You Asked: Are Short Bursts of Exercise Beneficial?
You're asking and I'm answering...
Dear Fit,
I've heard that you need to do at least 15 minutes of cardio to reap the calorie-burning and heart benefits. Is that a myth? If it's true, how is it that taking the stairs or jumping rope for five minutes can help burn calories?
Concerned About Calories
The short answer: Take the stairs; it is worth it.
The long answer goes like this:
Let me start this answer by saying that the new exercise guidelines, created by the American College of Sports Medicine in conjunction with the American Heart Association, recommends that we all get 30 minutes of accumulated moderate intensity exercise daily. You can, as your schedule permits, break up your moderate activity, meaning you feel warm and slightly out of breath, into shorter increments. Shorter increments tend to be 10 to 15 minutes, but taking the stairs or jumping rope for five minutes will surely benefit your heart and help you burn calories. In fact, a new study estimates that seven minutes of stair climbing everyday can reduce your risk of developing heart disease by about 60 percent.
On the timing issue, the body revs up to respond to exercise after about two minutes of activity. The body responds by using energy (aka burning calories) and generally uses carbohydrates as fuel first, then fats, and finally proteins. Since your body is burning calories all the time, when you increase the amount of oxygen your muscles need by climbing the stairs or jumping rope, you are burning more calories. Plus you burn extra calories during your recovery period (as your heart rate normalizes) too.
As for quick bursts of exercise, they are beneficial just like interval training, when you mix up intensities during cardio. You are walking along burning some calories; then you climb 6 flights of stairs. You are taxing your muscles and your heart and burning up to 36 percent more calories than you would by just walking on flat terrain, or standing and waiting for the elevator.
So five minutes here and ten minutes there...it all adds up, and it all counts.
