Which exercise regime is worth the pain?

COLD-WATER SWIMMING
The promise

According to aficionados, it will boost your immune system, burn calories and leave you with an all-natural high.

Does it deliver?
There’s no doubt swimming boosts aerobic fitness, reduces fat and increases muscle. Add icy water though, and the risks may start to outweigh the benefits. “Immersion in cold water puts a significant strain on the heart, increases your blood pressure, and leads to uncontrollable hyperventilation that can be a precursor to drowning,” says Mike Tipton, professor of human and applied physiology at the University of Portsmouth, and a keen triathlete. This ‘cold water shock response’ begins below 15C, and is responsible for most drownings in the UK. Most often the shock of the cold causes people to inhale water, but it can also prompt heart attacks.
That’s not to say you can’t get used to the cold. “Provided you go about it sensibly, as few as five, five-minute immersions in cold water will reduce that shock response and the problems associated with it,” says Tipton. Does it burn more calories? It depends on how fast you’re moving. If you’re sitting still in cold water and shivering, you’ll burn more than if you were on dry land, but who wants to put themselves through that? Once you get moving and stop shivering, any difference in the number of calories burned will be negligible, Tipton says.

SPINNING
The promise
No gym is complete without its squadron of spinning bikes, often accompanied by pumping techno music and an instructor hollering at the class.Spinning, or group indoor cycling, promises to burn fat and boost strength and endurance as you power through virtual sprints, hill climbs and headwinds — all without having to actually go outdoors.

Does it deliver?
Generally, riding on a stationary bike isn’t as good as the real thing. One recent study found cyclists produced more power — and thus burnt more calories — for the same perceived effort, when they were outdoors. On the other hand, in a spinning class you get the added benefit of a coach pushing you harder than you might otherwise go cycling alone.

PILATES
The promise
Pilates combines elements of yoga and martial arts training into a predominantly mat-based routine that it’s claimed boosts strength, flexibility and posture. Celebrities, including Madonna and Jennifer Aniston, swear by its body-sculpting powers, but pilates is also recommended for those with back pain to strengthening muscles that support the spine.

Does it deliver?
A key claim is that it activates and strengthens ‘core’ abdominal muscles, which is probably true.In a recent study, Duncan Critchley at Kings College, London, and his colleagues divided a group of regular gym users into two groups — one group did two 45-minute sessions of pilates a week for eight weeks; the other did conventional weight training — and then compared their abdominal muscles. “Those who had done pilates training were using their deepest tummy muscles more than those who had done the strength training,” Duncan Critchley says.

CROSSFIT
The promise
“There is the pain that hurts you, and then there’s the pain that changes you”. It’s a mantra beloved of crossfitters who believe that to get results you need to push yourself hard; very hard. Crossfit uses constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movements to get results. In crossfit, the loads you bear are far heavier, and they’re performed in a competitive environment where you’re encouraged to push yourself harder each week.

Does it deliver?
Recent research suggests crossfit delivers impressive results. When Steven Devor and his colleagues at Ohio State University assigned 54 men and women to a five-day-a-week crossfit programme for ten weeks, they saw big improvements in participants’ aerobic capacity, a 3-4 per cent fall in fat and increases in muscle, regardless of initial level of fitness. “Crossfit generally produces improved results when in body composition and measurements of aerobic fitness compared with traditional weight lifting or aerobic exercise,” says Devor — mainly because you are constantly working at a high intensity, with few rests in between sets, he says. However, this may come at a cost. In Devor’s study, nine of the participants dropped out because of injury.

HIIT
The promise
If you want to get fit, but never have time, then HIIT (high intensity interval training) might seem the perfect solution. The idea is to alternate very short (30 second) bursts of extremely intense aerobic exercise with slower recovery periods. This is claimed to produce the same benefits as more conventional aerobic exercise for far longer.
“If you start breaking down this glycogen on a regular basis, the theory is your muscles will get better at taking glucose up from the bloodstream, and this could reduce your risk of diabetes,” says Niels Vollaard, an exercise physiologist at the University of Bath.

Does it deliver?
Vollaard’s team found that interspersing 10 minutes of easy peddling on a stationary bike with two ‘all-out’ 20-second sprints can achieve the same health benefits as a 45-minute run or cycle ride. Even better, this seems to suppress appetite, unlike more conventional exercise which makes you hungrier. The drawback? For now at least, most gym bikes and treadmills are geared towards general aerobic exercise, rather than sprint training. And although many gyms claim to offer HIIT classes, what they often mean is interval training which, although hard work, is unlikely to recreate the extremely high intensities of the HIIT research taking place in sports science labs.
Because of the strain HIIT puts on your heart, Vollaard recommends consulting your doctor before starting any kind of high intensity exercise.

MARATHONS AND BEYOND
The promise
Running is now second in popularity to swimming in the UK, with booming numbers signing up for half-marathons and marathons. This is prompting some to seek even bigger challenges, like ultramarathons or iron man triathlons. Those who compete in such events tend to be extremely lean and fit, but is running — particularly for long distances — really the best form of exercise?

Do they deliver?
It depends on what you want to achieve. “If you just want to improve your health and to feel a bit better, then regularly running five to 10km is great,” says Vollaard.
“If you want to build slightly bigger muscles and look a bit more trimmed then you probably want to do a bit of weight training as well.” This is because although running will make your muscles fitter, it won’t usually make them grow any bigger. If you’re just running for general health and wellbeing, then continuing to run the same distance at the same intensity will continue to burn off excess calories and reduce your risk of disease. But if you want to get even fitter, or improve your time or distance, you will need to push yourself harder — either running longer distances — or incorporating some interval training.
Before considering any exercise regime, always consult your family doctor. Never undertake any form of exercise that may be strenuous, unusual or intense without taking medical advice.