“No time to work out” your excuse? Think again.

March 19, 2010

Adidas Candy Collection watches, $65 each (Photo: Grant Comett/Real Simple)

You don’t need to spend lots of time working out if you’re doing high-intensity interval training, as studies have shown. Thing is, it’s that “high intensity” part that’s never appealed to me that much.

But research from McMaster University published in the current issue of The Journal of Physiology has found that interval training doesn’t have to be going all-out in order for it to be effective. The intensity should still demanding — out of the comfort zone for most average peeps.

To put it into perspective, the research authors say we have to work out at about 95 percent maximal heart rate, which is, for example, only about half of the intensity of sprinting at an all-out pace. 

The compromise? You have to increase the workout time. But I’ll go with more minutes at a more moderate intensity any day.

Filed under: Fitness Swellness,Healthy Swellness

Tags: Adidas, exercise, intensity, interval training, physical fitness, time, workout