  A group of researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Baton Rouge, La., have proof the body responds positively to small amounts of exercise. (Comstock) |
Many people don't exercise because the amount of time required to get fit seems so daunting.
Amy Dixon, fitness columnist for Women's Health magazine and manager of a Los Angeles-area Equinox Fitness club, is in undeniably good shape. But even she falls into that trap.
"If I can't do an hour, I'm not going to do anything, and it's stupid. I'll just say to myself 'why can't I just do 30 minutes?' If I have 30 minutes today, why isn't 30 minutes okay?" she says. "And it's setting the bar so high for this unrealistic expectation for most of the population."
The Canadian Physical Activity Guide suggests adults should exercise between 30 and 60 minutes a day -- depending on intensity -- but there is a growing trend in North America toward the notion that when it comes to working out, a little something is much, much better than nothing at all.
Even 10 minutes a day. The latest fitness DVDs have pounced on this, offering 10-minute workouts in everything from yoga to pilates to dance to weights.
Dixon has just released two videos under the Women's Health banner. One features a series of 10-minute workouts: A cardio-blast, upper-body and lower-body training, and a section to improve flexibility and balance.
"The reason why, honestly, is it is hard to get people just to move," she said. "Just to put their tennis shoes on and move toward the door. The whole focus is just to get people to do anything at all."
Short and intense
Dixon says she's noticed shorter workout classes offered at her gym are more well-attended than the longer ones. Shorter sessions just make sense, she says, for both the time-crunched and seriously sedentary. Though there is a caveat: They need to be properly intense.
But can 10 minutes a day really accomplish anything when it comes to fitness? A group of researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Baton Rouge, La., have proof the body responds positively to small amounts of exercise.
Their six-year study looked at 464 post-menopausal women, all of them sedentary, measuring them closely as they exercised over six months. Even women assigned to work out for the shortest time -- 72 minutes a week -- saw gains.
"To me, 10 minutes a day, I would expect if anything to kind of hold fitness or prevent decline," said Dr. Tim Church, the study's lead researcher. "I gotta be honest, I was actually kind of surprised to find out it would improve fitness."
Those going from zero exercise to 10 minutes a day will see the biggest benefits, says Dr. Church, stressing the goal still remains to exercise twice that much and more.
"The good news is as you are working towards that goal, you can actually improve fitness and get healthy," he said, "so it's not an all or nothing thing."
Matt Hernberger, a personal trainer at Ottawa's one-on-one training studio Executive Fitness Leaders, says a solid, structured 10-minute workout is more than what most people are doing.
But those who want big cardiovascular benefits, he says, will need to do a lot more.
"If your goal is major fitness, then 10 minutes a day is not going to cut it," he said.
