1 minute of vigorous exercise = ~6 minutes of moderate effort.

Back in 2004, I ran a marathon. I clocked a solid 4-hour finish...and promptly swore off long-distance cardio forever. 

Since then, I've leaned into yoga, pilates, and (my recent favorite) HIIT walking, hoping that was enough exercise to deliver me to the longevity promised land. 

Last year, my WHOOP gave me a little reality check:

My biological age came back two years older than my actual age mostly due to my lack of strength training and reluctance to do any exercise that gets my heart rate above Zone 1. 

I added 3x/week strength work and started aiming for more Zone 2 heart rate time. I thought I was on track when a new study dropped. And it stopped me in my (slow moving) tracks. 

According to wearable-based research (Nature, 2025), just 10 minutes of vigorous movement may provide equal—or better—longevity benefits than an hour of low-intensity exercise when it comes to reducing risk of heart disease, diabetes, and early death.

No marathons. No hour-long sweatfests. Just hard effort in short, sharp bursts.

For someone whose biggest constraint is time, I’ve decided to make this my guiding exercise light leading into 2026. 

This week, I’m diving into the value of short and intense vs. long and steady workouts and how to build both into your real life without burning out.

⚡️ Forward this protocol

Studies on VILPA (Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity) show micro-bursts of effort— “exercise snacks”—are linked to lower all-cause mortality, reduced cardiovascular disease risk and improved metabolic health…even in people who don’t “exercise” otherwise.

The Exercise Snacks Protocol (VILPA):

• 3–6 short bursts of vigorous movement per day

• Each burst: 30–90 seconds

• Total time: 3–10 minutes/day

• Effort level: breathing hard, heart pounding, can’t talk

What counts:

• Sprinting up stairs

• Carrying heavy groceries fast

• Chasing kids at full speed

• Bike sprints

• 10–20 bodyweight squats done hard

• A short hill or treadmill incline push

The key rule:
👉 If you can talk, it doesn’t count.
👉 If it feels slightly awful, you’re doing it right. 

🤓 What to know: Intensity matters more than we thought.

❌ The old rule: 1 minute of vigorous activity = 2 minutes of moderate activity.

That’s what public health guidelines used for years. But that formula was based on calories burned, not disease prevention.

✅ The new reality: 1 minute of vigorous effort = 6.6 minutes of moderate exercise. 

In the largest wearable-data study to date (not self-reported logs), researchers found intense movement reduced risk of:

• Early death (all-cause mortality)

• Cardiovascular disease

• Type 2 diabetes

💥 Vigorous activity delivered more health per minute—full stop.

🏃 Zone 2 is valuable—but inefficient for risk reduction

Moderate, steady exercise (Zone 2) absolutely supports:

• Mitochondrial health

• Aerobic capacity

• Fat oxidation

• Recovery and metabolic flexibility

But when it comes to reducing disease risk and death, it requires much more time to deliver the same protection as vigorous effort.

⏱️ Short “micro-bursts” count—and they count a lot

One of the really interesting insights of this study: wearables capture intense movement people don’t remember or log. Think:

• Sprinting up stairs

• Carrying heavy groceries

• Chasing kids

• Rushing for a train

These brief spikes may be some of the most protective minutes of the day.

✅ Ideally, you get both moderate and high intensity exercise

The results of this study don’t negate the effects of zone 2 cardio and strength training. It’s not an either/or question but a case of both/and:

• Zone 2 builds the foundation (mitochondria, endurance, recovery).

• Vigorous effort drives the biggest longevity returns per minute.

The bottom line: If time is limited a short, intense workout may be one of the most powerful health investments you can make.

💪 What to do: Prioritize high-intensity exercise and build a foundation with moderate-intensity movement.   

If you want the biggest longevity payoff—with the least time—you need both short bursts of intensity and longer, steady work. Here’s how to structure it.

