| Work smarter, not harder, says
naturopath Jeremy Hill.
 Want
to get fitter, thinner, healthier, more energetic, lower
your cholesterol, your blood sugar, your blood pressure?
Well then, I hope you're ready to work to achieve your
change. Change is relative -- you know the drill --
action and consequence, you get back what you put in...
and all that stuff. So if you want a better physique
or blood test results, you're going to have to step
outside your comfort zones to achieve your goals.
Recent research is providing some sound evidence that
you can speed things up a lot as you strive for better
health by increasing the intensity of your exercise
- stressing the body and inducing an adaptive response.
Researcher Professor Steve Boutcher from the University
of New South Wales recently found that 20 minutes of
interval cycling three times a week, alternating at
a rate of eight seconds' high intensity peddling with
12 second recovery cycling, induced three times the
weight loss achieved through 40 minutes of exercising
at a solid pace.
This indicates that challenging the body with intense
exercise induces an adaptive response. Our bodies adapt
to our environment as well as they can and, as we provide
stimuli (change) to that environment, the body registers
a biological and physiological response (an environmental
adaptation - or change). There are two tough parts to
this type of program. One is genuinely hitting the highs
and pushing as intensely as you can manage - it's easier
to be lazy. The other is, as with any exercise program,
just a matter of sticking to it (laziness again!)
This approach does, however, have the advantage of
taking up far less time than most exercise programs
suggest. People tend to find that it's fairly easy to
fit in 20 minutes of intense exercise three times a
week, whereas they find that it's really easy to avoid
any exercise session that would last longer than a Simpson's
episode. With the current suggestions of 30 minutes
of exercise daily to maintain health and up to 90 minutes
daily for weight loss, not often being met, we've definitely
found ourselves in need of a better way.
Most people need to do more, but often use the excuse
of time restraints as a reason they can't. For most,
more accurately there is something else they would rather
do with a spare 60-90 minutes a day. So, we need to
be more effective with the time that we have. The answer
is to increase intensity and decrease time. If all you
have is 20 minutes, consider the different benefits
obtained from a 20 minute walk, or spending 20 minutes
alternating jogging with sprints. If all you can do
is walk, then just walk faster - fast enough to be puffing,
but still able to talk. But step outside your comfort
zone. If you're not working hard then you're probably
not doing much for you.
Increasing intensity works for running, rowing, swimming,
cycling, walking, lifting weights (heavier) -- the range
is broad and adapts to most abilities. Short bursts
of high intensity exercise induce a broad array of adaptive
benefits, with improving circulation, blood sugar, muscle
growth and cholesterol being some, but fat burning is
proving the most popular gain. The more vigorous level
of activity ensures fat continues to be burnt through
the day due to an increased metabolic rate.
While it's important to push yourself to see results,
it's also important to know your limits. Start slowly
and increase your intensity gradually as you feel comfortable.
Exercise is a crucial part of maintaining health and
to fighting illness. Without exercise, the decline into
poor health can sometimes be rapid. Having informed
numerous clients of the benefits of various intense
exercise programs and instructed them how best to induce
an adaptive response, I'm happy to report that I've
found the adaptive response theory stacks up well. We're
all busy and high intensity interval training offers
a great way to provide us with more spare time and better
results than any other exercise approach I've seen.
There's a third potential problem with high intensity
exercise - the changes may be too intense for a healthy
adaptive response to occur, with mal-adaptation instead
causing injuries. It's always wise to get a thorough
health check up before starting a new exercise program
and it can be extremely helpful to engage the support
of a personal trainer to help motivate and guide you
as you begin and progress.
Start off by motivating yourself to exercise, and then
push yourself. This will strengthen the body and the
mind. Throw in the occasional run, a swim or some yoga
for variety. Stick with it and keep challenging yourself.
Persistence and repetition dictates what and who we
become. We become what we do.
Good Health, Jeremy Hill.
Jeremy Hill (Diploma of Natural Therapy) is a Qualified
Naturopath
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