High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has become increasingly popular as it’s a quick and effective way to improve health.
This is all the more important as countries around the world emerge from lockdowns due to coronavirus and are looking for a quick and easy way to exercise again.
The current World Health Organization (WHO) physical activity guidelines (150-300 minutes of moderate activity/week or 75-100 minutes of vigorous activity/week) may be unattainable for a large portion of the population who are time poor due to family or work commitments.
In a new study from Western Sydney University, researchers found that low-volume HIIT (typically involving less than ~20 minutes total exercise time—inclusive of warm up and cool down) yields comparable improvements to interventions meeting the current guidelines despite requiring significantly less time.
As HIIT involves active periods of work interspersed with recovery periods, the researchers defined low-volume HIIT as interventions that included less than 15 minutes of high-intensity exercise per session (not including recovery periods).
The team found that as little as four minutes of HIIT 3 times per week for 12 weeks significantly improved blood sugar levels, fat in the liver, and cardiorespiratory fitness in adults with type 2 diabetes.
They also showed that these improvements were comparable to an intervention involving 45 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise.
Beyond its effect on metabolic health, the new review reported that low-volume HIIT can also improve heart function and arterial health.
The team says that low-volume HIIT is a safe way to exercise, including in populations with metabolic and heart problems, but individuals should always determine their individual suitability for such programs with their health care professional.
This research was performed by collating and critically appraising over a decade’s worth of research on the topic.
Many of the participants in the study published in Diabetes Care reported being in disbelief over how short the training was yet how great they felt after training.
If you care about exercise, please read studies about this walking exercise can make older people healthy and fit and findings of this exercise is vital to improving older people’s health and longevity.
For more information about exercise and your health, please see recent studies about to prevent dementia, pay attention to your exercise intensity and results showing that doing this exercise for 20 minutes is best for your brain.
The study is published in the Journal of Physiology. One author of the study is Dr. Angelo Sabag.
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