Step 1: Prioritize vigorous exercise (2–3x per week) 

• Vigorous = heart rate at ~85–95% of max, breathing hard 

• 10–20 total minutes of vigorous effort per session

Step 2: Layer in Zone 2 for metabolic health (2–4x per week) 

• Zone 2 = 60-70% of max heart rate, can still hold a conversation 

• 30–60 minutes per session

• Examples: Brisk walking, easy jogging, cycling, incline treadmill, rucking with light weight

Step 3: Strength train 2–3x per week (especially for women)

Muscle is a longevity organ → Preserves insulin sensitivity, protects bone density, lowers fall and fracture risk, buffers against muscle loss during peri/menopause

Focus on:

• Squats

• Deadlifts

• Pushes

• Pulls

• Carries

👉 Keep it heavy enough to feel challenging by the last 2–3 reps.

Step 4: Stop discounting “micro-bouts” of exercise

This is where the new research goes from being intimidating to inspiring for me: 

Sprinting up the stairs to my office rather than taking the elevator, carrying a kid up to bed at night, pushing myself to lift hard for a short bust at the gym all counts. 

These moments may deliver outsized benefits even if they’re unplanned. 

💛 The Momgevity Files

I set some big goals for 2026 during my annual New Year’s visioning exercise (see my last newsletter for how to do it yourself!). One of those goals was to lead my first health and wellness retreat in a beautiful place with friends—so I’m thrilled to share that it’s officially happening this June in Topanga, CA in partnership with my longtime yoga teacher and friend, Schuyler Grant, founder of Kula Yoga in NYC and the online health platform Commune.

Schuyler’s retreat spot in Topanga is magical. The views over the mountains, the house—formerly owned by Daryl Hannah, where Neil Young wrote Heart of Gold. It’s the ultimate longevity-nerd setup with a cold plunge, sauna, and hiking trails...it’s a dream. And it’s a dream for me to teach alongside one of my earliest teachers. I met Schuyler when I stumbled into her yoga studio at 22, fresh out of college and working near FiDi, where the original Kula was located.

I wasn’t a wellness person back then. To be honest, yoga felt foreign and kind of weird. The Om’ing, the spiritual talk, the Sanskrit pose names—all of it felt silly at first. But through the sweat, the flow, the breath of her classes (and the other incredible teachers there), I discovered something unexpected: a sense of groundedness, presence, and clarity I hadn’t felt as a hyper-competitive, over-achieving college student. And, maybe more importantly, I found a genuine love for health.

Those classes planted the seed for everything that followed. My passion for helping others transform their health started there, and eventually led me to medical school at Columbia, and later into functional medicine and the science of longevity.

“One often meets her destiny on the road she took to avoid it.”

In those days, I was avoiding a very boring job as a paralegal and I had no idea that sneaking out to yoga on my lunch breaks would change my life or inspire my career.

Through yoga—and learning to listen to my body with a little more compassion—I also got interested in food. Real food. I started eating to feel good now and in the future, instead of eating to be skinny, which had been my college-girl version of “nutrition.”

So it felt gratifying this week when—for once—the government did something positive for public health: it released a new version of the food pyramid. While it’s not perfect (see my reel for a deeper dive), it reflects modern nutrition science, much of what the functional medicine community has been saying for decades, and what we’ve seen hold true in clinical practice across nearly 50,000 patients at Parsley.

Food is medicine. And by eliminating added sugar, ultra-processed foods, common allergens and additives; by prioritizing protein to build lean muscle and stabilize metabolism; and by eating plenty of fiber- and phytonutrient-rich whole grains, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats—the body can often heal itself.

At Parsley, a personalized nutrition plan is the first prescription we offer for good reason: it works. 

Not every problem can be solved by food alone, but the vast majority of both physical and mental health issues improve when we eat this way.

What I learned in my early days on the mat—and again in medical training—is that health happens in the 99% of our lives when we’re not in a doctor’s office. It’s a daily practice, shaped by what we eat, how we rest, how we move, how we connect to nature, and how we choose to pause.

So as you think about your own longevity, I hope both my retreat and the new food pyramid serve as reminders or inspiration:

Choose one thing this year you’ll commit to changing or doing—something that helps you heal from the inside out.

Stay strong, stay curious and breathe, 

Robin

⚡️ One last thing…

I am in serious get sh*t done mode this month. One of the easiest things I checked of my to-do list: my annual longevity labs with Parsley. 

Book yours here or BYO labs and book a consult with a Parsley clinician for advanced analysis and a personalized treatment plan!  

As always, this newsletter is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making any health decisions or changes to your treatment plan.