Hoarding medicine is not as good as hoarding "good body": New Year's exercise goals can be set a little lower, just a few minutes a day

One of the most popular New Year's resolutions is to exercise
more.
Many of us set ambitious goals that require a huge, regular commitment, but then abandon them because they are too many to fit into
.
New Year's
plans for more exercise are often broken within a month.
So, how can we exercise more regularly in the new year?

If the goal is to build long-term fitness and health, exercise must be sustainable
.
Doing an extra few minutes of muscle exercise each day is achievable
.
New research shows that even muscle contractions once a day, 5 days a week, can improve muscle strength
if you stick to it for a month.

Previous physical activity guidelines recommended 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, as well as muscle-strengthening exercises
at least twice a week.

Skeletal muscle tissue declines with age, leading to loss
of function and independence in older adults.
Therefore, it is important to do regular muscle-strengthening exercises that stimulate the skeletal muscles
of the legs, arms, and torso.
However, 85 per cent of Australians do not meet the physical activity recommendation
for weekly aerobic and muscle-strengthening exercises.
Reasons include lack of time, lack of motivation, lack of fitness facilities
.
Addressing these barriers is important because lack of physical activity increases the risk of many chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis (osteoporosis), dementia, depression, and anxiety
.

Short periods of exercise can strengthen your muscles

Recent research by my research team found that even with the same overall amount of exercise, regular small amounts of resistance training are better
than one large-scale resistance training.

We asked participants to do 30 maximum contractions (i.
e.
, contract the muscles as much as possible) of arm curls per week for four weeks
.
One group did six contractions a day, five days a week; The other group did it 30 times
at a time.
The group that completed these movements at once did not increase muscle strength, while the group that repeated 6 times in five days increased muscle strength by more than
10%.
In another study, we found that doing a 3-second biceps contraction once a day, 5 days a week, increased muscle strength by 12%.

Participants contract the muscles from a curved position to a stretched position, as if
slowly lowering a weight.

In both studies, participants used special equipment from our lab and used strength as best they could, but similar results
were obtained by slowly lowering the heavy dumbbells a few times.

Incorporating exercise into your daily routine – "quirky sports"

We are investigating the effects
of five minutes of "quirky" exercise a day on the health and fitness of sedentary people.
Quirky movements can activate and lengthen muscles
.
We have investigated the effects of sitting slowly in a chair and found it to be effective
in improving leg muscle strength, chair standing, walking and balance in older adults.
Many of us sit in chairs or sofas more than ten times a
day.
So, if we sit slowly every time we sit down, we do at least 10 eccentric contractions
of the muscles that stretch the knee joints every day.
This is a great opportunity for us to do eccentric movements every day that simulate our leg muscles
.

Centrifugal contractions not only affect muscles, but also improve health markers
such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Start small and then build momentum

Our research focused primarily on resistance exercise, but it also applies to aerobic exercise
.
Walking five minutes a day is still good
for your health.
However, if you're already doing regular workouts at the gym every week, adding a little workout each day may not produce much of an extra effect, so there's no need to replace your usual regular workouts with smaller micro-workouts
.

But for those who are just starting to exercise, doing a little exercise is usually a good start
.
Once your health improves, you can increase your exercise
.

So, how about making a five-minute exercise plan in 2023?