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Stunning new research on the impact of exercise intensity - Wisdom Wednesdays · Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays. Today
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  Speaker 1: we are going to talk about exercise again. I know
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  Speaker 1: I talk about it a lot, but today we're going
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  Speaker 1: to talk about not just how much of it you're doing,
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  Speaker 1: but what kind of adaptation your body is building because
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  Speaker 1: of it, Because, as it turns out, it's not just
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  Speaker 1: about moving more, but how you move that is critical.
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  Speaker 1: Now we've been told about this idea for decades that
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  Speaker 1: you should get one hundred and fifty minutes a week walking,
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  Speaker 1: jumping on a bike, maybe some jogging, and you're taking
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  Speaker 1: the health box right now. I have recently talked about
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  Speaker 1: some research that showed that intensity and like high intensity
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  Speaker 1: stuff was worth way more than two minutes of moderate intensity.
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  Speaker 1: I think it was somewhere between five and nine, depending
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  Speaker 1: on what health parameter you're looking at. But a brand
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  Speaker 1: new systematic review and meta analysis, which has pulled outa
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  Speaker 1: from over four hundred studies including nearly six thousand participants,
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  Speaker 1: has unpacked just high different types of exercise reshape our muscle, mitochondria,
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  Speaker 1: and our capillaries, the blood flow network within that the
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  Speaker 1: review was published in twenty twenty five, and that the
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  Speaker 1: title is Effects of exercise training on mitochondrial and capillary
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  Speaker 1: growth in human skeletal muscle, A systematic review and meta regression,
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  Speaker 1: and this really adds a bit of depth to that
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  Speaker 1: earlier study that showed that high intensity was way more
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  Speaker 1: impactful than moderate intensity. So what these researchers found was
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  Speaker 1: that these two things, mitochondrial density and capillarization are absolutely
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  Speaker 1: critical for your metabolic health, endurance, and your longevity. And
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  Speaker 1: they clearly showed once again the intensity is king. So first,
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  Speaker 1: let's talk about your mitochondria. You may have heard before
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  Speaker 1: that these are your cellular energy factories. They're talking about
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  Speaker 1: as the powerhouse of the cell, but the reality is
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  Speaker 1: they do way more than that. It is known now
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  Speaker 1: that your mitochondria play a role in the following processes
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  Speaker 1: in the body, calcium and iron, homeostasis and signaling, then
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  Speaker 1: control of apoptosis. You may have heard of this before.
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  Speaker 1: This is programmed cell death where your sales diets certain times,
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  Speaker 1: but that triggers the growth of new cells. The next
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  Speaker 1: way they impact our health is management and detoxification of
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  Speaker 1: reactive oxygen species, which you've probably heard of. These are
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  Speaker 1: these little nasty cellular nasties that practically rust your cells.
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  Speaker 1: Mitochondria have an impact on steroid hormone synthesis. They also
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  Speaker 1: impact on neurotransmitter and hormone production. They play critical roles
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  Speaker 1: in circadian rhythm regulation, and we know that that has
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  Speaker 1: huge impacts on our health. And they play big roles
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  Speaker 1: in metabolic signaling and regulation, including blood sugar control. Now,
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  Speaker 1: on top of all of that, if that list isn't
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  Speaker 1: enough damage, Mitochondria are one of the twelve major hallmarks
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  Speaker 1: of aging that I talk about in my new book
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  Speaker 1: and I've covered in the podcast before, and it is
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  Speaker 1: the one hallmark that impacts more hallmarks than any of
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  Speaker 1: the others. So more mitochondria equals better health on so
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  Speaker 1: many levels and better aging. Now, this review found that
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  Speaker 1: high intensity training and sprint interval training produced two to
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  Speaker 1: four times greater mitochondrial gains per unit of time than
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  Speaker 1: your standard long duration, steady state jog or background basically
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  Speaker 1: the moderate physical activity that we're totally so important. So
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  Speaker 1: if your time poor, and let's face it isn't these days,
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  Speaker 1: then doing a few very hard sessions can deliver more
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  Speaker 1: mitochondrial bang for your buck. Sprint intervals were the most efficient,
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  Speaker 1: followed by high intensity interval training then traditional endurance training.
