Intensity Dials Up Healthy Resistance

Vigorous exercise, even in old age, can deliver a range of health benefits, writes Helen Shield.

If you could distil the side effects of vigorous exercise into a small, easy-to-swallow capsule, you’d be on a speedy shortcut to the billionaire factory.

But in the decade since the BBC’s award-winning science journalist and documentary filmmaker Dr Michael Mosley first revealed the so-called high-intensity exercise shortcut – the theory that just a few minutes of intense exercise each week delivers the same benefits as hours of moderate exercise – there is little evidence Australians have taken it up.

In fact, according to Fitness Australia chief executive officer Barrie Elvish, there’s little evidence most Australians have made it off the couch.

Elvish is frustrated that despite all the studies demonstrating exercise improves physical and mental health, social outcomes and quality of life, there is no Australian government campaign like the phenomenally successful ‘‘Life. Be In It’’ advertisements of the 1970s and 1980s.

“Those campaigns change behaviour,” Elvish says, adding that a successful campaign would save billions ofmedical and mental health-care dollars.

It would alsomake good onAustralia’s 2018 commitment to theWorld Health Organisations’sGlobalAction Plan for PhysicalActivity, to getAustralians 15 per centmore active by 2030.

Australia Institute of Fitness chief executive Steve Pettit says COVID-19 lockdowns exacerbated motivational problems.Working from home reduced incidental exercise and “lockdown snacking” became a thing.

Thrive OrganisationalWellness director, former academic, lifestyle medicine consultant and self-confessed scientific paper “nerd” Dr Mike Newton says Australian Health andWelfare Institute data indicates more than 80 per cent of Australia’s adults are not meeting the minimum healthy exercise activity guidelines.

So how much should you exercise? And how hard?

Fitness Australia general manager and exercise physiologist Chris Alexander says it’s possible to get health benefits from relatively small bursts of intense activity.

However, he says, sustained, regular exercise most days, including at least 15 minutes of strength training twice a week, is crucial for long-term health.

There’s an astonishing array of scientific evidence thatif you exercise regularly, you can reduce the risk of profoundly debilitating diseaselater, including blindness and limb amputation (side-effects of diabetes), heart disease, depression and cancer. Even 15minutes a day at a brisk walking pace, has a powerful upside impact on health and mental health,Dr Newton says.

“Activity is an investment in quality of life,” adds Alexander.

Dr Newton says studies link the big five – a high-quality diet, not smoking, not drinking more than one standard drink a day, a body weight within the recommended range and regular heart-lung and strength exercise most days – to living an extra 12 years.

How much exercise you need depends on your age.

Children aged three to five years should have at least three hours of physical activity a day with one hour of “energetic play”.

From five to 17 it is at least one hour of moderate to vigorous activity each day, plus the so-called strength activities, such as lifting weights, cycling, dancing, climbing stairs, on at least three days.

For adults aged 18 to 64, it’s 150 to 300 minutes a week of “moderate intensity” exercise as well as two strength sessions. “Strength” includes squats, push-ups, pull-ups, weights and resistance training.

A basic DIY strength training session for beginners includes squats, glute bridges, a safe version of push- ups, calf-raises and bicep curls using a handy grocery item, and sit ups.

For those 65 and over, you need 30 minutes of moderate activity every day.

For the reluctant or time-poor exerciser, you can get away with less time. But you have to work harder.

Dr Brendyn Appleby is head of conditioning for the Kookaburras national men’s team at Hockey Australia. On the upside, high-intensity interval training works. “The downside is it’s hard and uncomfortable,” he says. For elite athletes, or anyone, to maintain high levels of fitness, they need exposure to intensity.

For the rest of us,Alexander says to achieve “vigorous” in your exercise, you need to be training at 70 per cent or greater of your maximum heart rate. Your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. So if you are 50, you are aiming to get your heart rate to 119 beats per minute. If you are 60, 112 … and so on.

Assuming you have been screened and have no underlying genetic condition or injury, the evidence suggests even high-risk groups, including those with a history of cardiac disease, tolerate higher intensity exercise relatively well. The Australian government guidelines, which include the often-neglected strength component of activity, are the minimum for good quality health protection.

Higher-intensity exercise improves heart-lung fitness and reduces the risk of diabetes and, if you sustain it for long enough, Dr Newton says you stimulate the release of feel-good chemicals that promote mental health and may play a role in keeping dementia at bay.

“Find something you love,”Alexander says. “Walk on the beach, play sport, cycle … walk the dog.Or if you can afford to pay, find an exercise professional who can give you a smorgasbord of options.”

Slice

The Australian Institute of Fitness

At the Australian Institute of Fitness (AIF), we are no stranger to the competitive and evolving nature of the fitness industry. That’s why we remain the #1 fitness educator since 1979. We continuously raise the bar by providing the best education and resources through dynamic and hybrid training methods that mould to your lifestyle. We are strong believers in evidence over fads, so you can be assured your training with AIF will solidify your career for the long-term.