Really no time? Science suggests the most effective exercises
It is difficult for an important person not to carry a mobile phone or look at a computer all day long. Too much of our work is actually carried out on these 3C supplies. Fortunately, medical research has also begun to discover that there are indeed some exercises that are very time-saving and effective, and are quite suitable for busy office workers. Generally speaking, sports with the main purpose of improving health have the following characteristics: multiple groups of muscles can be exercised at one time, they can be done at any time, they are close to the movement functions used in daily life, and they are high-intensity. Below I will list several kinds of sports that can allow you to get the greatest health benefits in the shortest time.
❶Walk: Walk 7,500 steps a day to get the greatest health benefits
Don’t doubt, walking is still the most suitable exercise for busy people. Not only can it be done anytime, anywhere, but it’s not too burdensome. It’s quite suitable for men, women and children. After sitting in the office for a long time, getting up to hang out in the tea room or talking to colleagues is often the only choice for office workers.
According to a research report published in “American Medical Association Internal Medicine” in 2019, the more steps older women take, the lower the mortality rate. The better news is that when the total number of steps per day is greater than 7,500 steps, In fact, the risk of death is not much reduced, which means that if you can walk 7,500 steps a day, you can get the greatest health benefits.
❷squat: Do a squat, you can exercise most of the muscles
Squats can get great health benefits in a short period of time, and also meet the above four conditions. Squat is a kind of whole-body exercise, and you can exercise almost all the muscles in your whole body by doing one squat. The maintenance of muscle mass is closely related to life expectancy, especially in the elderly. In addition, exercises like squats that engage many muscle groups at the same time, such as lunges and push-ups, have similar effects.
❸Core muscle exercise: prevent falls, reduce bed rest and sports injury probability
The core muscles include most of the muscles of the abdomen, back and pelvis. They are the most important muscle groups for maintaining body posture and protecting the spine. Well-developed core muscles can prevent falls, and are very important for reducing bed rest and even death for the elderly. Common core muscle training actions include: sit-ups, sticks (or planks), back lifts, and variations of these exercises.
Get these moves right and the results will be greater than you expected! Because the core muscles are often hidden in the deep layers of the body, they are often ignored. In particular, if you want to reduce the chance of sports injuries, good core muscles are also indispensable.
❹High-intensity intermittent exercise: reduce fat, lower blood sugar, stabilize mood
If you search for “the most time-saving exercise” or “best exercise for busy people” in Google, high-intensity interval training (high-intensity interval training, referred to as HIIT) must account for more than half of the search results.
The so-called high-intensity interval training, such as skipping rope, Burpee (English is Burpee, which can train muscle endurance, cardiopulmonary, fat burning and core muscle systemic training at the same time), battle rope (English is Battling Rope, through a half-folded rope) , a whole-body movement created by holding two ends with both hands with different movements) and so on, use explosive movements, let the heart rate reach at least 80% of the maximum heart rate, and then rest to let the heart rate drop back to 65 of the maximum heart rate %, so repeated about four to six times.
Indeed, being too busy is the most common reason why modern people do not exercise, and HIIT came into being. There are also many studies related to HIIT. compared to continuousAerobic exercise, HIIT can achieve similar exercise effects in a shorter period of time, such as improving intermittent claudication, reducing fat, lowering blood sugar, stabilizing mental illness, improving coronary heart disease, human heart function, etc.
Notably, HIIT appears to be safe in many chronic diseases, as well as in cancer patients. In fact, a lot of related research is being done in the field of sports medicine to test the safety of HIIT in groups with different chronic diseases and physical conditions, because HIIT is a kind of exercise that many people can spare time to do.
❺ Playing tennis or badminton: reduce mortality by nearly 50%
In recent years, two consecutive studies have found that sports that require rackets are the most helpful for longevity, and tennis is the most obvious. One is a 14-year study in the UK, which found that adults around the age of 50 who regularly play racquet sports (tennis, badminton, etc.) can reduce the mortality rate by 47%. The other is a twenty-five-year continuous study in Denmark, which found that tennis can extend the length of the body by nine. The average life expectancy of seven years.
It can be seen that in addition to cardiopulmonary and muscle training, another important element in exercise is interpersonal interaction and mutual support, which cannot be obtained by running a treadmill alone.
Exercise suggestions for modern people with different levels of busyness
First of all, let me tell you a good news, even if you only have time for a weekjoggingOnce, life can be extended as well. Recently, researchers compiled 14 reports and found that jogging reduced the mortality rate by 27% compared with no jogging, and the group of people who jogged, no matter how hard they ran, could only run once a day to a week , the death rate could not be further improved.
It can be seen that compared to not exercising, it is actually beneficial to move occasionally! But if you want to put down your mobile phone and plan your exercise patterns after work, the following are the exercise prescriptions I recommend for you for different levels of busyness.
❶ Work-life balance, easy-going type: do five rests and two alternate exercises and do different exercises
Most of my friends who consult me about exercise belong to this type. Generally speaking, if you work from 9 to 5, and you can allocate at least an hour to exercise before or after work, then you can include the above five types of exercise in your exercise plan.
It is recommended that you do multi-muscle group weight training, core muscle training, and high-intensity interval exercises once or twice a week. Then, take a pedometer and let yourself walk 7,500 steps every day.
On the contrary, friends of this type should pay attention to setting aside more time to rest and let the body recover, such as exercising five days a week and resting two days.
❷Non-stop, hardcore social type: Twice a week for the whole bodystrength trainingor high-intensity interval exercise
This kind of friends will face greater time pressure when doing exercise plans, which is not uncommon in my outpatient clinic. Usually they are the breadwinners of the family. Although time will deprive a lot of time available for exercise, such friends are usually the ones who are most willing to invest time and money in exercise (or the complete opposite, not exercising at all).
It is recommended that such friends should take at least two one-hour periods a week to do whole-body strength training and aerobic (or high-intensity interval) exercise. Remember to have enough sleep before exercising, so as not only to avoid sports injuries, but also to maximize the effect of exercise.
❸Wear the stars and wear the moon, go out early and return late: ten minutes of high-intensity intermittent exercise every day
Young people under the age of 30 and just out of society are often of this type. In this increasingly competitive society, long working hours are gradually eroding our time for sports and entertainment.
In my clinic, young people who work in the bamboo department occasionally appear. Due to their young age, they usually have few physical problems, but seeing their daily life arrangements, one can’t help but worry about how long their young capital can last. when. Usually, my exercise advice to young people like this would be: don’t sit if you can stand, don’t sit still if you can move.
If you can exercise for ten minutes a day, prepare a skipping rope, or do a good burpee jump. Usually such friends are also in a relatively healthy cardiovascular state, so they have relatively low doubts about the safety of high-intensity intermittent exercise. High-intensity interval exercise is the best choice when you can only do one kind of exercise.
❹ Trapezoid: Do weight training or high-intensity interval exercise at any time
I think it is necessary to mention this category in particular. With the globalization of business activities, there is really no shortage of this type of people around us. Going abroad often means that you have to spend a lot of time on the road and in the hotel.
At this time, please learn more weight training and high-intensity interval exercises (such as Burpee jumps) that can be done with bare hands. Don’t forget, your own weight is the best dumbbell.