One of the biggest obstacles to exercising can be finding enough time to work out.
When it comes to intense workouts, the Ultra Fit class tops the list at Life Time. Moving from the treadmill to the floor, adding the use of dumbbells while balancing on a workout ball then back to the treadmill pushes participants to levels normally meant for professional athletes.
The class lasts an hour, but not everyone has an hour or even 30 minutes.
How long does a workout need to be to see health benefits?
“Those shorter training days, go all out. Make it worth it,” said Hayley Akradi, a personal trainer at Life Time who leads Ultra Fit. “We know that we can save time with high-intense workouts. Maybe you do a 30-minute one instead of an hour.”
Aerobic activity is split into two categories. There’s moderate physical activity, which includes walking fast, riding a bike or even pushing a lawnmower. Then there’s vigorous physical activity, which includes running, swimming laps and playing basketball.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends 75 minutes of vigorous exercise a week or 150 minutes of moderate. That means one minute of vigorous exercise is equal to two minutes of moderate.
But a recent study discovered a different ratio in how exercising impacts our health. It measured data collected on devices like smartwatches and found that one minute of vigorous activity is equal to four to nine minutes of moderate activity when it comes to lowering the risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and cancer deaths.
Does this mean people only need to work out for five to 10 minutes so long as it’s vigorous?
It depends on your goal, said Akradi.
“We know that we don’t really get into a fat-burning zone at all, if that’s your goal, until about minute 15 or 20. So, I still would love to see people going into that timeframe, like give yourself at least 20 to 30 minutes to work out, if not 50 to 60 minutes,” she said.
The tricky thing is that everyone is different. Jogging might feel easy to one person and exhausting to another.
How can we measure whether a workout is vigorous?
Your breathing should be deep and rapid. You can’t say more than a few words without pausing to catch your breath. And you’re sweating after only a few minutes.
All those metrics are quickly met in the Ultra Fit class, but vigorous activity comes in many forms, each pushing the body to its limit in a short span of time.
“You’re recruiting more muscle fibers, so you have a bigger metabolic response, you’re burning more calories,” said Akradi.
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