When librarian, Bill Constantine, signed up to take part in an exercise research project he admits he was working out very little and was carrying extra weight … or so his wife tells him.
But for Bill, the reason to take up the challenge was bigger than just losing weight.
"I'm not getting any younger and I see that my father has had multiple strokes and he's in a nursing home now and I don't want to look like that when I'm his age," Bill says.
"Looking back he wasn't much fatter than me at my age."
But upon starting his training Bill was pleasantly surprised. Rather than have him running for hours on end, all the researchers have him doing is stair runs.
Bill is doing what is known as High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and his workout routine consists of running up and down stairs for 20 seconds and then resting for 1.5 minutes - he does this five times.
“It’s quite easy really, it’s all over in half an hour,” he says.
Belinda Parmenter, an exercise physiologist, is heading up the HART Project at the University of New South Wales and oversees the progress of Bill, and the others involved.
She says the aim of the project is to show that this type of exercise, which is both free and quick, can be just as effective as longer duration exercise in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
“We’re trying to find something that’s quick that’s still effective so people will actually comply to the exercise program,” she says, adding that Australians need to start taking notice of cardiovascular disease.
“It’s the leading cause of death in Australia and you can see just by looking at our population that we’re getting bigger and bigger and that’s a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease,” she says.
“We have to get Australia moving, Australians need to understand how important it is to get up, sit less and move more.”
While the results of the project are still being calculated, Belinda and her team are expecting the HIIT results to be just as effective as the group who are doing the longer duration exercise.
"We are already seeing impressive reductions in resting and exercising blood pressure and improvements in aerobic fitness in the stair climbing group," she says.
Exercise guidelines putting people off
Bill admits part of the reason he lacked motivation to exercise before joining the HART project was due to two reasons; not wanting to go out and buy expensive gym clothing and gear, and being put off by the exercise guidelines.
The current guidelines suggest 150 to 300 minutes of moderately intense physical activity, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorously intense physical activity, plus two muscle strengthening sessions, each week.
Bill completing his stair runs at the University of New South Wales. Photo: Supplied/UNSW Source: UNSW
"The health guidelines are quite onerous .... that's what puts you off too knowing that you have to do so much," Bill says.
Belinda believes many people are scared by the guidelines and end up doing nothing.
“They’re really big … people hear that and go ‘I don’t have the time to do it so I’m not even going to try’,” she says.
“And it’s the one thing I really don’t like about the guidelines, it’s a sentence about this much activity at this intensity every week and I believe it scares people off.”
Belinda says the public need to know that just moving helps, whether it be pilates, dancing, surfing, weight training, walking the dog, dance classes - everything serves it's purpose.
"So aerobic fitness has a relationship to cardiovascular mortality, so the fitter you are the lower your risk of dying from a cardiovascular event," she says.
"So if people are aware of that and they just do whatever they can to help reduce their resting heart rate and improve their aerobic fitness then they're already lengthening their life and improving their health."
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