WHY 30-MINUTE WORKOUTS WILL WORK FOR YOU

LESS IS MORE WHEN IT COMES TO EXERCISING FOR FITNESS, STRENGTH AND HEALTH.

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Many men live by the credo that more is better. If one tablespoon of cough syrup will ease your cold symptoms, then two will work even faster. What's better than a cheeseburger? A double cheeseburger with extra bacon. And the same seems to go for exercise as well. If one hour in the gym will trim that belly, then two hours. must transform us into, well, Men's Health cover models.

But take a look at the cardio junkies next time you're at the gym. You know, the ones who are slogging endless kilometres on the treadmill or elliptical trainer. If you watch them over time, you'll notice something startling: their bodies don't change. At all. Not one iota. Most of them are just as soft when they step off the treadmill for the 1,000th time as they were when they first hopped aboard. That's because they're stuck in the old thinking that if you do hours and hours of cardio, you'll burn kilos and kilos of fat. Wrong. Cutting-edge science all points in the opposite direction: if you want to scorch calories, burn fat and get faster and stronger, go harder, not longer.

In fact, exercise scientists now say you can shed fat, firm flabby spots, boost your heart health and fend off a host of ills, both mental and physical, not by doing more, but by doing less. You can do this in as little as 30 minutes if you do the right programme. Plus, by doing 30-minute workouts, you'll also reap these great benefits.

TRADE FAT FOR MUSCLE