Comments on: Get Fit in Six Minutes a Week

By: hcantrall

hcantrall — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:06:30 +0000

Sorry Jeffrey, I misunderstood what you were saying, I thought you were saying that the Crossfit program was only Tabata. After re-reading your post, I see what you're getting at =)

By: Jeffrey W. Baker

Jeffrey W. Baker — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:32:42 +0000

hcantrall: CrossFit program in general certainly will increase your strength. I myself did a 2x bodyweight back squat earlier this week. I never thought I'd do that a year ago.

My point was that a round of Tabata air squats isn't a big strength-improving regime. It improves endurance, metabolic/cardio ability, and mental focus.

By: hcantrall

hcantrall — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:23:03 +0000

I'm going to disagree there Jeffrey as we do olympic lifts twice a week and work with weights most days. I personally have gotten huge gains in strength in the last 6 months since I started Crossfit. I'm a 38 yr old female and I can deadlift 225 lbs, back squat 155 lbs and shoulder press 100 lbs. That's pretty good for a girl.

By: Steve Plunk

Steve Plunk — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:22:54 +0000

J.W., Incomplete studies are of little value. This one shows markers that are consistent with fitness improvement but was there any real measure of fitness?

To be honest my skepticism in science is at an all time high. Too many studies counter one another and scientists are often missing the forest for the trees. Now let's throw in politics, grant money, lazy publications that publish most anything for a fee and we can see how untrustworthy science has become. No I'm not anti-science but rather pro good science.

If we continue to chase after every new pronouncement coming from today's scientific community we will be after our tails non stop.

By: Triumph

Triumph — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:17:57 +0000

And, frankly, if we were willing to do that, we’d likely already be fit and exercising a lot more than six minutes a week.

I'm not sure about this. At my gym you see these numbskulls (mostly fat broads) who waste their time WALKING on a treadmill. You see these dames every day and they still look saggy months later.

I have a particular aversion towards them because they hog the machines for hours on end from people like me who actually want to work out.

By: odograph

odograph — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:46:20 +0000

Hi Jake, there is a lot of interesting stuff written about those theoreticals. I was reading a rowing forum (I used to do the Concept II) and found that "why am I above max" was a common question. My take-away was that if you body can burn a lot of oxygen your heart will beat to keep up, within reason. It was interesting for me that I did have a solid max, and would "peg" at 192 in my late 30's. I'm 50 now, and haven't measured in a while. I go by feel (and recovery). I got beat up the hill by a co-worker last night. I want to lay off the korean spicy beef and leek soup as a pre-ride lunch (!!!) and go for a rematch.

By: Jeffrey W. Baker

Jeffrey W. Baker — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:36:48 +0000

What hcantrall said. An interval (Tabata) workout is usually considered a warm-up at a Crossfit gym. They can definitely improve your endurance and metabolic conditioning, but they won't do anything for your strength.

By: Eric Florack

Eric Florack — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:58:03 +0000

Heh. Well, early 40s, sedentary vocation, and lack of PT will do that.

:-/ Tell me about it.

By: J.W. Hamner

J.W. Hamner — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:28:46 +0000

A two week study period is inadequate. Silly study.

I'll trust peer review over random people on the internet any day, but it wouldn't take much effort to look Gibala MJ up on PubMed (as I did) and discover that they have done longer intervention durations. However, your statement is by definition incorrect as the showed significant effects in two weeks, thus it was clearly adequate. Now, it would be quite valuable to see longer term changes... and in less healthy populations... which I would bet large sums of money that they are currently working on... but that doesn't invalidate the work.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:23:05 +0000

Interesting that this post should show up less than 48 hrs from your rather casual comment about getting out of shape, James.

Heh. Well, early 40s, sedentary vocation, and lack of PT will do that.

By: Eric Florack

Eric Florack — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:21:00 +0000

Interesting that this post should show up less than 48 hrs from your rather casual comment about getting out of shape, James.

By: Steve Plunk

Steve Plunk — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:49:48 +0000

A two week study period is inadequate. Silly study.

By: Jake P

Jake P — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:34:12 +0000

Odograph, it's very possible to have true max well above or below your theoretical max. It's a matter of genetics, not how fit you are, and it will be different for running/biking/swimming. (At age 42, my max should be 178, but I top out at 188 when running, for example.) The Karvonen formula is one alternative to do it mathematically. There's a bunch of info at this site, too. If you're over 40, they recommend doing any of the testing under a doc's supervision. I'm not a doctor, just someone who's been using a heart rate monitor for years!

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:30:59 +0000

Even so, 18 to 27 minutes a day towards getting fit, of which 16 to 24 minutes could be used for answering emails or the like would seem like an exercise regimen that more people could fit into their day. Unfortunately since the idea is simple (requiring no lengthy step by step guide book) and the equipment is straightforward and ubiquitous, I suspect that few people will come to know about this as there is little incentive to spread the word.

By: hcantrall

hcantrall — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:56:17 +0000

This is the best thing I've found for fitness and there are affilates worldwide.

http://www.crossfit.com