Another Study Says Intensity is the Way to Better Health

A recent study on 300 obese adults adds to the mountain of research that is showing high intensity workouts are the best way to get fit, even if you’re obese and even if you don’t do it that much.

The subjects were broken into four groups: Occasional low intensity, occasional high intensity, frequent low intensity or the always unfortunate control group who did nothing different. We’re not sure how “occasional” occasional means, but the “frequent” equaled five days a week. That means we’re probably looking at 2-3 days out of our week to push ourselves out of our comfort zones instead of doing a moderate workout nearly every day.

After six months, the results showed intensity wins. A two-hour glucose test, which is essentially a test to see how quickly the body breaks down glucose, showed that those who were occasionally intense through the week broke down sugars more efficiently than their counterparts. This is a test that is performed to check people for diabetes and risk of heart disease or stroke, so a good score is a clear indicator of our overall health.

When it comes to overall glucose tolerance, in fact, there was a 9% boost to the high-intensity subjects which, especially for those edging towards Type 2 Diabetes, is a huge improvement.

But there is good news for any of the exercisers. While glucose tolerance was not changed for the lower-intense subjects, all the groups saw a slimming of their waistlines and a reduction of fat. Well, except for the control group. Sorry, control group.