has shown that longer cardio exercises as running for 20-30 min increase the production of neurons and gives you a clearer mind, of course this 1 min exercise is really attractive for the "I have only 5 min" people but I prefer the benefits from a long run.

js2 10y ago

Yesterday's submission to a different source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11583063 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11583063 McMaster press release ("No time to get fit? Think again"): http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/no-time-to-get-fit-think-again/ http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/no-time-to-get-fit-thin... Study ("Twelve Weeks of Sprint Interval Training Improves Indices of Cardiometabolic Health Similar to Traditional Endurance Training despite a Five-Fold Lower Exercise Volume and Time Commitment"): http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154075 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.... Also, consider watching Michael Mosley's documentary "The Truth About Exercise": https://vimeo.com/51836895 https://vimeo.com/51836895

joelthelion 10y ago

... in out of shape volunteers. I would be interested to know if the same is true for already fit people.

themgt 10y ago

My favorite is to use an elliptical machine, warm up a little then crank it to maximum resistance and just go as hard as I can until I'm done. I can induce a "runner's high" within a few minutes that feels amazing, and I prefer it to treadmill/cycle for the whole-body workout (you can really utilize arms/shoulders/back/core on the elliptical) I'm usually done within 10 minutes, and if I've been out of practice I can certainly feel it the next day.

revelation 10y ago

Ugh, this kind of "research" keeps coming up. Yes, if you take totally untrained people and subject them to your favorite exercising regime.. they will improve massively. This is pretty much true regardless of exercise regime. It tells you nothing about the effectiveness of your regime after that initial exponential bit of learning curve.

mrcactu5 10y ago

Isn't this the idea behind Crossfit? I was always surprised the workouts were actually quite short maybe 10-15 minutes total of movement. Yet strangely I was losing weight and toning up fast. From one week to the next. Even in a real gym -- if we subtract out all the time we spend changing our clothes, looking at our phones, talking to our friends, resting between sets, drinking water -- it only adds up to about 5-10 minutes of real exercise.

SeripisChad 10y ago
I workout at home (so no waiting on equipment) and am doing 2 minute rest period between sets. Since I track each start and end of each set with an App I can see my time under load. My average is 26% of the time is workout time and 74% is rest and reconfigure equipment.

nikkwong 10y ago

This should be especially confusing to HN readers because it wasn't just a few weeks ago that a similar article was posted on HN which reported that only prolonged exercise would have any positive effects on improving cognition, with HIIT purportedly having very minor effects on cognition. I assume that though many of us exercise for the health effects, many do so specifically for the benefits that exercise can have on our brains. Now after reading this study--well, it seems our entire understanding of the subject is inconclusive.

nathan_f77 10y ago
I would also assume that a lot of us barely exercise at all. (Myself included.) For people like us, jumping around and doing burpees for 1 minute every morning might seem something that's achievable, and could be a very positive thing.

nathan_f77 10y ago

This is very interesting. I'm all about avoiding monotonous, boring, and time-consuming exercise. At the risk of getting a small dopamine high by telling you about my plans and then not actually doing it, I'm going to try to make a new daily habit of stretching and then jumping around my house and doing burpees for 1 or 2 minutes at the beginning of the day. I've also been regularly using the Calm.com app for meditation practice. (It's less an app and more just a recorded voice walking you through some guided meditation.) But it's been really good, and I feel like it's having a positive effect on my day. I should also try to keep doing a few minutes on Duolingo. But man, forming habits is hard.

ninjavis 10y ago

I think everyone who regards this post's title as clickbait need to have their eyes checked. It clearly says, the benefits of "x" DURING exercise. In other words, incorporating this one minute superblast into your already active session will lead to the benefit. Sheesh!

ninjavis 10y ago

todd8 10y ago

I really like reading these articles but the comments here on HN provide even more helpful suggestions and links. As an ex marathon runner, I'd like to add a few comments on my personal experiences which in summary are: interval training helped me achieve my goals, I kept total milage down to avoid injuries, and it would have been impossible for me to do a marathon without the long slow runs every other week. Here are more details for those that are interested: I started at age 50 and used the run/walk/run method promulgated by Jeff Galloway[1]. This worked well and I ran my first marathon in 3:48 (and lost about 25 pounds), not bad for 50 year old programmer's first real try at running. The walking phases (about 1 minute out of every 10) seemed kind of amateurish and so I stopped doing the run/walk/run method but found it difficult in the subsequent years to do any better than my first marathon--the run/walk/run method really works. I finally qualified for and ran the Boston Marathon. I changed my training for this and added more intervals at a track and on hills. I kept the total milage below around 35 miles/week just to prevent overuse injuries to my aging body. For an event like a marathon, the long, low intensity runs seem very important. They thicken the skin on ones feet preventing blisters, they exercise the small supporting muscles of the legs and feet which eventually adapt to running on pavement for 26 miles without failing, and they give one practice at efficient running style (staying relaxed and not over striding, etc.). Furthermore, just getting a handle on ones long-distance physiology is important, and the long runs give practice with water consumption, salt intake, snacking to avoid bonking, dressing for the weather, and bathroom management. [1] http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/run-walk/ http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/run-walk/

ddmma 10y ago

I guess they are referring to a climax point and that momentum must be built up.