Professional physiotherapist Kusal Goonewardena has explained how a three-minute workout requiring 85% exertion will have the same effects as a moderate effort 30 minute gym sesh.
Melbourne based Kusal reveals how short-but-sweet high intensity workouts can lower cholesterol and blood pressure, all the while reducing waist size and improving fitness and flexibility.
The Aussie physio advises how just 21 days worth of three-minute exercise blasts can trick the body into ‘craving’ exercise. These brief high intensity exercises could include skipping, sprinting and star jumps.
Speaking with the Daily Telegraph Australia, Kusal explained how incorporating these bursts into your healthy living routine helps give your body ‘momentum’:
It gives the body momentum to take it to another level, once you push yourself outside of your comfort zone and get the benefits, it becomes a habit for you and the body starts to crave more and more exercise.
Kusal – who works with the Melbourne University Olympic Squad – explains how those wanting to maximise their fitness should incorporate high, low and moderate exercises into their weekly routine:
For people to have proper well-being, you need to have low, moderate and high-intensity,
(But) if you simply stick to the three-minute workout, the high intensity interval training, that will be enough, if you only do three minutes training, then do it five days out of seven.
If you combine it with some low-intensity and moderate-intensity than [sic] only do about two sessions a week.
Kusal is currently building an app for time constrained workers who want to get the most out of three-minute workouts:
The No. 1 excuse people have for not exercising is time, especially in the Western world like Australia.
We had to come up with a program to help everyone and get the sense of something they could be doing for 30 minutes but in a very short period of time.
I for one can completely relate to how daunting a 30-minute gym class can feel after a full day of work. But 30 seconds of pushing yourself? Much more manageable.
Just think about all the time you waste watching the kettle boil or waiting for the ad break to be over. You could be squeezing in a significant portion of your exercise routine right then and there…
