January 6, 2026 • 8 mins
Pro Rehab founder Dr. Larry Benz cites a recent study that dispels outdated concepts about exercise duration versus bursts of intensity.
Dr. Benz and Terry Meiners unpack the concept and overview issues relation to dehydration.
Happy New Exercise Regimen!
Dr. Benz and Terry Meiners unpack the concept and overview issues relation to dehydration.
Happy New Exercise Regimen!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Doctor Larry Benz joins us, founder of pro Rehab. Here
we are, Larry in a new year, and I'm sure
you've got new ideas, no.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Absolutely, And you know it's twenty twenty six. It's a
new year to focus on a new you. And I've
got some exciting information for you. And you know, the
punchline is this, Terry, You've got to stop counting minutes
of exercise. You've got to start counting intensity, because, as
it turns out, a minute is not a minute, is
not a minute. And so this is a liberating news
(00:31):
for a lot of folks. They finally getting data that
really kind of blows up a lot of old assumptions
about exercise. There was a massive study seventy thousand people
with wearable devices, accelerometers and everything else. And it used
to be there used to be this rule thumb that said,
you know, one minute of vigorous exercises equals two minutes
(00:52):
of moderate As it turns out, it's four time, four
to ten times more effective, depending on what you're measuring,
like for example, diabetes is like ten times effective. For
cardiovascular health about eight times. This is a game changer
for the listeners because the innovation is no longer. If
I'm going to run for thirty minutes or forty five minutes,
(01:12):
how many intense minutes? Now, what is an intense or
a vigorous minute. That's kind of this zone two you
hear about like you're able to talk to somebody without
throwing up.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Right, You're able to run carry on a conversation, but
your sweating and you are breathing heavily. It's but it's
enough where you can still carry on a conversation.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Absolutely, that is exactly right, and that's how they define
it in this study. And as it turns out, it's
way better than a one to two ratio. And so
you know, if you're thinking, you know, you do four
or five walks or runs or whatever a week, or
bike whatever your cardiovascular exercise of choices, you only need
to do about twenty percent of that kind of an
(01:53):
eighty twenty rule, and make sure that those are more aggressive.
You know, this zone two what the study calls, you know,
vigorous and if you were a calitary Lea's time we talked.
I think we talked about exercise snass and the importance
of you know, the concept that you know, you don't
need forty five minutes at the gym. As it turns out,
the research shows that you know, if you do thirty
(02:14):
to forty five seconds of vigorous movements scattered about five
to ten times a day, you'll get real improvement. And
what does real improvement mean? And that means your VO
two max. That's your ability to prove some maximum you know,
stroke volume of your heart. You know, that is like
a key data point. It's every bit as important as
your blood pressure. It's every bit's employment.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Important is your resting heart rate and your APPO B
and your lipids and all those kind of things. Your
VO two maxes, And that's what we're really interested because
by having a you know, good VO two max, you're
going to be able to sway or get rid of
the whole cardiovascular risk you know, heart attacks, strokes, all
those kind of things. So just get nine minutes of
you know, exercise snacks. So what does that look like?
(02:54):
Think of air squats, you know, do three minutes of
air squats in your office at thirty seconds, sprint up
the stairs, burpies. If you've ever seen that TV commercial,
you know, play hard with your kids or your dog
for a couple of minutes, you know, but really it
really is something think in these thirty minute you know,
thirty seconds I'm sorry time frame rather than total number
of minutes. And for me, I find that very very
(03:15):
exciting because you know, as it turns out, the ratio
is works to our favor.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Isn't that interesting? And for a local reference, we can
say it's like some of these short entrance ramps on
the Waters Expressway. You start at the bottom, you kill
it till you got up to speed, and then you're
in the flow of things. So you had to give
it that hard surge to get in there. And it's quick.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Absolutely, yep, no doubt, no doubt. And you know for
those who do, you know, work around the house and
you do some bigorous minutes of that, it absolutely benefits.
