Is three minutes a week of exercise all you need to get fit? Scientists say ideal fitness regime involves intense bursts of activity

Is three minutes a week of exercise all you need to get fit? Scientists say ideal fitness regime involves intense bursts of activity

    Scientists advocate fitness regime involving 30-second bursts of activity
    Say suggest rapid activity like running up and down the stairs at home
    Claim shorter regimes have same health impact as longer exercise

There is welcome news for anyone who’s resolved to get fit in the New Year. Scientists claim we don’t have to spend hours every week slogging in the gym or jogging around a park in all weathers, along with the other January resolution makers.

Instead, they advocate a pioneering new quick fitness regime that makes remarkable claims: just a few 30-second bursts of intense exercise, amounting to only three minutes a week, could deliver the health and weight-loss benefits of hours of lengthy, conventional regimes.

This may revolutionise our ability to stick to New Year fitness resolutions, which only one in five of us manage to keep for more than a few weeks.

Bursts: Scientists at the universities of Nottingham, Birmingham and Bath say the secret is to commit yourself to three short bursts of highly intense exercise for 30 seconds each, with short rest periods between, in less than five minutes

A study in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found the main reason we break resolutions is that our plans are over-ambitious: we set the bar too high in a hopelessly optimistic burst of post-Christmas enthusiasm.

But this new exercise regime lowers that bar significantly. Scientists at the universities of Nottingham, Birmingham and Bath say the secret is to commit yourself to three short bursts of highly intense exercise for 30 seconds each, with short rest periods between, in less than five minutes.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2255867/Is-minutes-week-exercise-need-fit-Scientists-say-ideal-fitness-regime-involves-intense-bursts-activity.html