Slow exercise could be your smartest fitness move.

You are probably used to thinking that a worthwhile workout should leave you red faced, sweaty and wondering whether your legs have quietly resigned. But fitness does not always reward frantic effort.

Mark Attewell, a personal trainer for David Lloyd clubs, points out that although the traditional “go hard or go home” approach has its benefits, moving slowly can have plenty going for it too. Ken Nosaka, Professor of Exercise and Sports Science at Edith Cowan University in Australia, agrees, arguing that the belief that exercise must be exhausting or painful can actually put people off. So if your idea of a successful workout involves looking as though you have just escaped from a burning building, you may be making things unnecessarily dramatic. 

When you lift weights, slowing down the lowering part of the movement can make a surprisingly big difference. Research led by Nosaka found that people who lowered a dumbbell slowly during biceps curls experienced the greatest strength improvements over four weeks. Their upper arm strength increased by an average of 11.5 per cent, compared with gains of about 6 to 7 per cent in the other groups. The reason is fairly simple. By controlling the downward movement, you keep your muscles working under tension for longer. You can therefore get more from a lighter, more deliberate movement rather than simply throwing the weight around as if you are trying to start a lawn mower. The findings were published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.

You can also apply the slow principle to cardio. Dan Gordon, an exercise physiologist, recommends keeping steady aerobic exercise at a pace where you could hold a conversation or even sing Happy Birthday. If you are gasping for air before the candles have appeared, you have probably gone too fast. Gordon also cautions that heart rate monitors are useful but imperfect because factors such as heat, food, drink and lack of sleep can push your heart rate around. Lower intensity exercise generally sits at about 50 to 70 per cent of your maximum heart rate, but how you feel matters too. Slower swimming, running or cycling can build the aerobic foundation that allows you to handle harder exercise later, while also making training easier to sustain. 

The real lesson is not that you should abandon intensity and spend the rest of your life strolling around the park at the pace of a thoughtful tortoise. Instead, you should mix slower sessions with harder ones. Slower resistance training can give your muscles more time under tension, while easier aerobic sessions can build endurance without constantly battering your body.

So next time you exercise, resist the urge to make every session a heroic ordeal. Sometimes the smartest way to get fitter is simply to slow down, pay attention and let your body do the work properly.