Are 20 Minute Exercise Routines Any Good?

I think we both know that exercise is very beneficial to a person’s
health.  So why don’t more people exercise on a regular basis?  Is
it lack of money?  Or lack of motivation? Or the lack of equipment?

Martin Gibala, a kinesiology profession and exercise research at
McMaster University says, “We know that 50% of the population
doesn’t exercise and the most commonly cited barrier to exercise is
the lack of time.”

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Professor Gibala put his theory to the test in a study published in
the Journal of Physiology.  What he did was compare a group of
people that exercised a “traditional” 90 to 120 minutes a day to a
group that only exercised 20 minutes a day, and only 3 days a week.

After only two weeks, BOTH groups showed improvement in exercise
performance and oxygen uptake.  What was interesting is that the
improvement was almost identical in both groups.  How can that be,
you might be asking?

They found the group that only exercised for 20 minutes trained
with greater focus and intensity.  So IT IS possible to get a lot
out of short focused workouts instead of long one hour workouts.

In fact, this is just one of dozens of studies that confirm the
benefits of shorter but more intense workouts.  Just remember that
HOW you exercise in those 20 minutes is the important thing.

[Tweet “Intensity of exercise is the key, not duration.  thats how 20 min workout is good”]

So keep that in mind as you try to get everything into your busy
schedule.  And if you already exercise regularly, then try mixing
things up and do a shorter and more intense workout.  You’ll get a
lot out of it and you will save yourself a lot of time.