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  Speaker 1: So don't believe all the hype on the internet about
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  Speaker 1: Zone II training. Yes it plays a role in our health,
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  Speaker 1: but it's actually minor compared to working out at higher intensities.
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  Speaker 1: Now let's shift and talk about capillarization. So that is
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  Speaker 1: the expansion of your muscles blood vessel network, which we
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  Speaker 1: know is really important for our health as well. And
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  Speaker 1: it turns out that capellary growth responds a bit differently
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  Speaker 1: than mitochondria to exercise training. In this topic, volume and
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  Speaker 1: duration start to matter more. We know now that increases
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  Speaker 1: in capillaries per fiber per muscle fiber, they happen across
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  Speaker 1: all exercise types, but density gains were more robust with
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  Speaker 1: your longer duration, moderate intensity efforts like your classic enurine
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  Speaker 1: training or your Zone two, So this is where this
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  Speaker 1: becomes really important. However, what these researchers find was that
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  Speaker 1: the response plateaued after about eight weeks, So even if
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  Speaker 1: you're targeting vascular remodeling, you don't need endless, endless hours
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  Speaker 1: of Zone two, You just need consistent exposure over a
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  Speaker 1: couple of months. And importantly, in this research, capillary growth
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  Speaker 1: is not the same thing as hypertrophy. Bigger muscles don't
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  Speaker 1: necessarily mean better blood flow. The study made this distinction
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  Speaker 1: pretty clear. Vascular remodel is its own biological response. So
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  Speaker 1: let's talk about who benefits, because they also looked at
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  Speaker 1: that in the study and what they find it's good news.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody adapts. Doesn't matter what your age, your sex, or
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  Speaker 1: your disease status. None of those blunt your ability to
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  Speaker 1: respond to the right exercise dose. Now, some disease in
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  Speaker 1: the aide status might impact some of the exercises that
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  Speaker 1: you can do, but we can all still go at
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  Speaker 1: intensity unless we've got really chronic conditions. But they find
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  Speaker 1: that even people with diabetes, cardiovascular or pulmary conditions showed
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  Speaker 1: meaningful improvements. Right, so having a condition doesn't mean that
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  Speaker 1: you stop exercising. You just need to tweak it, probably
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  Speaker 1: under the guidance of an exercise physiologist. But what they
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  Speaker 1: find is that the untrained people showed bigger gains. But
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  Speaker 1: this is important. Well trained individuals still adapted, particularly when
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  Speaker 1: the intensity was cranked up, so there's no what we
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  Speaker 1: call a ceiling effect if you push the stimulus appropriately.
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  Speaker 1: So let's talk to takeoms. What does this mean for you. Firstly,
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  Speaker 1: intensity matters most for building mitochondria. I think sprint interval
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  Speaker 1: intervals being king then hit. They are the best bang
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  Speaker 1: for your back with exercise, and they also the take
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  Speaker 1: on is capillary growth is more about duration, but it
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  Speaker 1: happens early. You don't need the grind for years. You
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  Speaker 1: just need to be consistent for eight weeks or a
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  Speaker 1: little bit longer. And hypertrophy and muscle is not the
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  Speaker 1: same as capillarization. Just because your muscles are getting bigger
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  Speaker 1: doesn't mean that your vascular system is improving. And that's
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  Speaker 1: probably why in the research muscle strength has a bigger
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  Speaker 1: impact on longevity the muscle size. It's actually what's happening
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  Speaker 1: inside the muscle that's key, including extra capillarization. And a
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  Speaker 1: big take on here is that everybody benefits, regardless of age, sex,
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  Speaker 1: or health condition. And the last one is that that
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  Speaker 1: trainability is context specific. Untrained people improve greater or are
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  Speaker 1: more than trained people, but even trained athletes can continue
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  Speaker 1: adapting if they adjust the intensity. So the next time
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  Speaker 1: you're planning your workout, don't just ask about how long
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  Speaker 1: have I got ask yourself the big question, how hard
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  Speaker 1: can I go? Because exercise in just to behavior eight
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  Speaker 1: is a very clear biological signal, and that signal gets
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  Speaker 1: louder the harder you train. That's it for this week, folks,
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  Speaker 1: catch you next time.