Exercise how much

But how much exercise is considered enough? How long should each of your workouts last before you can start reaping the health benefits? Based on a wealth of research, the WHO has set four basic exercise guidelines for adults aged 18 to The resistance can come from workout machines, free weights or barbells, elastic bands, water or even your own body weight e. While light exercise feels effortless, moderate-intensity exercise provides a slight challenge. During moderate-intensity exercise, your breathing quickens and you break into a sweat after about 10 minutes of working out in a climate-controlled environment.

And even though you have little or no difficulty chatting while exercising, you definitely have insufficient breath to sing. For vigorous-intensity exercises, you will find that breathing is deep and rapid, and perspiration takes place within just minutes. Combine your aerobic and resistance training into a single session using circuit training. Circuit training is where you move from one training station to the next with minimal rest intervals.

For optimal weight loss, you would need to go beyond the minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week. These exercise guidelines are meant for health maintenance and general disease prevention.

When it comes to losing weight, experts recommend targeting minutes of such moderate-intensity exercise. For fitter individuals who are bored with doing the same exercise routine, high-impact interval training HIIT serves as a great alternative. In addition to increasing heart rates for improved fitness, it can also burn more calories within a shorter time.

And if you have never done any resistance training and have musculoskeletal issues such as back pain and knee pain , please consult a physiotherapist to get an individualised exercise programme. Font size. User name field is required Password field is required.

Forgot password? December August American College of Sports Medicine. February Journal of Diabetes Research.

January Journal of Primary Prevention. American Heart Association. December 14, The American Journal of Cardiology.

September 15, Health Topics. Health Tools. Reviewed: April 9, Medically Reviewed. How much exercise is enough? It depends on your health and goals.

Additional reporting by K. Aleisha Fetters and Nicol Natale. Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking. Here are some examples of activities that require moderate effort:. You may use the Talk Test to gauge the intensity of your aerobic physical activity. Here are some examples of activities that require vigorous effort:.

If you are doing moderate-intensity physical activity, such as walking or hiking, you can talk, but not sing during the activity. Build Up Over Time If you want to do more vigorous-level activities, slowly replace those that take moderate effort like brisk walking with more vigorous activities like jogging.

Learn more about getting started with physical activity to improve health. You can do moderate- or vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or a mix of the two, each week. A rule of thumb is that 1 minute of vigorous-intensity activity is about the same as 2 minutes of moderate-intensity activity. Some people like to do vigorous activity because it gives them about the same health benefits in half the time.

If you have a history of a chronic disease, consider telling your doctor you are planning to increase your physical activity, including moving to more vigorous activity. You need to feel comfortable doing moderate-intensity activities before you move on to more vigorous ones. Learn more about additional types of physical activity pdf icon external icon that are right for you.

Want more tips on how you can add a variety of activities to your life? Check this out. Physical activities to strengthen your muscles are recommended at least 2 days a week. Activities should work all the major muscle groups of your body—legs, hips, back, chest, abdomen, shoulders, and arms.

Muscle-strengthening activities should be done in addition to your aerobic activity. A repetition is one complete movement of an activity, like lifting a weight or doing a sit-up.

Try to do repetitions per activity, which counts as 1 set. Try to do at least 1 set of muscle-strengthening activities. To gain even more benefits, do 2 or 3 sets. You can do activities that strengthen your muscles on the same or different days that you do aerobic activity—whatever works best for you.