An apple a day can keep the doctor away, but can 15 minutes of exercise a day do the same?

A new study in the Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise Journal suggests that a 15-minute workout of resistance exercise improves health. The six-month study, with overweight college students as the participants, added a 15-minute workout session three times a week to the students’ regular schedule. Without a change of diet, and or any additional workouts, the students’ energy levels increased.

An increase in energy helps the body maintain weight and burn fat says Michael Nula, MSPT and owner of Elite Physical Therapy of RI. He said the brief workout session “revs up the metabolism.” The increase of the metabolism lasts for a couple of days, which means the exercise does not need to be repeated daily.

Nula contends with the lack of time adults have in their schedules today, this three times a week exercise routine fits perfectly into anyone’s hectic schedule.

More importantly, Nula recommends that all adults should get into the routine of light resistance workout sessions. He believes the benefits highly outweigh the sacrifice of time people make for the workout. In fact, Nula explains getting into the habit of exercising helps prevent future problems.

Nula said he is “excited about getting more to the root of why people have pain in the first place”. He said he sees many patients at his office where simple exercise could have prevented the problems that some individuals suffer from. “Often times we’re the cheerleaders” for encouraging exercise.

There are numerous benefits from exercise, and Nula cannot promote it enough. He relates that exercise boosts energy, but also brings optimism to a person’s life. He claims peoples’ “outlook on life are worse by being out of shape”. Of all Americans 25to 30 percent are obese.

Although time does act as a barrier to exercise, people are also unwilling to commit themselves because of fear for the extensive effort put forth. However, Nula points out that the exercise level is all based on the person. He says you need “to start people at something they think they can win at...work on a lower and easier level to get some benefits”.

Before beginning a regular work out resistance routine, Nula advises that an individual consult their physician, and then contact a physical therapist, where a personal and safe workout can be created.

Nula provides a basic workout routine that most individuals can follow. The safest and easily modified routine consists of push-ups, squats, dips and lunges. Sets of ten for each exercise should be combined together. After the completion of 3 sets for the 4 moves a 30 to 60 second break should be taken. Each break should be slightly longer with every set of 3 sets that are completed. Nula’s Web site, elitephysicaltherapy.com offers a video that illustrates the correct performance of the routine.

A workout routine must start at a light pace, and then intensify as the work out continues. The workout must consist of the “total body and not neglect anything.” For an even more beneficial workout, flexibility should be targeted with static stretches after the workout. Nula happily concluded that this workout could be fit into a 15-minute time span, which is why it should be so appealing to the public.