Like a lot of people, I made a New Year’s resolution to exercise more, lose a little weight, and get into shape.

All right, “resolve” might be a strong word. Let’s call it a desire to get a little more value for my $50 a month gym membership than the once-a-month visits that became the norm in 2024.

For a while I’ve been stuck in the fitness paradox. When starting a regimen your muscles hurt after a workout so you want to rest, but the more you exercise the less they’ll hurt. Give it a couple of weeks and you’ll power through it.

It’s one of the biggest hurdles to getting into shape, and one I was reminded of again this week. I hit the pool for a modest 2,000-yard swimming workout, my first since Christmas, and had to grind hard to finish the last half of it. If I’d been in the water a couple times a week it would not have been nearly as taxing.

Time and work are big obstacles to exercising, of course. Especially this time of year. Getting home at 5 or 6 p.m. as the sun is setting and the temperature is dropping limits the neighborhood walks that are an easy way to burn calories. Covering a basketball game at Vicksburg High once a week and trekking up the hill from the parking lot in the dark isn’t going to cut it.

Another roadblock, for me at least, is other people.

I’m primarily a lap swimmer, so access to an indoor pool is the main reason I joined my gym. Unfortunately, it also means everyone else has access.

Besides other lap swimmers, that pool is used for children’s lessons and water aerobics classes.

When you lap swim you can’t see what’s in front of you — you look down, not ahead — so you’re trusting other people to watch out for you. Young kids trying to stay afloat have bigger concerns than avoiding you, so you need to develop a high level of ESP to avoid smashing into them like a torpedo into the side of a destroyer. It’s stressful.

The water aerobics folks have been nice and friendly when we’ve crossed paths — maybe a little too friendly. They tend to hang out and float for a while after their classes and get chatty. I don’t want to be rude, but also don’t want to swap life stories and recipes when I’m trying to stay on an interval and in rhythm.

The water aerobics folks have also scheduled thrice-weekly evening classes from 6 to 7 p.m., which is primetime for a post-work workout. I have to leave work early and go in the middle of the afternoon, or squeeze in a late swim and hope the gym managers don’t decide to lock up early.

Getting forgotten about and trapped in the pool overnight is a weird but not irrational fear, right?

I know there are more forms of exercise than swimming, and I probably need to explore those and stop making excuses. Hit the exercise bike or treadmill, for crying out loud. Lift a weight heavier than a 12-ounce Coke can.

Or just complain and rant. That burns calories, too.

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Ernest Bowker is the sports editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post’s sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post’s sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper’s 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

More by Ernest

Exercising regularly is important for preventing dementia. But if it’s hard to rack up the recommended amount of activity during the five-day work week (150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity, like brisk walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, like swimming), consider the “weekend warrior” approach — fitting it all into one or two weekly sessions. The approach might offer the same brain health benefits, according to a study published online Oct. 29, 2024, by the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Researchers analyzed the health and self-reported activity information of more than 10,000 dementia-free people in Mexico who were followed for about 16 years. After accounting for factors that could influence the results, such as lifestyle habits, scientists found that weekend warriors were 13% less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a precursor to dementia, compared with people who didn’t exercise — about the same benefit seen in those who exercised during the work week. While the study was observational and can’t prove cause and effect, it supports the idea that even less frequent exercise might help protect brain health, and it might be a more convenient option for busy people.

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What’s in style? The question doesn’t just relate to fashion. Indeed, even exercise styles go in and out of vogue, echoing trends fueled by social media and other cultural drivers.

Case in point: high-intensity bursts of exercise have grabbed headlines over the past couple of years, with scientists generating an array of studies examining the health benefits of short spurts of movement lasting from one to three minutes. That might consist of jumping jacks, lunges, running in place, jumping rope, air boxing, running up stairs, or any other high-intensity activity.

Meanwhile, plenty of research continues to focus on the health advantages of moderate-intensity, continuous movement. Mainstay choices for these sessions include brisk walking, cycling, jogging, and elliptical and treadmill use.

Given the swings in popularity between the differently paced alternatives, perhaps the most pressing question is which one is better for us. It might seem certain exercise patterns might prove superior to others, but we should resist the temptation to believe that, says Dr. Meagan Wasfy, a sports cardiologist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

“There are always trends, and each one claims to be the latest and best way to move your body,” Dr. Wasfy says.

Breaking down the data

What health benefits does each approach offer? A sampling of recent studies and official health guidance weighs in.

Evidence supporting exercise bursts includes the following:

• A 2022 analysis of data collected on more than 25,200 people who didn’t otherwise exercise (average age 62, 56% women) published in Nature Medicine found that those who routinely did brief bursts of vigorous activity — defined as three bouts, each lasting a minute or two — had significantly lower odds of dying or developing cardiovascular disease over the following seven years than participants who didn’t.
• A 2023 analysis in JAMA Oncology of more than 22,000 people who didn’t exercise (average age 62, 55% women) suggested that even short, intermittent periods of intense movement — a minute at a time, three or four times a day — was linked with 18% lower cancer risk over the following 6.7 years, especially for cancers of the breast, uterus, or colon.

Evidence supporting longer, moderate-intensity exercise includes the following:

• Adults who do any amount of moderate-to-vigorous exercise derive health benefits, including reducing their risks of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some forms of cancer, according to the CDC.
• A 2022 analysis in JAMA Internal Medicine involving 78,000 people (average age 61, 55% women) found their risk of heart disease, cancer, and premature death dropped by 10% over the following seven years for every 2,000 steps they logged each day, with the benefit peaking at 10,000 steps.

Sense a theme from the findings? Regardless of intensity, it’s apparent that any movement is good for your health.

“No one comes out ahead with regards to the long-term outcomes,” Dr. Wasfy says. “What matters most is moving your body and doing more of it. The sum of movement, over the course of a year or decades of your life, is what matters.”

Exercise caveats

One clear advantage to exercise bursts — or its cousin, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) — is that any high-intensity activity enables you to fulfill recommended exercise guidelines in less time. Health organizations advise adults to get at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise (or some equivalent combination of the two) per week. For an HIIT workout, you alternate vigorous, short sprints with brief periods of rest or lower-intensity movement.

“It’s a time-efficient way to get your recommended exercise dose in less time,” Dr. Wasfy says.

High-intensity exercise does pose a few drawbacks, however. These include a greater risk of injuries and inflammation to joints and muscles. Additionally, for people with heart disease or its risk factors, sudden bursts of exercise could be more likely to bring on new cardiac symptoms.

“If you’re writing an exercise prescription not knowing anything about someone’s health history, you’d write it for moderate-intensity, continuous exercise,” Dr. Wasfy says.

If you’d like to increase your exercise intensity but have existing heart disease — or symptoms such as chest pain with vigorous movement — talk to your doctor in advance. Older adults who’ve noticed their ability to exercise has declined should also speak up.

Ultimately, Dr. Wasfy says, you should choose a style of exercise you really like — and will do consistently — and disregard fitness trends. “If you’re healthy,” she says, “it’s really your choice.”

Image: © Luis Alvarez/Getty Images