Exercise

We must all do long grueling hours of exercise to stay slim and healthy, right? WRONG! Once again, if we look to evolution for logical answers, we find that throughout the animal kingdom, animals, including humans, used exercise for two purposes: play and survival. Almost without exception, these activities are is “stop-start”. There are no animals working out with a steady Target Heart Rate for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or 60 minutes etc. Animals show bursts of activity, interspersed by rest. Once again, through survival of the fittest, animals, including humans, have adapted so that maximal health comes from this type of stop-start activity.

The form of exercise which that most closely approximates this natural activity is interval workouts. These are workouts where brief bouts of intense exercise are interspersed with rest.

You can walk and run outdoors or on a treadmill in the gym. The workout would consist of a warm-up of a few minutes of moderate activity (walking at a pace where you can whistle or speak fairly comfortably). Then you would increase the intensity (jogging or even running for 20-60 seconds. If you are running almost all out you could aim for 20 seconds. If you are jogging at a more moderate pace where talking or whistling would be difficult, 60 seconds would be a reasonable goal). You would then slow down to a walk again for several minutes until you are breathing more comfortably. This process would be repeated four to six times followed by a few minutes of comfortable walking as a cool-down.

That's it! The entire workout would last 20 minutes or a bit more depending on the number of intervals completed. The same principles could be adapted to an elliptical trainer, an exercise bike or even a swimming pool. This could be repeated two or three times a week. Of course, do not start out these intervals at top speed until you have trained your body to withstand the intensity. The fast intervals should initially be at a very moderate pace until muscles and joints are ready. You should always consult with your physician before starting any exercise program.

Is this workout difficult? It certainly can be intense! However, the intense part lasts only 20 to 60 seconds. When I ask patients how they feel about 60 minutes of exercise per day (the usual expert recommendations), they usually groan. But, when I ask patients if they can stand 20 seconds at a time, they usually say "Sure!". After an interval session, patients are often energized rather than exhausted. A side bonus is that metabolism is raised for 48 hours after these workouts leading to increased fat burning and weight loss!