Assorted links

That NYT article is a lot more interesting than you made it seem.  It's not really about interval training as much as reducing time of exercise.  It lends credence to the book "Body by Science," which promotes paleo eating and short, once-a-week resistance training.  Interestingly, the rationale of the book, derived by an MD from basic textbook physiology, predicts the results seen in these tests and explains the connection between mitochondrial increase and rate of energy expenditure during recovery.  It's really quite simple.  I went to my Berne and Levy Physiology after Body by Science and, sure enough, there were the graphs underlying the theory.  When Body by Science came out, I wrote a negative Amazon review based on the fact that the authors didn't cite much research, but now here's some. Anecdotally, recenlty I lost about 50 lbs over 2 months by eating irregular meals of mostly meat and working out only 1-2 times per week.  On Wednesdays, I did a 45 spinning class followed by 5 sets on the squat machine of 650x12, 750x10, 850x10, 950x4-6, then 650x6-8 of 1:5 ratio.  I would try to go once more during the week to do a short run and a bench set and ab workout.  No more than 2 hrs per week devoted to work-outs.  Recently, I increased my workouts and plateaued.  Now I'm thinking of going back to my old schedule.