Living Well "Where's Doc?"
It's a question my team at our Baltimore headquarters gets all the time. The truth is that I don't spend much of my day sitting at my desk. When I'm not in meetings or going over the latest issue for one of my newsletters, I'm walking around the office checking in with our various teams and just chatting with folks.
(And even some of my meetings are "walking meetings" where we walk for a few blocks around the office.)
But even though I spend a lot of the workday on my feet, I know that I still need to carve out time in my busy schedule to maximize my health in a more intentional way.
Most folks reading this probably don't have time to get a workout in. From commuting to work to cooking dinner and helping kids with homework, we're living hectic lives.
Today, I want to share with you one of my favorite ways to move. It helps me accomplish my fitness goals quicker and with even greater benefits than other methods of working out...
It's anaerobic exercise. The term literally means without ("an") oxygen ("aerobic"). As such, this form of movement uses your body's energy stores (like blood sugar, or "glucose") to power working muscles without the use of oxygen.
One form of anaerobic exercise is more effective than conventional strategies. Best of all, it only requires a minute or two a week...
That's high-intensity interval training ("HIIT").
This workout strategy mixes short, vigorous bursts of movement with longer, active-recovery periods (where you're still moving but at a more relaxed pace).
Think of how kids run around and play. They're constantly on the move at a slow or moderate pace – with sudden, short bursts of intense energy (and maybe even some giddy screaming) thrown in. You'll recognize that they're actually doing HIIT.
You can do HIIT with all sorts of activities like walking, running, swimming, and cycling, just to name a few. Heck, find an activity you enjoy, and there's probably a way to create a HIIT version of it.
HIIT provides a bounty of health benefits like...
- Improving cardiovascular health (like lowering blood pressure)
- Building muscle tissue
- Increasing metabolism (which helps generate body heat)
- Increasing gastrointestinal transit speed (which reduces your risk of colon cancer)
- Easing arthritis
- Improving bone-mineral density
- Reducing lower-back pain
True to its name, HIIT is intense. But it's considered safe for all ages. That includes anyone just getting started with regular exercise and even older folks.
And for seniors – a population at high risk of dementia – a recent study showed that regular HIIT can keep your mind sharp for years to come...
Published in July, a randomized controlled trial divvied up 151 healthy men and women aged 72 on average into three different exercise groups: low-intensity training, medium-intensity training, and HIIT.
Everyone worked out three times a week over the six-month study period. Each workout began with a 10-minute warmup and five-minute cooldown.
In addition, for 30 minutes, the low-intensity group did up to eight different balance, stretching, relaxation, and flexibility exercises, while medium-intensity exercisers walked on the treadmill. HIIT folks also took to the treadmill, except they worked out for 25 minutes. Their workouts included four high-intensity sessions (each lasting four minutes) and three lower-intensity recovery sessions (each lasting three minutes).
The research team saw significantly improved function of the hippocampus (a key area of the brain for memory formation and consolidation) among the HIIT participants. What's more, that brain boost was also seen for up to five years from the start of the six-month exercise study.
Other studies have shown that HIIT is more efficient than regular aerobic exercise. It improves your body's ability to burn fat and calories. A 12- to 15-minute HIIT workout is equivalent to an hour of steady aerobic exercise.
You see, doing these short intervals tricks your body into thinking your heart is working at a higher rate for longer. So you get all the benefits of a much longer aerobic workout.
If you have mobility problems, don't sweat it. Reducing the intensity still provides benefits...
A study from McMaster University showed that participants expended the most energy within the first 15 seconds of a single 30-second Wingate-method cycling sprint (followed by four minutes of rest and then repeated twice more, as shown in more detail on the chart below).
The key is to start at lower levels and build up slowly. If you're nervous, I recommend easing into it and fast walking for your first HIIT.
You walk a few minutes to warm up, then walk fast for three minutes, then slow to a crawl, then walk fast again. (See the chart below for more details.)
Once you're ready for a more challenging workout, the next stage is intermediate HIIT...
Here's what I do:
I walk on a treadmill or pedal on an exercise bike at a slow pace to warm up. Then, I increase the pace to about 2.4 miles per hour (turtles crawl faster).
For 20 to 30 seconds, I crank it up to around 5 or 6 miles per hour or as fast as I can handle without falling all over myself. (Just make sure to be careful – again, the goal is not to hurt yourself.)
I also do it with increased resistance by increasing the treadmill's incline to 3% or 4%. That means I'm going at a fast pace at a hard resistance, but only for 30 seconds.
Then, I slow down and do zero resistance for three or four minutes, and then repeat a couple more times. In 10 minutes, I'm done. I usually work up a nice sweat by the end.
You can see this routine – and some others, including a harder HIIT routine – in the table below...
Exercise is incredibly important to your health, and the sooner you start, the better. So do what I do and try a HIIT program. You can start doing it just once or maybe twice a week for 30 to 60 seconds, maximum.
Don't let the "high intensity" part scare you off, either. It's worth giving it a shot because you're likely to stick with HIIT and make it a habit – even if you're a couch potato or have a medical condition. A 2023 meta-analysis of 65 studies showed that the adherence rate to HIIT was 63% in a real-world, unsupervised setting.
For more of my tips on how to enrich your health and wellness (as well as your wealth), make sure you're reading my flagship newsletter Retirement Millionaire. Get started with it today, right here.
What We're Reading...
- The best exercise warmups for seniors.
- Something different: Here's why so many medicines are cherry flavored.
Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,
Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
October 29, 2024