The Pulse.

How long does it take to get in a great cardio workout? Not as long as you might think. That is, unless you think the answer is four minutes.

Seriously.

Our proof: The fast and furious routines that follow, courtesy of fitness expert BJ Gaddour, CSCS, owner of StreamFIT.com -- a web site that offers follow-along, bootcamp-style workouts (that you can stream to your TV, tablet, smartphone, or computer). These 4-minute workouts are all based on the "Tabata protocol."

For background, the Tabata protocol is a training method that was originally used by the Japanese Olympic speed skating team, and named for the scientist -- Izumi Tabata -- who studied its amazing effect on a group of male college students. The study subjects were all fit P.E. majors, and most were members of various varsity sports teams.

You might think it sounds too simple -- and short -- to work: On a stationary bike, the university students did seven to eight 20-second, all-out sprints, each separated by just 10 seconds of rest. Total time: 4 minutes. (They also did an easy 10-minute warmup before each session.)

The results were fantastic: After doing the routine 5 days a week for 6 weeks, the college kids boosted their aerobic fitness by 14 percent. By comparison, another group -- who performed a steady but moderate pace on the bikes for 60 minutes -- increased their aerobic fitness by only about 10 percent. (If you want more fast cardio and fat-loss workouts, along with full-color photos of more than 600 exercises, check out my books, The Men's Health Big Book of Exercises and The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises.)

The upshot: The high-intensity 4-minute workout was more effective than an hour of moderate cycling. Even better, the Tabata participants saw a 28-percent improvement in "anaerobic capacity" -- a measure of how long the men could exercise at their top effort. The second group saw no such improvements.full story >>

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4-Minute Workout, Aerobic Exercise, BJ Gaddour, Cardio, Men Of Action, Men's Health, Outdoors, Tabata

Are you hunched over your computer right now? Then it's time to get up and move around, even if it's for a minute. Because whether it seems like it or not, small changes to your daily routine at work or desk can make a lasting impact on your overall healthy and fitness.

"Would you rather endure 90 seconds of pain or 90 years of pain?" Austin, Texas-based fitness trainer Brant Hatton says. "It's something I hear as a motivational tool in Bikram Yoga, and while it seems sort of silly, it's true."

Making a conscious effort to make small tweaks to the hours of your workday will not only improve your health, but also preserve the success you’ve already had at the gym. Here are three simple steps from Hatton to keep your workday from wrecking your health for years.

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1) Stay on your feet as much as possible

"It doesn't matter how or when," Hatton says. "Conference calls, waiting for computers load, sitting on hold, etc. -- they can all be turned into cues for you to get on your feet and move around. Any chance you get to stand up and move around, you should take it."

That could also mean walking to lunch instead of driving, or walking down the hallway to deliver a message you'd normally email. Not only does it wake your muscles up from their sedentary state, but also mixes up your heart rate.

2) Posture, posture, posture

Hatton says the No. 1 issues with all of his clients that work at desks all day is something called Upper Crossed Syndrome. Put simply, it's the tendency for your head to protrude forward along with your shoulders. The effect is unaffectionately called "turtle neck," and it doesn't look good on anyone. It also is terrible for your health.

"It can take us three weeks in training sessions to correct, and then it takes constant attention to maintain," Hatton says.

You can avoid that fate without much physical effort and a little mental training.

"If the company offers some sort of ergonomic setup, go for it. Elevate your keyboard or get a better chair," Hatton says. "The key to good posture is being aware of what it is. Ears directly over your shoulders, make sure you're sitting upright, get a chair with a higher back so that you can feel your shoulders against the back of the chair.

"The reality is your work is going to make you slip into bad posture. We all naturally lurch toward screens, keyboards, notebooks and reading materials. The trick is noticing when you do it and simply leaning back correctly."

3) Stretch and use resistance bands/light weights for quick moves

One of the great pitfalls of being stationary all day is that your muscles tend to tighten up. Keeping them loose, and finding ways to use them actively in short bursts can pay huge long-term dividends.

A lot of people think sitting on an exercise ball will make a difference, but it's not that simple. It can even been counterproductive, according to Hatton. Instead, give yourself reasons to reach up or down and get off your butt.

"Keep surgical tubing or resistance bands hanging from a door or cubicle wall, or maybe have three-pound dumbbells by your desk," Hatton says. "They're great visual cues to remind you to move around and do some light stretching or lifts, and when you use them, they help counter the small movements that don’t do much good for you over the day, like moving a mouse or typing."

It will also help promote circulation and flexibility, keeping your body in a state of readiness for activity, and making those trips to the gym or jogs around the neighborhood easier to jump into.

Whatever you do, do it often. It may seem like you don’t have time, but you do. Even if you don't have 90 seconds, you have 30 seconds here and there. And it’s a relative mental rationale, Hatton says.

"Would you rather endure 30 seconds of minimal pain and effort, or 30 years of an aching back and neck?"

Tags:

Cardio, Workout

Green. It's something most of us know how to do. We screw in our energy-efficient light bulbs, consume organic food, install solar panels on our roofs, and lug around reusable cloth grocery bags. But green is increasingly giving way to its newer and hipper neighbor: Blue.

