Re: The Truth About . . Fitness
A brief summary of some of the points the programme covered.
The 10,000 steps fad
Lots of people have heard of and try to follow the 10,000 steps a day target. The programme looked to see if there were ways to achieve better results in less time.
They set one group (A) of people on the basic 10,000 steps a day regime.
They set another group (B) doing 10 min brisk walks which they had to do 3 times a day, so 30 mins in total.
Group A generally found it hard to squeeze 10,000 steps into their lives each day and had to do some unusual things to get there.
Group B found it easy to fit 3 x 10m brisk walks into their daily routines.
The 3 x 10m walks proved to be much more worthwhile for fitness because of the more moderate effort involved.
HIT - High Intensity Training
Nothing much new here I suspect but they were again looking to see whether there were ways to get the maximum amount of fitness benefit from a minimum amount of exercise time.
They tested some candidates aerobic stats using exercise equipment and oxygen masks linked to computers.
They then set the candidates off on a regime of
2 x 20 second high intensity bursts on an exercise cycle
They had to do this 3 times a week
They showed that as you sprint cycle, the stored sugars in the body are metabolised for use. The candidate's glycogen store levels fell. Sugar depletion was shown to be about 24%.
The programme also stated that the body responds to such exercise by creating resilient genes to strengthen body areas which included the heart.
By comparison the programme said that you would have to go on a 45 min run/jog to get the same fitness benefit as these few 20 sec intensive bursts on a cycle.
After a few weeks on the regime all candidates improved aerobic fitness levels by on average 11%.
HIT Regime At Home
For those without an exercise cycle or any similar equipment they provided a home exercise regime which involved just 5 mins of exercise with a small warm up first thus:
First, jog lightly on the spot for a min to warm up
Then
1) Do as many star jumps as possible in 1 min
brief recovery
2) Do as many squats as possible in 1 min
brief recovery
3) Do 1 min of static sprinting, i.e. running on the spot as fast as possible
brief recovery
4) Another minute of squats
brief recovery
5) Another minute of star jumps
Just 5 mins in total ! Max benefit for minimum exercise time
Heavy Weights vs Light Weights
They tested heavy weights against light weights to see if there was any benefit.
Candidates had to do arm lifts with heavy dumbbells with one arm until they could do no more. Then do the same with the other arm but using a light dumbbell.
They did the same with leg weight machines.
Turns out that it makes no difference whether you use heavy or light weights in terms of fitness but candidates preferred the heavier weights because the exercises were over much quicker than with the lighter weights.
Running vs Walking
They wanted to test whether running or walking put more pressure and stress on your joints.
Long story made short, the answer was obvious. Running put more impact stress on the joints than walking, however there was a crucial BUT
Walking saw the impact pressure on the joints lasting twice as long as running. With running the foot was in contact with the ground for much less time than walking. As a result running was deemed to be the better exercise and the programme stated that the notions that running destroys your joints and gives you arthritis was a myth.
In fact the shorter lived but more intensive impact from running resulted in cartilage being constantly compressed and relaxed which increased its ability to use oxygen.
There were some other areas explored too
Worth a watch.
Set your machine to record on BBC 4 at 2:20am in the morning