What’s the Best Exercise?

Martin Gibala, the chairman of the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, when pressed to choose a single best exercise, suggested one of the foundations of old-fashioned calisthenics: the burpee.

A recent meta-analysis of studies about exercise and mortality showed that, in general, a sedentary person’s risk of dying prematurely from any cause plummeted by nearly 20 percent if he or she began brisk walking (or the equivalent) for 30 minutes five times a week. If he or she tripled that amount, for instance, to 90 minutes of exercise four or five times a week, his or her risk of premature death dropped by only another 4 percent.

“I personally think that brisk walking is far and away the single best exercise,” said Michael Joyner, M.D., a professor of anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and a leading researcher in the field of endurance exercise.

The squat, and weight training in general, are particularly good at combating sarcopenia, he said, or the inevitable and debilitating loss of muscle mass that accompanies advancing age. Resistance training is good for weight control, as well.

They also talk about high intensity interval training. But it couldn’t be condensed easily, so click through to read it yourself. (Thank you to @fitvillains for the link)

04/19/11 at 1:00pm

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