It is a form of exercise. All too often we
get in this time of year and say, well, I
got to go to the gym, and you go to
the gym and everybody and their brother's there, right, Well,
think about what you can do vigorously in these thirty
(03:58):
second bouts. Accumulate those up and that ratio of four
to ten for every minute you do it, you're getting
a magnifier. It's really to me a really liberating, energizing thought.
It is.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, and I know the new year does bring new
goal setting for people, but really consistency, no matter what
month it is, is what matters. You feel this way
here in January, but in July you still need to
have that same energy in order to be consistent. That's
how you get to better health, don't you by consistently
delivering one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It's all about intention. It's about the rigor, of constancy,
of purpose. Success, you know, is what success really is.
It's consistency, rigor, discipline, constancy and not going crazy with it. Again,
this is zone two is very real. And most people
exercise too intently and that brings up all kinds of
(04:53):
bad memories, especially folks that are our age. Jerry brings
up these bad memories. What happened when we were bad
in gym class? In football practice? What do we have
to do to go right?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Run left?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So we have this connotation exactly, this connotation that you know,
it's a penalty, and so what we have to change
that with the move the incentive to you get the
ability to have these intense, vigorous minutes. Add up and
get in good shape, and the benefits are less diabetes,
less caryovascular disease, and a whole lot better breathing and
a whole lot better life.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
We're speaking to doctor Larry Benz from pro Rehab. We
talk hydration now and again, but let's let's since people
always focus on that, what about these waters that have
various additives. You know, I don't want to name products,
but they put certain things in water. And is this
of value or not? Or what's the best method to
use in terms of hydrating.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
It's a great question, and I'm glad you raise it
because oftentimes when it gets colder outside, people think we
need less hydration. The studies show you actually need more
because you're just not seeing what you're breathing. When you're
breathing harder, you're giving up more water and therefore you
have more more likely to get dehydrated. So here's a
couple rolls of thumb for you. One of them what
(06:05):
kind of sweater are you? And I don't mean what
kind of sweater are you wearing? You know what perspire
are you? And there are those that are what are
known as a salty sweater, A salty sweater. Is it
every once in a while after a vigorous exercise and
a lot of sweat, and you see a little ring
around the collar of salt or on your shirt, or
(06:26):
in a lot of golfers you see it on the
visor of there, part of their visor. You're what is
known as a salty sweater. So by default you ought
to be thinking of throwing a little tea spoon of
salt in water. That will take care of you the
other ways to maintain hydration, and there are a bunch
of them on the market. There are generally two forms.
(06:47):
One is a form that uses salt like lement t
is a name of a product, but there's a lot
of imitator products and not promoting anything, but they are
the ones who primarily add salt in a lot of it,
more than you would ever imagine. Dream and you'll taste
very very very much like the salt water, even if
it's flavored with watermelon. Your tasting the salt right. Then
(07:09):
there are those that pull in glucose and other binders
of electrolyte to try to keep water in your body
from getting outside. Nothing wrong with that. The simple thing
is six to eight. You know, glasses of water a day.
Don't think. Don't get too mathematical, but you know, you
want to see a clear urine. You know, a couple
of times the day goes on. But if you're a
(07:30):
salty sweater, I think it's always good. When I have
my little vitamin water in the morning, which is how
I take my vitamins. There more of a liquid that
I shake up. I throw a little bit of a
tea spit of salt in there because I'm a little
bit of a salty sweater. And on the days that
I don't work out, I don't throw in salt in there.
That's that's why I recommend. The other thing is the
(07:52):
w HL World Health Organization has done more research on
dehydration than anybody else because if you think about it
from a worldly problem, you know, in third world countries
and everything that is a big problem people die of dehydration.
And so they have a list of about a half
a dozen recommended products on the market, and they're the
things you see like the liquid ivs of the world
(08:14):
and the other ones. Bubbs is the name of another.
I mean, these are name ramp products, but they're all
using that glucose to help pull and keep the water
in your body from getting out again. Nothing wrong with that.
