The popular exercise goal of walking 10,000 steps per day is not a bad thing, although it actually comes from a marketing campaign from the 1960’s for a Japanese pedometer rather than any research or objective findings. But 10,000 steps averages about 5 miles, and takes over an hour to do in most cases. That’s a lot to fit into a busy schedule, and despite good intentions, many people have a difficult time doing it consistently.

Exercising at a higher intensity than walking will typically provide more benefits in less time. The rule of thumb used to be that for every mile of walking, a mile of running was about twice as effective in terms of burning calories, improving cardiovascular endurance, etc.. To be fair, the calorie burning calculation is strictly what’s burned at the time of exercise, and the overall amount burned is a much more complex matter.

Even so, recent studies are indicating far greater overall health benefits for relatively high intensity exercise in much less time (when appropriate for the individual) than walking.

In fact, the current assessments are that 10 minutes of higher intensity activity will far exceed the overall health and longevity benefits of 10,000 steps of walking. Better yet, the 10 minutes doesn’t need to be continuous – exercise “snacks” of a minute or two at a time done multiple times to add up to a total of 10 minutes will do the job.

Now, if you’re someone who sets aside plenty of time to exercise and prefer to do it all at once, that’s fine. As I always say, the most effective exercise is whatever you can and will do consistently over a long period of time.

But if you’ve had trouble meeting your exercise goals because your life is too busy to fit in an hour or more at a time, the shorter, higher intensity approach might be for you.

Now, I think it’s important to define “higher intensity.” Generally, we’re talking about any type of exercise that pushes your heart rate up to around 70% of maximum. Traditionally, maximum heart rate was estimated with the formula 220 – [your age]. There’s another calculation that is considered more accurate called the Tanaka formula, which is 208 - (.7 X [your age]). So, assuming you are healthy enough for vigorous exercise, you want to get your heart rate up to 70% (multiply by .7) of the number you get from one of those formulas for maximum heart rate.

Generally speaking, any activities in which you move your arms and/or legs quickly will work – running, swimming, stair climbing, martial arts, dancing, etc.. Depending on what activity it is, what your level of fitness is, how hard you go, etc.. you may need a minute or two to get your heart rate up, so that 10 minutes of high intensity exercise might really be more like 15 or 20 minutes, depending on whether you go straight through for 10 minutes or break it up over the course of the day.

Now, if you haven’t really exercised at all before, or it’s been a while since you last did, I strongly recommend a couple of things before you try anything high intensity. First, take a month or two doing low-intensity exercise 3 to 4 times per week. This could be walking at a slow, comfortable pace, water exercises, riding a bicycle at an easy pace, etc.. It would also be a good idea to get a physical exam from your primary care physician to make sure you’re healthy enough for vigorous exercise. After a little while of low-intensity, gradually increase the intensity. For example, go from slow walking to fast walking. After a few weeks to a few months at moderate intensity, then start with a few short bursts of higher intensity – running, fast swimming, bicycling at a fast pace, etc.

Another thing to consider is how well your body is suited to whatever form of exercise you choose. For example, if you have arthritis or other joint issues, it’s usually best to avoid exercises that place a lot of impact or strain on the painful areas like running (especially on pavement) – maybe go with swimming or bicycling instead. Find what is comfortable (or at least not outright painful) to do at a reasonably high level of effort.

And if you’re going with the exercise snack approach, you’ll obviously need to have an activity that fits into the environment where you spend a lot of time and hope to do several exercise breaks. For instance, running is going to be tough to do in a small space unless you have a treadmill there, whereas you could do body weight squats in a pretty small space with no equipment.

Even with higher intensity, lower time commitment exercise, you’ll still need some planning and a bit of discipline to keep yourself on track. But if you’ve struggled to be consistent with more time-intensive exercise regimens, increasing intensity can save you a lot of time and get you even better results in terms of overall health and longevity, as well as in losing weight, getting toned and looking and feeling your best.

Until next time…

George F. Best, D.C.