Shorter, high-intensity workouts offer the same benefits as longer, moderate ones — here's how to get started and how it could transform your body

If you want to make the most of a short span of time for working out, consider a high-intensity workout.

With brief bouts of high-intensity interval training, it's possible to achieve or even exceed the physical benefits that people get from spending much longer periods of time working out.

"Time is everything for people," Jason Barone Professional Physical Therapy, previously told Business Insider.

High-intensity training is not always better than a more traditional exercise routine. There are good reasons to do longer workouts — they can help your body adapt to achieve certain fitness goals, such as preparing your joints and muscles for the strain of a long race like a marathon. But intense workouts are often the best way for athletes to improve performance.

They can have powerful effects on health too, helping people rev up metabolism to burn fat, lower blood pressure, and more.

Here's why you might want to give high-intensity training a try — and what you can do to get started.

Even extremely small amounts of all-out effort — just one minute — can have powerful effects on overall fitness.

Even extremely small amounts of all-out effort — just one minute — can have powerful effects on overall fitness. BusinessInsider

In one small study published in 2016, researchers had a group of men do workouts consisting of three 20-second bursts of all-out exertion, with some warm-up, cool-down, and rest in between sets. The results suggested those participants' fitness levels improved as much as those of men who worked out for 45 minutes at moderate intensity.

Muscles respond to sprint intervals in the same way they do to longer workouts.

A fitness instructor leads a SoulCycle class at their Union Square location in New York, April 13, 2011. BusinessInsider

One recent small study published in the American Journal of Physiology had eight young adults complete three cycling workouts in a randomized order over the period of three weeks.

One was a moderate intensity cycle at about 50% of maximum effort for 30 minutes; the second involved going at 75% of max effort for four minutes at a time four times, with one minute rest between each; and the third workout included four 30-second, all-out sprints, with a four-and-a-half minute break after each.

Muscle biopsies before and after each workout showed similar responses — in each case, their cells reacted in a similar way, indicating that the muscle strengthening efforts of each workout were similar, even if one involved only two minutes of all-out effort.

Various studies have shown that high-intensity interval workouts can lead to big improvements in blood-sugar levels.

Various studies have shown that high-intensity interval workouts can lead to big improvements in blood-sugar levels. BusinessInsider

High-intensity workouts might be the best way to improve blood pressure.

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High-intensity training is one of the most important ways to improve athletic performance.

High-intensity training is one of the most important ways to improve athletic performance. BusinessInsider

To get started with a high-intensity training program, Barone recommends picking a type of workout that you're interested in.

To get started with a high-intensity training program, Barone recommends picking a type of workout that you're interested in. BusinessInsider

On a basic level, any high-intensity interval program involves a warm up, followed by a few cycles of intense activity with short rest breaks in between.

That activity could be sprinting, swimming, cycling, or do body-weight exercises.

Researchers have studied bursts of activity as short as 20 seconds at a time, but most studies have people go at full intensity for between one and four minutes before they take a short break. Then they repeat the cycle.

There are plenty of pre-designed interval workout programs you could try.