For the time-crunched and gym-shy, welcome news: there is no need to spend hours exercising if you want to get in shape - a workout lasting little longer than a pop song will do nicely. According to many in the fitness industry, all you need to get rid of your love handles is four minutes a day, manageable even by the most slothful.
"Short, intense workouts are definitely the way forward," says personal trainer Dax Moy, who runs fitness studios in London. "There can be nobody who can't find four or five minutes in their day to exercise for their health."
Moy has achieved great success since introducing short, sharp training to his clients. Called Tabata training (after the physiologist at the National Institute of Fitness and Sport in Tokyo who "discovered" it), it is a daily, gut-busting express workout that leads to improved strength, aerobic conditioning and a more toned appearance. Research confirms that this is no fad. A couple of years ago, sport scientists at the University of Glamorgan in South Wales found that people could cut the duration of their gym sessions by two-thirds and achieve the same results as those who slogged for longer. Regular exercisers were split into two groups and told to follow an upper-body weight-training programme. All worked out three days a week; one group performed one set of eight repetitions, while the others did three times as much. After two months, both groups displayed significant improvements in muscular strength and corresponding decreases in body fat.