A powerful new look at exercise from a recent BBC Horizon programme.
The first 15 seconds of the BBC Horizon Programme – The Truth About Exercise – sum it up in a nutshell.
Exercise! I know I should but I don’t particularly enjoy it, I begrudge the time and I never seem to make much progress!
So say many of us!
I’m 68 next birthday and while I try and watch my weight and eat a healthy diet I know my overall fitness is far from what it should be. A neighbour lent me a bicycle the other day because I had this notion that riding into town, just over a mile away, would make a great healthy difference. In my younger days, I would ride dozens of miles on a bike and think nothing of it. But when I jumped on the bike and set off up the road, in less than 300 yards I had come to a halt stumped by the very first incline! So much for my fitness!
Thus when we watched this BBC Horizon programme, I could hardly believe what was being proposed. That surprising new research suggests many of us could benefit from just three minutes of high intensity exercise a week. Yes, I did write three minutes a week!
Here’s how the video is introduced,
Like many, Michael Mosley want to get fitter and healthier but can’t face hours on the treadmill or trips to the gym. Help may be at hand.
He uncovers the surprising new research which suggests many of us could benefit from just three minutes of high intensity exercise a week.
He discovers the hidden power of simple activities like walking and fidgeting, and finds out why some of us don’t respond to exercise at all
Using himself as a guinea pig, Michael uncovers the surprising new research about exercise, that has the power to make us all live longer and healthier lives.
The video is 58 minutes long and I thoroughly recommend that you find a comfortable seat and remain undisturbed while you watch every minute of this mind-blowing programme.
P.S. Jean and I were down in Phoenix last week and a local fitness store had a sale of exercise bikes. I purchased what looked like a well-built bike, listed at $249, for $159. Now a week later, I can confirm that 20 seconds of ‘flat out’ pedalling really does have one heaving for breath. So watch the video!!
P.P.S. Doesn’t need to be said but if any reader is motivated by the video to buy a bike and adopt the exercise regime they should take into account their own health and, if in any doubt, see a doctor first.
Learning from Dogs 
Good to hear that you bought yourself a bike 🙂
But yes, like most things, our culture has the whole concept of exercise so backwards that it really is quite embarrassing. The environment we live in with its sedentary jobs, labor saving devices and the enormous focus on in-the-moment comfort (free time activities are now also totally sedentary), combined with our cities that are built for cars instead of people really make exercise completely unnatural. In this environment exercise is nothing but a chore you that people force themselves through to try and look good and, well, we just don’t like chores.
Like all the other things in the One in a Billion manual available on my blog, the strategy is simply to change this self-defeating environment to one where exercise happens much more naturally. Two types of exercise environments are described: the passive and the active environments. The passive environment is much like the NEAT described in the video and I completely agree with that principle. Our lives really contain a surprising amount of free exercise opportunities that we simply habitually fail to use.
The active environment, however, is one where you strive to make exercise fun, mostly by involving other people and participating in team sports. Now this does not need to be football or rugby – just going bowling with some friends is perfectly fine – but the whole idea is that you need to regularly get yourself into an environment where exercise is fun and natural.
The HIT strategy described in the video seems to have some good scientific backing, but, even though it is time-efficient, it certainly does not look like fun and is therefore not something that I would try. Anyway, the average American spends 5 hours per day in front of the TV, implying that this notion that we have no time for exercise is complete nonsense. Society needs to re-learn to get its fun from active things like team sports instead of passive things like watching TV or playing computer games.
It really is all about the environment within which you live. I’m a computer nerd by profession, but by simply living within these environments I have built for myself, I easily maintain my VO2max above 60 ml/min/kg. It really is not hard, its just that our society (and the environment we have created for ourselves) has the entire equation completely backwards…
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Dear Schalk,
What a fabulous comment, and thank you for such an interesting debut to my humble Blog. I have to confess that I needed to look up the details about VO2 and, as usual, Wikipedia seemed to have a decent explanation, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max
But is this something you measure on a regular basis? And, if so, is it something that Jean and I should do?
Once again, many thanks for your comment.
Paul
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Hi Paul,
I think that VO2max is an excellent indicator of cardiovascular health and therefore a very important measure to maintain in order to avoid the number one killer in the west: heart disease. However, it only needs to be measured once every year or so. My company offers this test to their employees on a yearly basis
If you are interested, I have recently added some links to some valuable “lifestyle calculators” on my blog where people can quickly and easily determine where they stand with regards to a happy, healthy, wealthy and sustainable life. The “health profile” link is this one: http://www.health-calc.com/component/sundhedsprofiler/default. If you choose the “advanced health profile” you will be asked for your VO2max under the fitness category and given a number of options by which you can calculate it. If your new bike is capable of measuring the wattage you put out, it will be quite easy to do, but it should also be possible to take a short 5 minute test at most fitness centers in your area.
I’m sure that you and Jean can benefit from taking a few minutes to take this test. Cardiovascular health is very important both for the quantity and the quality of your years 🙂
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That’s all very interesting, and thank you for providing the details. I’m signing off now – been too long in front of this PC! – but will follow-up on those links later on. Once again, thanks for your comments, Paul
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Exercise is very important and as we get older its so easy to fall into a less energetic routine.. I find my walks and gardening along with Qigong exersies also keep me relatively fit.. Thanks for sharing Paul.. and Good luck with the exercise bike.. 🙂
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Thanks Sue!
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Vast subject. It is true VO2 max training is useful, and a different thing from endurance training. Another thing is neurological training. Sports such as tennis or skiing mix all these.
PA
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