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Getting Fit Fast

Inactive People Can Achieve Major Health and Fitness Gains in a Fraction of the Time
                                                                                                                                                                    With so many of us struggling to get enough exercise, scientists have been working on a time-saving solution.

According to new research published in The Journal of Physiology, instead of long stints in the gym and miles of running in the cold, the same results could be achieved in less than a third of the time.

People of all ages should do three to five hours of endurance training per week to increase health and fitness and prevent chronic diseases and premature mortality. However, most people find it difficult to set aside this much time in their busy lives.

The study took existing research to prove that replacing endurance training with two types of interval training, High intensity Interval Training (HIT) and Sprint Interval Training (SIT), can make a massive difference to our health and aerobic fitness. 

The researchers describe their recent discoveries that three sessions of SIT, taking just 90 minutes per week, are as effective as five sessions of traditional endurance exercise, taking five hours per week, in increasing whole body insullin sensitivity via two independent mechanisms.

The scientists expects that HIT and SIT will turn out to be unique alternative exercise modes suitable to prevent blood vessel disease, hypertension, diabetes and most of the other ageing and obesity related chronic diseases.

Lack of time is the number one reason that the majority of the adult population do n ot meet the current physical activity recommendations. SIT and Hit could solve this problem.

Previously sedentary individuals in the age-range of 25-60 also find HIT on spinning bikes much more enjoyable and attractive than endurance training and it has a more positive effect on mood and feelings of well-being. This could imply that HIT is more suitable to achieve sustainable changes in exercise behavior.

HIT, therefore, seems to provide the ideal alternative to outdoor running, dangerous cycling trips and long boring endurance cycling sessions in health and fitness gyms. That is why the researchers believe that there will be a great future for HIT for obese and elderly individuals and potentially also for patients with hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

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