Only Five Minutes
December 27th 2006 11:35
I just love reading or seeing fitness ads that proclaim that you can get fit in just 15,10,or even 5 minutes a day. I have a notion that their intent is different than mine, but these advertisers are on to something. The word for a fast,but effective, workout intensity. If you can get the hang of intensity you will be able to get a lot of good out of a 15 minute workout. If you don't, you will be wasting the little bit of time you are investing.
The product salesmen are on to this as well: Say to someone that they are going to have to spend an hour a day on your product and you will not make a sale. If you are out of shape and you envision an hour of exertion every day you will never-not ever-get into shape again. Similarly, if you think you can lollygag around for 15 minutes and get any result that you wish, you are off the track as well.
The word again is intensity. Your body will adapt to that which is required by your activity. The people who jog by my house at a pace at which they could walk are a good example. They are being long on time and short on intensity. What are their bodies being told by these long, slow jaunts? That there are long hours of this in the future. The body must respond by jettisoning all the weight it can and by assuring it will have enough energy to complete its task. It does this by getting rid of muscle which weighs it down. There go the arms and chest etc.(I suspect that the bones are getting the same message, but I am not sure.) Stores of fat, however, are shepherded more carefully than the jogger would probably prefer. If it runs too much the body will suffer a disaster of total energy shutdown. It prepares to avoid the disaster by improving its ability to store food as fat for use. If our runners stop running they will need to stop eating immediately or the fat will still be added, when the energy expenditure is no longer occurring.
There are a variety of long-on-time short-on-intensity workouts being done in the gym too. The bikes and treadmills are often peopled with the slow and easy. These workouts are more about boredom management than fitness. The guys who stand wiping the sweat for five minutes between sets of bench presses are in the same boat.
Intensity means volume of work. To me volume is a measure of how much how fast. Intensity is about going a fast as you can and letting that intense effort set the time limits of your workout. Run at a brisk pace for five minutes and you will have had more than enough. Do 15 sets in 15 minutes in the weight area and you will see the difference. You will be sending your body this message: I have to have as much muscle available to fire in a short time as I can, because we are going all out. Heart and lungs are going to have to expand also. Fat doesn't have to be retained.
So, if you are out of shape, you are better off to focus on 5 really unpleasantly hard minutes of pushing yourself. If you do this on a regular basis, 5 minutes will become 10 and so forth and you will be in shape. Your servant, as always.
The product salesmen are on to this as well: Say to someone that they are going to have to spend an hour a day on your product and you will not make a sale. If you are out of shape and you envision an hour of exertion every day you will never-not ever-get into shape again. Similarly, if you think you can lollygag around for 15 minutes and get any result that you wish, you are off the track as well.
The word again is intensity. Your body will adapt to that which is required by your activity. The people who jog by my house at a pace at which they could walk are a good example. They are being long on time and short on intensity. What are their bodies being told by these long, slow jaunts? That there are long hours of this in the future. The body must respond by jettisoning all the weight it can and by assuring it will have enough energy to complete its task. It does this by getting rid of muscle which weighs it down. There go the arms and chest etc.(I suspect that the bones are getting the same message, but I am not sure.) Stores of fat, however, are shepherded more carefully than the jogger would probably prefer. If it runs too much the body will suffer a disaster of total energy shutdown. It prepares to avoid the disaster by improving its ability to store food as fat for use. If our runners stop running they will need to stop eating immediately or the fat will still be added, when the energy expenditure is no longer occurring.
There are a variety of long-on-time short-on-intensity workouts being done in the gym too. The bikes and treadmills are often peopled with the slow and easy. These workouts are more about boredom management than fitness. The guys who stand wiping the sweat for five minutes between sets of bench presses are in the same boat.
Intensity means volume of work. To me volume is a measure of how much how fast. Intensity is about going a fast as you can and letting that intense effort set the time limits of your workout. Run at a brisk pace for five minutes and you will have had more than enough. Do 15 sets in 15 minutes in the weight area and you will see the difference. You will be sending your body this message: I have to have as much muscle available to fire in a short time as I can, because we are going all out. Heart and lungs are going to have to expand also. Fat doesn't have to be retained.
So, if you are out of shape, you are better off to focus on 5 really unpleasantly hard minutes of pushing yourself. If you do this on a regular basis, 5 minutes will become 10 and so forth and you will be in shape. Your servant, as always.
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Comment by Joe Blogg
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If Exhibit A is outta shape then low impact jogging is a good thing if it becomes habit.
I've got no idea what it must be like but trying to lug the equivalent of a rhino down a footpath must be seriously hard work mate.
What Exhibit A really needs is an Exhibit B training partner.
Comment by katyzzz
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A well written, informative post,
katyzzz
Comment by JohnR
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