But simple water does the trick. But if you want
to throw a little solt in there talking
Speaker 1 (08:30):
About anybody, all right, and stop guzzling liquid death after
a run, you need to wait and rest a little
bit
Doctor Larry Benz joins us, founder of pro Rehab. Here
we are, Larry in a new year, and I'm sure
you've got new ideas, no.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Absolutely, And you know it's twenty twenty six. It's a
new year to focus on a new you. And I've
got some exciting information for you. And you know, the
punchline is this, Terry, You've got to stop counting minutes
of exercise. You've got to start counting intensity, because, as
it turns out, a minute is not a minute, is
not a minute. And so this is a liberating news
(00:31):
for a lot of folks. They finally getting data that
really kind of blows up a lot of old assumptions
about exercise. There was a massive study seventy thousand people
with wearable devices, accelerometers and everything else. And it used
to be there used to be this rule thumb that said,
you know, one minute of vigorous exercises equals two minutes
(00:52):
of moderate As it turns out, it's four time, four
to ten times more effective, depending on what you're measuring,
like for example, diabetes is like ten times effective. For
cardiovascular health about eight times. This is a game changer
for the listeners because the innovation is no longer. If
I'm going to run for thirty minutes or forty five minutes,
(01:12):
how many intense minutes? Now, what is an intense or
a vigorous minute. That's kind of this zone two you
hear about like you're able to talk to somebody without
throwing up.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Right, You're able to run carry on a conversation, but
your sweating and you are breathing heavily. It's but it's
enough where you can still carry on a conversation.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Absolutely, that is exactly right, and that's how they define
it in this study. And as it turns out, it's
way better than a one to two ratio. And so
you know, if you're thinking, you know, you do four
or five walks or runs or whatever a week, or
bike whatever your cardiovascular exercise of choices, you only need
to do about twenty percent of that kind of an
(01:53):
eighty twenty rule, and make sure that those are more aggressive.
You know, this zone two what the study calls, you know,
vigorous and if you were a calitary Lea's time we talked.
I think we talked about exercise snass and the importance
of you know, the concept that you know, you don't
need forty five minutes at the gym. As it turns out,
the research shows that you know, if you do thirty
(02:14):
to forty five seconds of vigorous movements scattered about five
to ten times a day, you'll get real improvement. And
what does real improvement mean? And that means your VO
two max. That's your ability to prove some maximum you know,
stroke volume of your heart. You know, that is like
a key data point. It's every bit as important as
your blood pressure. It's every bit's employment.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Important is your resting heart rate and your APPO B
and your lipids and all those kind of things. Your
VO two maxes, And that's what we're really interested because
by having a you know, good VO two max, you're
going to be able to sway or get rid of
the whole cardiovascular risk you know, heart attacks, strokes, all
those kind of things. So just get nine minutes of
you know, exercise snacks. So what does that look like?
(02:54):
Think of air squats, you know, do three minutes of
air squats in your office at thirty seconds, sprint up
the stairs, burpies. If you've ever seen that TV commercial,
you know, play hard with your kids or your dog
for a couple of minutes, you know, but really it
really is something think in these thirty minute you know,
thirty seconds I'm sorry time frame rather than total number
of minutes. And for me, I find that very very
(03:15):
exciting because you know, as it turns out, the ratio
is works to our favor.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Isn't that interesting? And for a local reference, we can
say it's like some of these short entrance ramps on
the Waters Expressway. You start at the bottom, you kill
it till you got up to speed, and then you're
in the flow of things. So you had to give
it that hard surge to get in there. And it's quick.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Absolutely, yep, no doubt, no doubt. And you know for
those who do, you know, work around the house and
you do some bigorous minutes of that, it absolutely benefits.
It is a form of exercise. All too often we
get in this time of year and say, well, I
got to go to the gym, and you go to
the gym and everybody and their brother's there, right, Well,
think about what you can do vigorously in these thirty
(03:58):
second bouts. Accumulate those up and that ratio of four
to ten for every minute you do it, you're getting
a magnifier. It's really to me a really liberating, energizing thought.
