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Surprisingly Effective Workouts You Can Do with a Towel in 20 Minutes or Less. Everday Object Exercises: Towel Home Workout! INSANE Home Fat Loss Workout. Running app and fitness community. How Interval Training Can Improve Health. John P. Kelly/Getty ImagesCan brief bursts of exercise improve your health? While many of us wonder just how much exercise we really need in order to gain health and fitness, a group of scientists in Canada are turning that issue on its head and asking, how little exercise do we need?

The emerging and engaging answer appears to be, a lot less than most of us think — provided we’re willing to work a bit. In proof of that idea, researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, recently gathered several groups of volunteers. One consisted of sedentary but generally healthy middle-aged men and women. Another was composed of middle-aged and older patients who’d been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. The researchers tested each volunteer’s maximum heart rate and peak power output on a stationary bicycle. Most of us have heard of intervals, or repeated, short, sharp bursts of strenuous activity, interspersed with rest periods. Intervals, however, require little time. John P.