According to scientists, these short spells need to be high intensity training sessions (HIT), also called ‘micro training sessions’ and can include activities like spending 60 seconds on an exercise bike, 12 times.
Researchers at the McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, found that if the exerciser spent the short time working out to their maximum heart rate their muscles improved as much as if they had been involved in endurance training.
The study findings published in the Journal of Physiology, said it was not clear why HIT was so effective but it appeared to “stimulate many of the same cellular pathways” as traditional training regimes. Says researcher Professor Martin Gibala, “It is now possible to get more by doing less and a lack of free time was no longer an excuse for refusing to exercise.”
He further added: “This less extreme, high-intensity method may work well for older, less fit and slightly overweight people whose doctors might have worries about them exercising “all-out.”