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Researchers at Victoria University in Australia found that two minutes of ‘sprinting’ on a bicycle was just as good for their study participants as a slower 30 minute ride. Two minutes, however, isn’t much to ask and it just might be enough to keep the body going strong for longer. The most important cellular benefits of exercise is its effects on mitochondria, the organelles that churn out energy for out cells.
Aging slow mitochondria gradually producing less energy, exercise reinvigorates mitochondria, and the new research suggests that may happen even faster than expected. Physical activity seems to signal mitochondria to replicate more, creating more energy sources for the cell. A 2017 study suggested that exercise’s effects on the mitochondria as well as certain proteins might explain why taking a walk is good.
Researchers at Victoria University study monitored eight young adult volunteers as they tried out each of three different work out plans. For one, they rode continuously for 30 minutes, but never at more than half of their maximum effort. Following the model of trendy HIIT workouts (high-intensity interval), the riders also did five four-minute cycling sessions, pedaling at 75 percent their maximum capacity. Each bout was separated by a one-minute rest and recovery time.
The final group did four ‘sprints,’ cycling as fast as they could, but only for 30 seconds at a time, with four-and-a-half minutes of rest time between. When the researchers analyzed mitochondria in the riders’ thigh muscles they saw that the 30-second sprinters’ cells were just as well primed to duplicate as the cells from the moderate-intensity riders. This shows that exercise may be prescribed according to individual preferences while still generating similar signals known to confer beneficial metabolic adaptations that enhance metabolic health.