Due to the coronavirus crisis, BuenaVida is not in kiosks. Download it free here
Whether Izumi Tabata was in a hurry to get in shape, or did his work leave him with little free time, is a mystery. But something important would haunt his mind when he decided to study high-intensity exercise , and there is no doubt that this idea illuminated one of the most important studies of the career of the scientist of the National Institute of Fitness and Sports of Japan. He published it in 1996, when running was called joggingand sweating a lot, for hours, was the only secret to being fit. His research changed everything with the statement that the effects on aerobic capacity of a moderate 60-minute workout were comparable to those of a high-intensity one made up of 20-second series, followed by 10 rest, until completing a 4 strenuous minutes.
Trade an hour running for a 240-second workout? It seems a little less than inconceivable strategy, more typical of a delusion than a man of science. Something impossible, absurd. And yet, the work lit up the Tabata table, which is the theoretical foundation of high-intensity interval training, a routine only available to the "tough guys" in the gym known by its acronym in English, HIIT.
Not only has the proposal been around in the 20th century, but its idea continues to make its way: if 240 seconds make an impression, more astonishing is the claim that 160 seconds a day is enough to alleviate some of the consequences of the galloping sedentary lifestyle that we suffer en masse . That's exactly what a study from the University of Texas at Austin, published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, suggests has raised the ante (or lowered, depending on how you look at it) to a micro-series-based routine of just 4 seconds. .
A call to the body to burn fat?
The analysis by scientists at the American university has focused on triglycerides, a type of fatty acid that is very common in the body and can be detected in the blood. It seems that sitting for endless periods — that is, during the workday of millions of people and their customary after-hours rest in front of a screen — increases triglyceride levels. In theory, exercise helps lower them, according to the idea behind the new experiment.
To obtain the data that supports this theory, the scientists had a small group of 8 volunteers who spent a day sitting in the laboratory with no other permission than to go to eat or to serve. The next day they repeated the same routine, only after eating a high-fat breakfast, mainly ice cream. Surely many of the participants would have been happy to end the experiment at its sweetest moment, but they did not forgive the bitter part. The scientists received them for another two days. The first was also spent sitting down, only this time they had to get on a kind of stationary bike every hour and pedal at full power for five sets of 4 seconds, with a 45-second break. After 8 hours, they had completed 160 seconds of exercise as if their lives were in it. The second day was one of surprise.
According to the data that the researchers have offered, the metabolism of those who had pedaled with all their strength responded in a very different way when, the next day, they were hit by the breakfast heat pump. In addition to the fact that they arrived at the laboratory with the lowest blood triglyceride levels, they kept them 30% below the levels of the visit in which they did not do any activity throughout the day, it is assumed that because the exercise caused their body will burn more fat. These figures suggest that ultrashort, superintense and extra-efficient training led to a reduction in the triglycerides in the blood of the volunteers, fatty acids that, in addition to accumulating with sedentary lifestyle, from certain levels are considered a cardiovascular risk factor.
Intensity is the key
Before you get up to finish the first micro series sooner than it takes to make a coffee, keep in mind that this study has limitations. Obviously, the first is that the group examined is too small to draw solid conclusions. In addition, the researchers used a complex ergometer exercise bike , which can take a professional athlete to deploy its full intensity in about 2 seconds and that the reader will not have on hand (important note: the person in charge of the investigation has declared having company that supplied it to your laboratory). Scientists calculated that an amateur could take twice as long, hence the 4 seconds, and with the activities that one can do on his own, that time would be irretrievably extended. And the effects were only monitored for six hours, so the duration of the benefits of micro-training remains a mystery.
However, the idea that short but intense exercise has positive health effects is not new. And it is not only true that it is always better to move a little than to spend the day sitting, although to know that you do not need to spend a dollar on experiments. But it is that science is blurred in showing that, in a matter of training, intensity counts. And a lot. In addition, drinking exercise in small doses also makes it easier not to deny it than when you have to spend several hours a week. Also, are you sure that looking for benefits in workouts of less than four minutes a day is an absurd illusion, an impossible challenge? Okay, maybe 4 minutes won't be enough, nor does a HIIT workout last the 4 minutes of Tabata's study, but it's all about trying. Recipes will not be: there are plenty of short but effective workouts, from 4 minutes to once a week. For trying it, no time is wasted.
You can follow Buenavida on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or subscribe here to the Newsletter.
