What If the 'Experts' Are Wrong About Exercise Too?

The more research I do that suggests conventional health experts are misguided in recommending low fat/high carbohydrate diets, the more I wonder about their other advice.

Like engaging in three hours of moderate exercise a week.

Don't get me wrong, but if vacuuming is such good exercise, why are there so many out of shape housewives?

Here's one good way to combine
cardio with strength training

And why is 24 Hour Fitness full of people treadmilling like hamsters on a wheel with little reward beyond that which can be attributed to dietary change?

Sure, moderate exercise is better than no exercise. But is it the best way to gain optimal health and fitness?

Recently, I have been reading an increasing number of articles featuring studies that tout the benefits of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) as a more efficient and enjoyable way to improve one's metabolic health than such activities as walking, swimming or bicycling at a steady moderate pace a.k.a. Moderate Intensity Training or MIT (not to be confused with Mitt Romney).

There are various methods for engaging in HIIT, such as alternating walking with sprinting or running uphill for as long as your lungs and muscles will alow and then walking until you recover.


Though the jury is still out, there is promising evidence that HIIT requires less time and yields better results than MIT.

And this is not true for just the young and spritely.

A Scottish study published last year found that a group of over-60s who engaged in HIIT vs MIT "had reduced their blood pressure by 9%, increased their ability to get oxygen to their muscles and found day-to-day activities like getting out of a chair or walking the dog easier."

Obviously, I am not offering medical advice here. Anyone with a chronic health condition should check with their medical provider before engaging in a new exercise program.

And if the only exercise you've done lately is walk from the couch to the fridge on commercial breaks, you may have to start slow here.

From my own experience, however, varying the intensity of my exercise makes it more fun and invigorating; and since motivation is key to whether I exercise or not, that benefit alone is worth highlighting.

To learn, however, that it's possible I can exercise for less time and gain better results with high intensity interval bursts versus plodding along at a moderate pace is mind blowing.

I know we're all supposed to root for the tortoise in the old fairy tale, but what if the rabbit was right?


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