Exercise is the foundation for improving overall health and well-being. If you can achieve the optimal amount consistently, you can reap the benefits, such as better sleep, more energy, and improved mood. Although, how much exercise is enough to reap those sweet benefits?
How Much Exercise Is Recommended?
The CDC recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity weekly. On two or more of those days, you should also engage in muscle-strengthening activities with major muscle groups.
But what are the differences between moderate and vigorous activity? Moderate activity makes you breathe harder than usual, but you still can carry on a conversation. Vigorous activity is more taxing on the body, and you’ll likely not be able to say more than one or two words at a time. The difference is a brisk walk vs. running.
These two terms are associated with the intensity of your workout. Your heart rate is a good measurement of how hard your body is working. Based on your fitness goals, you can strive to reach a specific target heart rate to exercise optimally. However, it’s worth noting that moderate and vigorous will depend on several factors, such as your age and fitness level.
Generally speaking, moderate exercise is between 50% and 70% of your maximum heart rate, while vigorous exercise is between 70% and 85%. Although several formulas exist to calculate your maximum heart rate, a quick and dirty way is to subtract your age from 220. A fitness tracker can do all the work for you and help you stay within your desired target. But if you don’t have a fitness tracker, you can get an idea of whether you’re exercising in the right zone by using the talk test.
What If That’s Too Much Exercise For You?
It’s okay if you can’t exercise that much at your current fitness level. Everyone starts from ground zero when it comes to improving their fitness and overall well-being. Your body has the remarkable ability to adapt, and by adapting, it needs more to adapt further.
Think back to when you started a new job, learned to play an instrument, or taught yourself a new skill. At first, you likely had no idea what you were doing. However, you slowly learned the ropes and improved your skills, and at some point, it became easier. Exercise works the same way.
If you’re new to exercise or trying to get back into it, the goal is to do something and do it consistently. You can start with a two-minute run or a five-minute walk. Regardless of how much exercise you do, doing any exercise is good. Like any other skill, you’ll get better and be able to do more. It may take some time to build up a 30-minute workout. You will get there if you stick with it.
However, never ignore signals from your body that you’re tired or something hurts. Be careful not to push yourself too hard, especially when you’re just starting. Thankfully, taking a day off or doing a rest day workout to recover will not erase all your hard work.
Don’t Do Exercises That You Don’t Find Fun
There is no shortage of advice on the best exercises that burn the most calories, gain the most muscle, and lose the most weight. You may have even talked to a personal trainer who crafted your ideal exercise routine. Unfortunately, you’ll never have fun if you force yourself to do something you don’t enjoy. As a result, you may rush through what you’re doing, take shortcuts, and possibly injure yourself.
How can you have fun exercising if you don’t like what you’re doing? The simple answer is you can’t. Instead, you should find activities that you enjoy. It all counts as exercise! If you don’t like running, biking, swimming, or practicing yoga, don’t do them. Instead, try something new. You never know what fun new activities you may discover. When you enjoy what you’re doing, you’ll be surprised at how fast those exercise minutes add up and how quickly you’ll improve your overall health.
The Takeaway
Exercise is vital for overall health and well-being. However, starting or restarting your fitness journey can seem overwhelming. At first, you may not be able to do the recommended amount of exercise every week. Fortunately, all you need to do is start moving and doing activities you enjoy that raise your heart rate, even for only a few minutes.
With consistency, your body will adapt, and you’ll go longer and do more. It’s okay if you can’t hit the recommended amount of exercise. What’s more important is that you’re getting some regular exercise and reaping the benefits.
FitTrend’s mission is to help you along your self-improvement journey, promote an active lifestyle, and help you achieve your goals. Our journal can help you track your workouts, weight, mood, calories, and more. Also, FitTrend allows you to connect supported gadgets to your account to make it easier for you to update your journal automatically. Create your account today and start using FitTrend for free!
Disclaimer: No content on this site should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
