Exercise

[ysabetwordsmith]

Five minutes a day eccentric exercise can improve your life

As little as five minutes a day of eccentric exercise could offer significant health benefits to those living a stagnant lifestyle.


Exercise doesn't have to involve wasting calories in a gym. Everyday activities count. Bending over to pick things up or empty a washing machine resembles toe-touches. Squatting down to plant, weed, or harvest in a garden is the same as squatting on a gym mat. Wash windows or pick tree fruit until you feel like your arms will fall off, and that's an overhead type of exercise. It all counts.

Ideally, exercises works best with some repetition of the same motion; this article suggests at least 10 reps per motion. When you start to notice your body wearing out, switch to something different. If you do each type of activity for 5 minutes or so, you can fit 2-3 types into a short timespan.

This type of activity is easily incorporated into your day. Take a break every hour or so to get up and do something active. It's a good way to keep up with housework or yardwork. Because the aim is modest, it's not a big exhausting project. Plus you accomplish actual work, which is a benefit that gym exercise never offers, thus improving motivation for everyday exercise.

Comments

[greghousesgf]

"eccentric exercise" sounds like exercise does by rich insane people.

[crunchysteve]

I've only recently come accross the "eccentric exercise" term myself. "Spasmodic" would be a better plain english term and still scientifically describe the concept assessed. I think some of these researchers set out to deliberately make their work unreadable by lay people.

And "stagnant lifestyle"? Judgey? Much! There have been studies that have shown that modern, busy lifestyles are a major contributor to sedentry activity levels.

Still, the positive of this paper should not be diminished - any activity is better than no activity and "pottering about" in a garden or a workshop counts towards a healthy lifestyle. Again, other studies have shown that the short walk to public transport shows a marked improvement in health outcomes, compared to those locked into using private cars for the commute, due to circumstance (no access to transit) or choice.

[fred_mouse]

I love that the exercise physiologists and likewise are starting to talk about the wider range of options. I was fascinated a few years back to read several articles about micro-dosing. The one I remember showed that if you asked university students to take the stairs up - three flights, three days a week - then there was a measurable improvement in cardio vascular fitness. And that was walking up the stairs, not pushing to get to the top as fast as possible.