Is there any benefit from one workout per week - Lifehacker

Even in a busy week, there is one window for a little workout. Another question is whether you can achieve something by practicing so rarely. Below, we'll look at how one workout per week affects health, muscle strength and size, and excess weight.

Will One Workout Help Improve Your Health?

To maintain health, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendsPhysical activity engage in light physical activity for 150 minutes a week, or arrange more intense workouts for 75 minutes a week.

In this case, it is not necessary to choose one thing. You can combine activities with different levels of effort to gain the required norm.

If you find an hour free for an intense workout, you only have 30 minutes left (75 minutes - 60 minutes = 15 minutes; 15 minutes × 2 = 30 minutes) of light work. It is enough to walk twice at a fast pace, and you will meet the prescribed rate.

An hour cardio session + 2-3 walks = WHO norm for maintaining health.

Research confirms that infrequent exercise actually improves health. Weekend Warriors, who train only 1-2 times a week, run much less risk

Association of "Weekend Warrior" and Other Leisure Time Physical Activity Patterns With Risks for All-Cause, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer Mortality die from cardiovascular disease, cancer and other causes than those who lead a passive lifestyle.

Running just one hour a week at 10 km / h reduces the risk of dying from heart diseaseAssociation of "Weekend Warrior" and Other Leisure Time Physical Activity Patterns With Risks for All-Cause, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer Mortality by half, and from any other reasons - by 29%.

To get the most out of your workout, choose the right workout routine.

How to Exercise for Maximum Benefit

1. Make your workout hard. Work on the pulse 70-80% of the maximum pumps betterTraining With 5 Exercise Heart Rate Training Zones cardiovascular system and burnsQuantifying differences in the "fat burning" zone and the aerobic zone: implications for training more fat than quiet activities. If health permits, go for a run or go to a group fitness program.
2. Try High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) - alternating intervals with maximum effort and work at a calm pace. HIIT betterAerobic high ‑ intensity intervals improve VO2max more than moderate training, Effects of high-intensity circuit training, low-intensity circuit training and endurance training on blood pressure and lipoproteins in middle-aged overweight men, High intensity aerobic interval exercise is superior to moderate intensity exercise for increasing aerobic capacity in patients with coronary artery disease, The effects of high-intensity intermittent exercise training on fat loss and fasting insulin levels of young women pumps endurance and aerobic capacity than long cardio, increases insulin sensitivity and accelerates oxidationHourly 4 ‑ s Sprints Prevent Impairment of Postprandial Fat Metabolism from Inactivity fat after meals, which is beneficial for losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight.
3. Start gradually. An hour of running out of habit will overload the leg muscles, and HIIT will reward you with psychological trauma for 30 minutes. Get used to the activity gradually - even if it takes a long time, but you do without injury, severe pain and hate of movement.

Will one workout help build muscle and get stronger?

With the same amount of training, it doesn't matter if you do one, two or three times a week - muscle strength will growWeekly Training Frequency Effects on Strength Gain: A Meta-Analysis at the same speed.

The problem is, you can't do as much in one workout as you can in two or three. Power loads not only tire the muscles, but also the central nervous system, so that the volumeEffect of Resistance Training Frequency on Gains in Muscular Strength: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis classes will decrease regardless of your motivation.

When it comes to muscle growth, one workout per week will also not make you progress quickly. Within 48-72 hours after a power load, the body increasesResistance training-induced changes in integrated myofibrillar protein synthesis are related to hypertrophy only after attenuation of muscle damage protein synthesis and muscle fibers grow. After this time, the balance of protein synthesis and breakdown returns to normal, and in order for hypertrophy to continue, you need to work with heavy weights again.

Therefore, it will take much longer for noticeable progress than if you did more often.

However, the results will still beThe Minimum Amount You Can Strength Train and Still See Results, since the nervous system adapts to power loads, and muscle fatigue will provide favorable conditions for hypertrophy.

So if you put together a good exercise program and eat enough protein and carbs, you can build up and gain weight over time with different exercises.

How to Exercise for Maximum Benefit

1. Choose multi-joint exercises: squats, deadlifts, bench press, standing press, lunges. These movements provide a good stimulus for strength and muscle growth.
2. Train your entire body in one workout. Dividing the body into muscle groups is suitable for those who exercise several times a week. You also need to have time to pump as much as possible in one workout. Therefore, select one exercise for all major muscle groups and perform them 6-12 times in 2-3 sets.
3. Warm up well. Donate 15 Minutes Warm Up - Easy cardio, joint warm-up, dynamic stretching. This will help you lift heavy weights and avoid injury.

Will one workout help you lose weight?

In one fairly intense one hour workout, you can burnCalories burned in 30 minutes for people of three different weights about 500-800 kcal, depending on weight.

Is consideredCaloric equivalents of gained or lost weight, that to lose weight by 1 kg, you need to burn about 7,716 kcal. Thus, it will take at least three months to lose only 1 kg of fat mass. And this is provided that on the other days you consume exactly as many calories as you spend, and on the day of training you do not overlap the spent energy with an increased portion of food or sweets.

Moreover, over time, the body adapts to stress, and in order to spend your 500-700 kcal, you will need to exercise more intensely or longer.

And remember, maintaining a healthy weight depends more on your diet and lifestyle than on exercise.

Therefore, first of all, for weight loss it is worth:

• Find the right diet - exclude flour, sweet and alcohol, adjust the calorie content and the amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
• Get rid of stress - psychological problems, lack of sleep, external factors that make you nervous and anxious.
• Improve eating habits - remove unnecessary snacks, emotional consumption of food.

Even regular and frequent intense workouts do not work if you more than replenish all the lost calories after exercise or, for example, do not get enough sleep. Under such conditions, one workout per week will be a drop in the bucket and will not give any result.

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One workout per week will improve your health and longevity, help you get stronger and build muscle. Therefore, feel free to find a window of free time and do not hesitate: you will not waste your time.