Simply put, blue is all about putting back more into the environment than you initially took from it in the first place. And Puma is trying to do just that. The website Ecouterre reports the German sports clothing manufacturer has embraced a growing trend: "Cradle-to-Cradle" design. Puma has developed a line of biodegradable sports clothes that can be buried in your backyard garden or even thrown into a compost heap.

And we don't need the Sierra Club to clue us in on the obvious environmental benefits of wearing compostable (rather than just recyclable) clothing. Admit it, haven't you always wanted to plant your used gym shorts or post-workout yoga pants?

Puma isn't the only sportswear company jumping on the sustainable bandwagon. New Balance has recently introduced a sneaker made from 95 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. The recycled fabric, called Eco-fi, is made from an average of eight recycled plastic bottles per pair.

But if you do decide to go with Pumas, you'll have new reason to tell your friends to lay off of your blue suede shoes.

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Tags:

Cardio, Puma, Running, Sneakers, Yoga

Want to know how fast Lionel Messi is running? Don't we all. Want to know how much faster the soccer superstar is running than you? That can be arranged -- for $338.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports that after two years in development, Adidas has recently unveiled a new sneaker that that’ll make any self-respecting soccer player want to step up his game. It will also make any disrespectful weekend warrior have to put up or shut up.

Originally worn by Argentine footballer and twice-named FIFA World Player of the Year Lionel Messi in an exhibition game in September against Nigeria, the uber light-weight Adizero f50 went on sale in Latin America, Europe and Asia on November 15th and hit U.S. stores on December 1st. Using an embedded "speed cell" chip in the sole of the shoe, it can record, analyze and wirelessly transmit your stats to a computer or mobile device. In fact, the chip is actually a version of Adidas’ miCoach system, which was launched in 2006 to track runners' performance.

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But when it comes to soccer, it's an entirely different ballgame. This snazzy shoe can show you what you did (or did not do) during the game, measure your top speed and distance (including all of your back-and-forth movements), and allow you to compare this to your previous performances -- as well as the performance of your friends or competitors. And if you're feeling ultra confident in your athletic prowess, you can even compare your results to Adidas' list of superstar athletes.

So for the low, low price of $338, you get the shoes, a speed chip, and the software to analyze your data. And for all of you non-soccer players out there, don’t you fret -- Adidas plans to start selling similar products for tennis, American football and basketball in the first half of 2012.

So for all you who say you ran a 4.3 40 back in high school and you're in "the best shape of my life," just keep talking while you can. Soon your boys will be calling you on it.

-- Want to see the next trends first? Follow Erica Orange on Twitter @ErOrange.

Tags:

Adidas, Basketball, Football, Lionel Messi, Outdoors, Soccer, Tennis

Martial arts isn't usually considered a traditional aerobic exercise, but it gained some traction during the Tae Bo craze in the 90's. More recently national chains such as 24 Hour Fitness and Ballys have offered cardio kickboxing classes.

If you don't believe that martial arts can deliver cardio results, check out this video. Forget the acrobatics, which are obviously super advanced. You need to be in serious shape just to work out at this pace.

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Tae Kwon Do

"It's just like riding a bike" takes on a whole new meaning with a concept bike from Parlee Cycles and Toyota. That's because this bike isn't like all the others: It possesses the power to read your mind.

Even though the bike looks completely normal, the headgear is a dead giveaway. Like something out of a sci-fi movie, the "neurohelmet" comes equipped with plastic "tentacles" and metal sensors that are oh-so-comfortably pressed against the cyclist's scalp.

With minimal training -- and perhaps a little sweet talking? -- a cyclist can shift the gears on the bike with just a thought. One type of brain wave instructs the bike to shift downward, while another type causes it to shift upward. It definitely takes some practice, so until your mental powers are refined, prepare to be tossed over the handlebars, steered into a giant pile of leaves or flung into the side of a parked car.

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What's novel about this mind-reading bike, however, is not the technology itself, but the way all of the technologies have been mashed together. Here's the equation: a smartphone + a widely-available app (which monitors the rider's heart rate, pace, speed, brain waves, and even cycling habits) + some geeky-looking neuroheadsets (made by Neurosky and Emotiv) = 21st century tech wizardry.

And for this specific project, a lightweight laptop was slipped inside the back of the cyclist's jersey so that it could "talk" to the neuroheadset, the smart phone app, and the wiring inside the bike.

Rest assured, there is a built-in failsafe, too: If the brain waves are ever misinterpreted, the cyclist can switch a setting on the smart phone app to manually control the bike.

While this "PXP" design will not be sold on the market, "neurocontrollable" things -- including future bikes, gadgets and even prosthetics -- will likely become more commonplace. In fact, Parlee plans to release a new road bike in 2012 or 2013 inspired by the PXP design.

What the bike cannot do is read the minds of the motorists that pass by your two-wheeler on busy streets. But we all know what those minds are thinking.

-- Want to see the next trends first? Follow Erica Orange on Twitter @ErOrange.

Tags:

Cycling