Getting to the Exercise Sweet Spot
Do you realize that five minutes is only 0.3% of a day? Can you really say you can’t at least begin to exercise? “Five minutes isn’t the issue—it’s the 45 minutes a day!” Yes, although 45 minutes is only a whopping 3% of your day, I know it can be hard to work it into your schedule. How about if you could cut the time spent in aerobic exercise in half, from 45 minutes to just over 20 minutes? Interested? Just remember there will be a price to pay.
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
HIIT as is currently practiced began about 2008 and has been the focus of a lot of research since 2017. The current version alternates very intense intervals from 30 seconds to four minutes with rest periods of at least four minutes; most common is one minute of high intensity and four minutes of rest. Understand that the intensity is an all-out effort, something most sedentary people cannot and should not do—yet.
Remember the price? It’s getting in good enough aerobic condition to be able to handle the increased intensity. When you’re fit enough, four 20-minute HIIT sessions per week can provide you with the exercise sweet spot. Just remember this is only aerobic fitness. Lifting weights, yoga, stretching—that’s all separate.
Intensity
Here’s the real reason I’m getting a knee replacement done: I can’t work hard enough on the exercise bike to reach my target heart rate. Thigh pain above my bad knee hinders me from getting there. I’ve been on the cycle for at least six months, and I’m tired of not getting the workouts I’m used to getting through running.
Although running is not in my future after the knee is replaced, walking will be as well as using the elliptical again. I can replace running with walking uphill in order to achieve the fitness effect I want. It’s not as good but it will give me some variety. I can handle the pain of high-intensity training once I no longer have this level of knee pain. And that’s why I’m doing the knee replacement now.
The Bottom Line
The exercise sweet spot isn’t as precise as I would like, but it does follow a logical progression. Some exercise is better than none; if you’re not exercising at all, start with five minutes. Aspire to at least 30 minutes per day at least four days a week, then work up to 45 minutes.
When you can handle that and your physician says it’s okay, then you can start HIIT training to increase your fitness in less time and still have time to get stronger and more flexible. Even at 45 minutes a day, that’s just 3% of your day committed to exercise. That commitment of time will reduce your risk of just about every degenerative disease, which will help you really live more days of your life and not just struggle through them. Isn’t that worth the investment?
What are you prepared to do today?
