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Now a lack of time can never be an excuse to escape exercise, as fitness now can be attained in just 2.5 minutes.

A new study by researchers from Colorado State University suggests that intense exercising for as less as 2.5 minutes could burn up to 200 calories, and help you stay fit.

A high-intensity exercise could be defined as an exercise wherein the person puts his maximum effort to work the body as hard as possible.

The theory behind this mode of exercising is that a quick burst of sprinting is more effective than long periods of jogging or walking.

For the study, the researchers compared the energy expenditure of five healthy men, aged between 25 and 31, on two different days. One day they spent time watching TV, the other day they did some high-intensity exercise followed by long periods of recovery, Mail Online reported.

The men, for three days were given a diet calculated for right amount of calories to ensure they weren't over or under eating. After that, one day they spend not moving around much and watching TV, while another day they exercised. The exercised involved very fast pedaling (to their maximum capacity) on an exercise bike set at high resistance for 5 30 second periods.

Each 30 second session had a four minute recovery period in between, while they pedaled slowly on very low resistance.

The findings of the study revealed that when the participants worked out for just 30 seconds, giving full effort, they burned an average of an extra 200 calories.

"Research shows that many people start an exercise program but just can't keep it up," lead researcher Kyle Sevits was quoted as saying by Mail Online.

"The biggest factor people quote is that they don't have the time to fit in exercise. We hope if exercise can be fit into a smaller period of time,then they may give exercise a go and stick with it. Burning an extra 200 calories from these exercises a couple of times a week can help keep away that pound or two that many of us gain each year," Sevits added.

According to official guidelines, a person should exercise moderately for about 150 minutes or a vigorous exercise for 75 minutes per week.