It is.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, and I know the new year does bring new
goal setting for people, but really consistency, no matter what
month it is, is what matters. You feel this way
here in January, but in July you still need to
have that same energy in order to be consistent. That's
how you get to better health, don't you by consistently
delivering one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It's all about intention. It's about the rigor, of constancy,
of purpose. Success, you know, is what success really is.
It's consistency, rigor, discipline, constancy and not going crazy with it. Again,
this is zone two is very real. And most people
exercise too intently and that brings up all kinds of
(04:53):
bad memories, especially folks that are our age. Jerry brings
up these bad memories. What happened when we were bad
in gym class? In football practice? What do we have
to do to go right?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Run left?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So we have this connotation exactly, this connotation that you know,
it's a penalty, and so what we have to change
that with the move the incentive to you get the
ability to have these intense, vigorous minutes. Add up and
get in good shape, and the benefits are less diabetes,
less caryovascular disease, and a whole lot better breathing and
a whole lot better life.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
We're speaking to doctor Larry Benz from pro Rehab. We
talk hydration now and again, but let's let's since people
always focus on that, what about these waters that have
various additives. You know, I don't want to name products,
but they put certain things in water. And is this
of value or not? Or what's the best method to
use in terms of hydrating.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
It's a great question, and I'm glad you raise it
because oftentimes when it gets colder outside, people think we
need less hydration. The studies show you actually need more
because you're just not seeing what you're breathing. When you're
breathing harder, you're giving up more water and therefore you
have more more likely to get dehydrated. So here's a
couple rolls of thumb for you. One of them what
(06:05):
kind of sweater are you? And I don't mean what
kind of sweater are you wearing? You know what perspire
are you? And there are those that are what are
known as a salty sweater, A salty sweater. Is it
every once in a while after a vigorous exercise and
a lot of sweat, and you see a little ring
around the collar of salt or on your shirt, or
(06:26):
in a lot of golfers you see it on the
visor of there, part of their visor. You're what is
known as a salty sweater. So by default you ought
to be thinking of throwing a little tea spoon of
salt in water. That will take care of you the
other ways to maintain hydration, and there are a bunch
of them on the market. There are generally two forms.
(06:47):
One is a form that uses salt like lement t
is a name of a product, but there's a lot
of imitator products and not promoting anything, but they are
the ones who primarily add salt in a lot of it,
more than you would ever imagine. Dream and you'll taste
very very very much like the salt water, even if
it's flavored with watermelon. Your tasting the salt right. Then
(07:09):
there are those that pull in glucose and other binders
of electrolyte to try to keep water in your body
from getting outside. Nothing wrong with that. The simple thing
is six to eight. You know, glasses of water a day.
Don't think. Don't get too mathematical, but you know, you
want to see a clear urine. You know, a couple
of times the day goes on. But if you're a
(07:30):
salty sweater, I think it's always good. When I have
my little vitamin water in the morning, which is how
I take my vitamins. There more of a liquid that
I shake up. I throw a little bit of a
tea spit of salt in there because I'm a little
bit of a salty sweater. And on the days that
I don't work out, I don't throw in salt in there.
That's that's why I recommend. The other thing is the
(07:52):
w HL World Health Organization has done more research on
dehydration than anybody else because if you think about it
from a worldly problem, you know, in third world countries
and everything that is a big problem people die of dehydration.
And so they have a list of about a half
a dozen recommended products on the market, and they're the
things you see like the liquid ivs of the world
(08:14):
and the other ones. Bubbs is the name of another.
I mean, these are name ramp products, but they're all
using that glucose to help pull and keep the water
in your body from getting out again. Nothing wrong with that.
But simple water does the trick. But if you want
to throw a little solt in there talking
Speaker 1 (08:30):
About anybody, all right, and stop guzzling liquid death after
a run, you need to wait and rest a little
bit
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.