Two Workouts That Target the Root Cause of Almost EVERY Disease

While your mitochondria won’t win any awards for attractiveness—they look a bit like grub worms—these cellular parts function like power plants, converting food and oxygen into energy. 

The fuel produced by mitochondria allows your heart to beat, muscles to move, and brain to think. 

However, as you age, mitochondrial function declines, which can lead to fatigue, brain fog, muscle weakness, or chronic inflammation. 

Dysfunctional mitochondria are associated with most—if not all—chronic age-related diseases.

While some mitochondrial aging is inevitable, you can take steps to dramatically slow this process, helping to boost overall longevity and wellness. According to research, two types of exercise provide powerful protection. The problem is, most people do neither.¹

What’s the Big Deal About Mitochondria Anyway?

Mitochondria produce the energy your body needs to function. They take the food you eat and the oxygen you breathe and convert them into a molecule called ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which works kind of like gasoline to fuel every process in your body. 

These little factories are incredibly efficient but also sensitive to damage. As you age, the number of mitochondria in your cells decreases, and their function declines. This means they produce less ATP and generate more harmful byproducts that can damage cells and tissues. 

Mitochondria also play a role in regulating inflammation and cell repair, so when they’re not working well, these processes can go haywire, accelerating aging and tissue breakdown.²

A decline in mitochondrial function can affect nearly every part of the body, contributing to the following:

• Muscle weakness
• Brain fog
• Slowed cognitive  function
• Fatigue
• Slower metabolism
• Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases
• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• Cancer
• Obesity

Two Workouts for Mighty Mitochondria 

Exercise is like a miracle drug for your mitochondria. When you move your body, it stimulates a process called mitophagy, which means muscle cells haul damaged and dysfunctional mitochondria to the curb. 

All physical activity can produce this effect. 

However, if you want to optimize mitochondrial health, you’ll want to push your body a bit more than usual. 

In studies, two specific types of workouts—high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and strength training—have been shown to stimulate the creation of new, healthy mitochondria.³ When you do these forms of exercise, it’s like upgrading your body’s energy factories to the latest model.⁴

What Is HIIT?

For this workout, you alternate between short bursts of vigorous effort and periods of rest or low-intensity activity. 

The phrase “high intensity” may sound intimidating, especially if you’re used to lighter activity. However, you might already be doing activities that approach HIIT and not even know it. 

Sports and workouts that require short bursts of vigorous activity. For example, tennis and pickleball—especially if you play singles—are an unofficial HIIT workout in disguise. 

Here’s more, though: What counts as vigorous effort is relative to you. It doesn’t mean sprinting until you collapse. You can do any movement that you enjoy, including walking, rowing, swimming, cycling, and stair climbing. 

Regardless of the form of movement, you’ll gently push yourself just beyond your usual comfort level for short bursts, then give yourself time to rest and recover. 

A typical HIIT session might look like the following.

• Warm up for 5 minutes with light movement (like slow walking or easy cycling).
• Pick up the pace for a set period, such as 30–60 seconds. Over time, as your body adapts, you’ll be able to push a little harder during those short bursts.
• Recover, by resting completely or slowing down, for two to three times as long as your hard effort, then go again. For example, if you go hard for 30 seconds, recover for 60 to 90 seconds before repeating. (To learn more about the health benefits of these kinds of workouts, read: How and Why You Should Improve Your VO2 Max.)
• Repeat this cycle. If you’re a beginner, start with 3-4 total intervals. You can always add more as your fitness improves.
• Cool down with 5 minutes of light movement and stretching.
• Aim for 1 to 3 sessions a week.

How to Strength Train 

Your mitochondria don’t care whether you use exercise machines, your body weight, resistance bands, dumbbells, or kettlebells. What’s most important is that you enjoy it. That way you’ll be more likely to do it.

