High-intensity workouts have begun to allow people to get maximum health benefits while working out for a shorter time.

‘Improved cardiorespiratory fitness does not suffer when people complete fewer sprint repetitions and that this may even produce better results.’

Experts from Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence have
reviewed existing studies that investigate the benefits of regularly
performing repetitions of a special type of high-intensity cycle sprint
known as 'supramaximal'. They found doing fewer repetitions of these
sprint intervals on a bike may lead to greater improvements in
cardiorespiratory fitness.




Dr. Niels Vollaard, Lecturer in Health and Exercise Science in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, said: "We found improved cardiorespiratory fitness does not suffer when people complete fewer sprint repetitions and that this may even produce better results. The optimal number of repetitions appears to be just two, so workouts based on supramaximal sprints can be kept very short without compromising on the results."
The findings of this research are only applicable to 'supramaximal' exercise, which requires specialized exercise bikes that enable very high exercise intensities. Whether HIIT workouts at lower intensities also benefit from a low number of sprint repetitions is not yet known.
Previously, it has been assumed that performing more repetitions of high-intensity exercise will produce greater improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness.
In this analysis, published in the leading journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, scientists found that after performing two maximal sprints, each additional sprint in a training session reduced the overall improvement in fitness by around 5% on average.
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"To encourage more people to become active and help increase the health of the population, we need to investigate the optimal duration and number of sprint intervals people could undertake on a bike, while getting the same benefits as longer sessions."
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Source-Eurekalert