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3 June 2005
30 Second Sprint As Good As Hour Of Jogging 
A weekly workout of six minutes of intense exercise could be as effective as an hour of daily moderate activity suggests new research from McMaster University. "Short bouts of very intense exercise improved muscle health and performance comparable to several weeks of traditional endurance training," said Martin Gibala, of McMaster University. The research, appearing in the Journal of Applied Physiology, found that performing repeated bouts of high-intensity "sprint" type exercise resulted in profound changes in skeletal muscle and endurance capacity, similar to training that requires hours of exercise each week. The study was conducted on 16 subjects: eight who performed a two-week sprint interval training program and eight who did no exercise training. The training program consisted of between four and seven 30-second bursts of "all out" cycling followed by four minutes of recovery three times a week for two weeks.
Researchers found that endurance capacity in the sprint group increased on average from 26 minutes to 51 minutes, whereas the control group showed no change. The muscles of the trained group also showed a significant increase in citrate synthase, an enzyme that is indicative of the tissue's ability to utilize oxygen. "Sprint training may offer an option for individuals who cite "lack of time" as a major impediment to fitness and conditioning. This type of training is very demanding and requires a high level of motivation, however less frequent, higher intensity exercise can indeed lead to improvements in health and fitness," concluded Gibala.
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