The One-Minute Workout: Science Shows a Way to Get Fit That's Smarter, Faster, Shorter

This is a concise book about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). What it is about, why it is beneficial for our body, the history of its discovery, the legends on the field, and most importantly the many different types of HIIT exercises and how to practice them. The lead author, Martin Gibala PhD, is obsessed with the scientific approach on physiology and it is clearly shown in the multiple experiments, the data-heavy findings, and the overall science-based narrative of the book.Using running as the main focus, through multiple studies Gibala concludes that in a much shorter time frame sprint interval training is just as effective as long distance work (in a slow to moderate pace) for increasing the main predictor of aerobic fitness and longevity: VO2 Max. Gibala explains, “approximately ten minutes of hard exercise a week boosted overall fitness to the same extent as four and a half hours per week of traditional endurance training. It’s mind-blowing. A tiny bit of sprint training has the same effect on the human body as a whole lot of endurance training—despite a much lower training volume and time commitment.”To illustrate this with a training term, using 3 x 20-second sprints over a 10-minute window (3 times a week) can generate the same impact to cardiorespiratory fitness, mitochondrial density, body fat percentage, and management of blood sugar as 3 x 50 minutes of moderate-intensity runs. That’s 30 minutes vs 150 minutes a week effort with the same benefits. Even interval walking (walking at a normal speed for 3 minutes, then at a faster speed for 3 minutes, then back to normal speed, etc) will generate “more improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness and much larger decreases in blood pressure for those who are out of shape” compared with a regular steady speed of walking.Moreover, as with any other fitness books, Gibala also provides all the good nutritional checklist and methods that can perfectly supplement high intensity training. It has all the usual suspects, such as intermittent fasting, cutting sugar, the importance of eating more protein in every meal, while restricting our food intake using calorie counting, and drinking only water and not drinking our calories (not even sports drink).The theory is not without a flaw, however, as the HIIT approach is not readily suitable for everyone. The book provides a careful analysis on many different types of body and capabilities, including people with heart disease, couch potato and people at the age of 50, 60, 70 and above, and provides the more suitable high intensity training for them. Gibala also took a great length for addressing, and solving the problems of, the so-called “noneresponse”, that is those people whose body do not respond to diet and exercise changes, where some even become less fit after exercising.But for the rest of us, the 12 different HIIT training styles that are guided in the book are relatively simple and easy to follow, which is astonishing considering the complicated science behind them and the obvious benefits that look too good to be true at first, but almost instantly impactful when I tried it myself: It solved the mysterious stagnation in my running performance this year, which was baffling for me because I thought I did a good progress by keep increasing the mileage of the same 3x weekly runs.But after reading this book (over twice the time I normally read books, so that I can practice them more accurately), I hit that “oh shit!” moment.As it turns out my previous years’ improvement streak partly got to do with luck, as before the pandemic I used to play football and tennis every week alongside my weekly runs at moderate intensity, two sports that require burst of sprint - walk - sprint - walk (aka speed play). Last year when Covid hits I stopped playing them, but my physical improvement continued simply because I was following Jeff Galloway’s running method, that includes sprints / higher intensity pace. Meanwhile, starting from the beginning of this year I almost exclusively implement Matt Fitzgerald’s 80/20 run, 3x a week, with no other variation.So, as you can probably see, for an autodidact running geek who loves to conduct my own trial and errors using many different theories, this book is definitely a game changer for me. One that explains the science behind the reason why the best of the best coaches in the world all put a great emphasis on the fartlek (or speed play) training and hill training among their weekly training schedule. One that inspires me to plan a more efficient training schedule and insert fartlek and interval walking in between my 80/20 runs.And as a result, after a brief slump, my VO2 Max level is now back to before the pandemic level.

As a senior citizen who has been into working out and exercise for more than 7 decades I have probably tried just about every program and system (Weight training, Circuit training, Military/SEAL exercise systems, Boxing workouts, MMA workouts, Tactical aerobics, HIIT/Tabata systems, Yoga stretching routines and many others) on the market today.I was checking as on line lately searching for some new fitness books I may have missed over the years and came across this 263 hardcover volume (The One Minute Workout: Science shows a way to get fit that’s smarter, faster shorter by Martian Gibala, Ph.D., with Christopher Shulgan) on Amazon for a bargain price.Even though I was quite familiar with various kinds of HIIT and Tabata type workouts and have been doing them for many years; nevertheless, I found this book to contain valuable information on the research conducted into short intense workout routines that I found very interesting and informative.This book also contains 8 interval workouts and 4 micro workouts which show a wide variety of ways to do intense short productive workouts. This book is organized into 9 chapters covering the following topics:Fit in just minutes a week, how intensity works, how it all got started, beyond simple fitness, high-intensity engagement, fun and fast: eight basic workouts, how long can you go? Four potent micro workouts, high-intensity nutrition and the perfect exercise for you.I have always favored hard intense non-stop kind of workouts and even at my advanced age I still do Tabata and HIIT type workouts 3 days a week plus other workout routines another 3 days (6 days a week workouts) a week. If you enjoy doing short intense workouts that produce great results in both aerobic capacity and body strength you may want to check out this book. I loved it.Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Tactical Principles of the most effective Combative Systems).

Before you read this you're thinking "one minute workout? Yeah right" and that's where the trouble starts. This book is about efficient exercise in as little time but it comes off as fadish. There are no one-minute exercises in this book, all workouts are 10-30mins long. This is a well-researched book by a respected authority on the subject of exercise and this book represents the benefits of HIIT (High intensity interval training).His stated goal is to make exercise available for everybody by making it easy and time I wish he had the same goals for this book as well.For example, this book doesn't explain what's the difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise and jumps into which exercise uses which modeHe also has a confusing array of exercises and given the options you end up wondering where should you start or do.Even in exercise details, he starts with background and an image of what the interval looks like but near the end of each exercise he tells you who should do this and that's when you realize its core people above 60 or power athletes etc. this section should be first so you can understand if you need to read this or not. Even better it should just recommend what exercise you should follow if you're getting started and your or in an older demographic, or have access to a gym or if you're an athletes etc.The book makes the same point multiple times trying to prove again an again that HIIT works and gets very repetitive after the 5th study. We're sold on the book, what we need is to hear a simple "this is what I mean by efficient exercise and this is what we need to do" and we'll do it and the results is the proof that matters.My recommendation is to go through the exercises in this book, select one that suits you, you're probably well off skipping everything else.

I appreciated its innovative approach to exercise and time-efficient workout strategies. I believe it is highly recommended for people who have a busy lifestyle but still want to stay active and fit.

Muito bom o livro. Didático e objetivo.

Ive really enjoyed the way he writes and how he corelates facts. Will begin soon to use the recomended workouts and we'll see. The theory is solid, hopefully the result (for me) will be too.

Simplemente Excelente libro para entender y aplicar huir.te introduce muy bien en la esencia de los intervalos y su aplicación .

I started reading this book expecting it to be another "magic bullet" like I see promoted in so many Facebook ads and in the spam I get every day. But I was very pleasantly surprised. The book is chock full of research-based findings about the benefits of a HIIT. But it is never dry or "academic", despite the author's impressive credentials. In fact, the author writes in a thoroughly​engaging and entertaining style. This book has quite profoundly changed my perspective on exercise. I am approaching 50, and I'm in reasonably good shape. But I now have a roadmap to get me fitter and stronger without having to sacrifice time with my (young) family or spend a fortune on equipment or gym memberships. If you have even a passing interest in health or exercise, you should read this book.