Article: Push Yourself for Best Results

Jruzer

Here's an interesting article in the NY Times Well Blog:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/25/for-fitness-push-yourself/

The lede:

Intense exercise changes the body and muscles at a molecular level in ways that milder physical activity doesn't match, according to an enlightening new study. Though the study was conducted in mice, the findings add to growing scientific evidence that to realize the greatest benefits from workouts, we probably need to push ourselves.

The article doesn't dismiss lower intensity exercise, stating that "any exercise is more healthful than none". But it concludes that

"the point is to get out of your body’s comfort zone,” Dr. Conkright, “because it does look like there are unique consequences when you do.”

I think many people will think that this matches their thinking. It lines up with notions of both using intervals during cardiovascular training, such as HIIT, and lifting heavy for low reps. To my mind it's cool to see how this concept of stress improving fitness is being studied at the cellular and molecular levels.