Derek Burnett
Derek Burnett is a Contributing Writer at Bottom Line Personal, where he writes frequently on health and wellness. He is also a contributing editor with Reader’s Digest magazine.
It seems like a simple question…”How many times should I work out each week, and for how long each time?” … but as with many aspects of health and wellness, while public-health authorities offer broad guidelines, there’s not really one simple answer that will apply to everybody, because so many factors determine the optimal number of workouts to schedule for each week. These include the person’s beginning level of fitness, how much time they have to devote to their workouts, how much recovery time they need after working out, how intensely they plan to work out, and their individualized exercise-related goals.
For many people, particularly those most pressed for time or those who hate working out, the question is better framed as, “What’s the least amount of exercise I can do and still remain generally healthy?” If that sounds like you, consider that the federal government’s Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans suggest that at a bare minimum, you should begin to move more and sit less throughout your day. Notice that this lowest-bar recommendation includes no formal workouts at all. Instead, we’re talking about things like taking a brief walk on your lunch break rather than scrolling on your phone, using a handbasket instead of a shopping cart at the grocery store, standing up and folding laundry while you’re watching TV, choosing to take the stairs instead of the elevator, parking farther away from the entrance to a store, and so on.
Make no mistake…the idea behind this level of exercise is, “Some physical activity is better than none.” It’s certainly true that it’s better to move than to sit, but greater benefit will come with greater effort. Having said that, people with mobility issues…the frail elderly…people with severe obesity…and people with truly overwhelming time constraints should absolutely perform at this level either as a stepping-stone to a more ambitious exercise routine, or as a practice of last resort.
Fortunately, most of us aren’t interested in just doing the bare minimum. We want to get in enough physical activity to enjoy significant and noticeable benefits to our health and well-being. The Guidelines suggest that “substantial health benefits” begin to accrue when our weekly workout times add up to somewhere between 75 minutes (one hour and 15 minutes) and 150 minutes (two and a half hours)…but only if that activity consists of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise, which means conversation is impossible while you’re doing it. If the intensity is moderate (you can speak but not sing as you exercise), this is acceptable, but you’ll need to put in between 150 minutes (two and a half hours) and 300 minutes (five hours) each week.
People seeking additional health benefits beyond “substantial” should go beyond 300 minutes (five hours) of exercise each week. Besides trying to achieve greater health benefits, you might train at this higher level if you have ambitious fitness goals, such as preparing to hike the Grand Canyon, compete in a sports tournament, or lose an unusually large amount of weight.
So far, we’ve only been talking about aerobic exercise, popularly referred to as “cardio.” While cardio is the backbone of an exercise regime, the Guidelines also suggest that adults perform two full-body muscle-strengthening workouts per week. Examples include calisthenics, lifting free weights (dumbbells and barbells), weight machines, yoga, kettlebells, and fitness bands. Too many people give resistance training short shrift, dismissing it as the domain of muscleheads and downplaying its importance for health. But resistance training provides a wealth of benefits. It makes the blood vessels larger and more efficient, enhances metabolism, helps maintain a healthy body weight, improves insulin sensitivity, increases bone mineral density, improves mood, lowers blood pressure, and decreases risk of premature death (especially from cancer and heart disease).
The above exercise guidelines apply just as much to older adults as to younger ones…with a couple of caveats. First, older people should understand their level of fitness and any underlying medical issues that could affect their safety, and calibrate the intensity and frequency of their workouts accordingly. Second, they should add in fitness activities that help them improve or maintain balance, such as tai chi, yoga, jumping rope, balance walks, heel lifts, and lunges. For older people, the Guidelines recommend “multicomponent” activities that combine cardio with strength and balance training. A study of more than 1,600 older, frail adults (average age 78.9) showed that over two and a half years, an exercise program mixing aerobic, flexibility, and resistance elements helped slow functional decline compared to a control group.
While the Guidelines for Americans do not suggest a cap on the amount of exercise done weekly, it’s certainly possible to overdo it…especially as we get older and recovery takes longer. Learn to listen to your body. Strive to feel pleasantly exhausted after your workouts. Overall, you want to feel energized, not depleted, by your exercise schedule. For most people, that means staggering their workouts so that they’re not training hard at the same types of activities on consecutive days, and incorporating a day or two of rest each week. Don’t just take rest days when you feel like you need them…schedule them as part of your routine whether you feel like you need them or not.
The following are not prescriptions but rather illustrations of how a week’s worth of workouts might look. Remember that an individual’s schedule will look different depending on their time constraints, their goals, and their level of fitness.
Remember that everyone’s interests are different, as is their level of strength and stamina. Do what works for you. And start slow but continually raise the bar. Keep a record of your achievements so you can track where you are, and take a moment to be proud of your achievements. Every goal reached is a win!
