If you're too exhausted after a long day at work or are chained to your computer like me, and can't squeeze in some time for exercise, then this might just be a life-changer. Introducing, the ONE-MINUTE workout! It's the least amount of exercise you'll ever hear about, or at least for now it is.According to an interesting study published in the journal 'Public Library of Science (PLOS) One', you actually need just one-minute of intense and rigorous exercise bundled with an otherwise easy 10-minute workout to improve and even boost your health. And this isn't the first time a study has hinted at the benefits of an intense, sharp burst of exercise. The seven, six or even four minute workouts have lived it's course and are now some of the most viewed workouts on YouTube. (Two-Minute of Intense Exercise Can Beat Type-2 Diabetes)Most researchers and health experts have always recommend 30-minutes of daily exercise but that kind of commitment could be too much for some people. To attend to these concerns, researchers at McMaster University in Ontario stepped in. Martin Gibala, chairman of the department of kinesiology at McMaster University, spent years studying the benefits of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and how beneficial it is when compared to moderate workout. (High Intensity Exercise is Beneficial for Heart Transplant Patients)
For the study, 14 sedentary and overweight men and women (otherwise healthy) had their muscles biopsied and their aerobic endurance, blood pressure and sugar levels measured. Then, they hopped on stationary bikes and warmed up for 2 minutes. After the warm-up, the participants biked as hard as they possibly could for three 20-second intervals followed by two minutes of slow pedalling. Adding three-minutes of cool down time came up to a total of 10 minutes. They did this three times a week, to make it to 30 minutes of exercise a week.After 6 weeks, the participants were measured again and researchers discovered that their endurance levels improved by about 12 %. They also had better blood pressure, blood sugar levels and improved muscle activity.While the idea of a one-minute workout is great, researchers would also like to point out that 10 minutes of exercise time is involved for a total of 30 minutes per week. And for a lot of people mastering the high-intensity workout is difficult, especially when you're not in good shape.Researchers feel they might be dropping to a new low with respect to exercise time but with the festive season around the corner, it is sure to keep you going.