If you’re new to strength training, use these pointers:

• Use a form of resistance that you can lift about 8-12 times. If 12 reps feel easy—as if you could easily do 12 more—add more weight or increase the resistance. Your final rep should feel challenging, but not impossible. 
• For a total-body workout, include an exercise for each major muscle group. Gym machines make these easy. If you move from one machine to another, you’ll naturally progress through a total body workout. Want to work out with dumbbells or just your body weight at home? The Men’s Health Big of Exercises and The Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises provide hundreds of options, along with done-for-you workouts to fit your fitness level and preferences. 
• Do two or more sets of each exercise. Rest 60–90 seconds between sets. This balance of effort and recovery helps improve mitochondrial efficiency.
• Gradually increase the weight or resistance over time to keep your muscles and mitochondria adapting.
• Aim for 2 total-body workouts a week. 

The Time-Saving Workout Combo

If you do the math, 1 to 3 weekly HIIT and 2 weekly strength training sessions will sound like a lot. 

But it doesn’t have to be. 

You can combine both forms of exercise into the same workout, bringing your weekly total to just two sessions. The great thing about HIIT is that it doesn’t take long. You can tack a quick HIIT session to the end of a strength training session, for example. 

Just hop on a bike, rowing machine, or treadmill for a few vigorous intervals. Remember, this is relative to what’s challenging for you, not an elite athlete. (Unless, of course, you are an elite athlete!)  

Or, if you want expert guidance, consider taking a full-body, high-intensity group class at a local gym or health club. Orange Theory Fitness designs each session with a combination of HIIT and strength training. 

How to Embrace Intensity

Most people don’t strength train. Even fewer do HIIT. So if that’s you, don’t beat yourself: A lot of people are in the same boat. But now’s a great opportunity to rock that boat. Use the following advice to not only get started, but also to maintain your progress.

Make it as enjoyable as possible. 

Try pairing your workout with a special “gets me out of bed” ingredient. Many people find they push themselves harder when they work out in a group setting, such as a spin class or with a strength training partner. 

Others find they look forward to HIIT sessions when done outdoors. 

Ease into the intensity. 

In the beginning, work out at a level that is only a little more vigorous than what you usually do. 

For example, if you comfortably move at an intensity of 4 on a 1 to 10 scale, see if you can push yourself to a 5 or 6 during your faster HIIT segments. Once that feels okay, try for a 7, 8, or 9. 

Similarly, for strength training, start with lighter weights, gradually advancing to heavier lifts as you feel capable. 

Use music to your advantage. 

Create a playlist that features songs with a fast tempo of 200 beats per minute or higher. 

To find them, Google “song with 200 bpm” or check your favorite music app to see if someone has already created a playlist for that tempo. Go hard during the faster segments and ease off during the slower ones. 

Adopt an “always something” mentality. 

If you don’t feel up for a complete strength training or HIIT workout, consider: What can you handle? Maybe it’s a set of pushups, lunges, or band presses. Or, perhaps you race up 1 flight of stairs. Or, maybe you vigorously march or jog in place for a minute. 

Unless you’re truly sick or injured, make it your goal always to do something, no matter how imperfect, rather than doing nothing. 

References

1. CDCMMWR. QuickStats: Percentage* of adults aged ≥18 years who met the federal guidelines for muscle-strengthening physical activity,† by age group and sex - national health interview survey, United States, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2022 May 6;71(18):642.    

2. Andreux PA, van Diemen MPJ, Heezen MR, Auwerx J, Rinsch C, Groeneveld GJ, et al. Mitochondrial function is impaired in the skeletal muscle of pre-frail elderly. Sci Rep. 2018 Jun 4;8(1):8548.    

3. Sorriento D, Di Vaia E, Iaccarino G. Physical exercise: A novel tool to protect mitochondrial health. Front Physiol. 2021 Apr 27;12:660068.    

4. Robinson MM, Dasari S, Konopka AR, Johnson ML, Manjunatha S, Esponda RR, et al. Enhanced protein translation underlies improved metabolic and physical adaptations to different exercise training modes in young and old humans. Cell Metab. 2017 Mar 7;25(3):581–92.