How many minutes exercise per week?

[Imagiton]

I have been aiming for 5 days out 7 with some form of activties, such as a day in the gym for weights, another for cardio, swimming and walking during my lunch breaks.  I was wondering if there was an ideal amount of time spent exercising in the week.

Looking back, I've managed to rack up 7 & 1/2 hours for some weeks but typically I crash in the week or two after.  I seem to work best keeping it doen to 5 - 6 hours, and changing the schedule around to vary the intensity.  Is it a case of build up over time or quality over quanity?

[shipo · Accepted solution]

---

@Imagiton wrote:

I have been aiming for 5 days out 7 with some form of activties, such as a day in the gym for weights, another for cardio, swimming and walking during my lunch breaks.  I was wondering if there was an ideal amount of time spent exercising in the week.

Looking back, I've managed to rack up 7 & 1/2 hours for some weeks but typically I crash in the week or two after.  I seem to work best keeping it doen to 5 - 6 hours, and changing the schedule around to vary the intensity.  Is it a case of build up over time or quality over quanity?

---

If you stay with it your body will adapt to the higher number of active hours.  Back in 2013 I had been working and commuting over 100 hours per week and exercising exactly zero hours per week (which was reflected by my ever expanding waist line and increasing number on my scale) for a period of nearly four years.  In April of that year I quit one of my jobs and was able to go full time at the other and freed up an easy 50 hours per week, needless to say, I took advantage of some of that free time to start exercising again.

The thing about getting back into shape is it takes a while for your body to adapt; push too hard and you'll either get injured or at the very least, you'll be listless thoughout the day.  In my case, I pushed pretty hard and it still took a solid six months to work up to my current level of activity (which is typically in the 20-25 hour per week range).  If you ramp up slowly, your body will get there; just give it the time it needs.  🙂

[USAF-Larry]

---

@Imagiton wrote:

I was wondering if there was an ideal amount of time spent exercising in the week.

---

Unfortunately, there is no "ideal amount of time" as every individual is different.  When I first started working out again, after a too-long sedentary period, I started by going to the gym for 1 hour a day, 3 days a week.  As my fitness improved, I increased it to 1.5 to 2 hours ad day, 3 days a week.  Now, after much time has elapsed, I work out a minimum of 2 hours a day, 7 days a week. But, is that "ideal" for you?  Nope. 

Do what you can, when you can, the best you can.

[JohnRi]

I used to walk about 2 hours a day.  While I have scaled that back to around 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours.  That's mainly because I walk a lot faster now.  I can walk 6 miles in under 90 minutes.  But I average 45 to 75 minutes most days. 

Conversely I sometimes ride my stationary bike or my road bike.  For 30-90 minutes.

I also lift weights 6 out 7 days, for around 1 hour.

So 10-16 hours is probably normal for me per week.

So I work out a lot....  Only way I have lost 79 lbs in the last year...

I do not believe I will sustain this forever though.  Once I get to my goal weight of 170, I expect to cut mile walking time/bike time to 30 minutes.  But I'll maintain the 1 hour of lift weights.  I'll probably walk a bit more on the one rest day I don't lift weights.

[GershonSurge]

Ken Cooper clearly defined the optimum times necessary for tangible health benefits in 1968. Obesity wasn't a big issue then, so I'd temper the goals with common sense. Since then, he has introduced a need for resistance training as we get older.

You can see his goals here.

If you read his books, he allows for generous time to work up to the levels in the charts. In his later books, he admits he focused too much on exercise and not enough on diet. He also addresses a holistic approach to health and well-being.

To answer your question, one would have to take intensity and time into account. This is all done in the charts.

This is an old method that is simple and still works.

[Leau]

If I take a day off, I start giving myself excuses to not go the next day too. So I exercise 30 mins a day, everyday, as a bare minimum. I try to think of new things that keep me interested and moving. Sometimes I swim, sometimes I go to a local store and carry in each of their shopping carts, one by one. I have a hotdog costume from last Halloween, so once I reused it and stood out in front of my favorite coney cafe and danced in costume, trying to get people to come to the store. There are several local parks near me, and I am taking the time to walk through each one of them. I'm still trying to figure out how to use my son's metal detector, but I get a few steps in swinging that around. Just keep trying, keep moving, no matter what!

[bcalvanese]

The CDC recommends 150 to 300 minutes per week for adults.

http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm

These are just basic guidelines, and you can certainly do more as long as you allow some recovery time. When I say recovery time I dont mean to not do any activities, but do recovery type activities in between the intense ones.

[shipo]

---

@bcalvanese wrote:

The CDC recommends 150 to 300 minutes per week for adults.

http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm

These are just basic guidelines, and you can certainly do more as long as you allow some recovery time. When I say recovery time I dont mean to not do any activities, but do recovery type activities in between the intense ones.

---

The cool thing about recovery time is your body can be trained to recover faster.  That said, "recover" may not be the correct term; I'm thinking "refuel" may be better.  I say this because when I'm first running after a long ("long" as in mulit-year) layoff from running, going for a run every third day is a bit taxing.  After a few months switching to every other day feels about right, however, once a good base has been built, I've found the body is ripe for adapting to daily, or even twice a day runs with no ill effects or increased risk of injury.  I think the key to daily runs is to change things up a bit from day to day; in my case, even though most of my daily runs are ten or more miles, some days I'll knock down a hilly road run in as little as 1:25 while other days I'll do an easy flat trail run and take more like 1:45 to finish.

[bcalvanese]

---

@shipo wrote:

---

@bcalvanese wrote:

The CDC recommends 150 to 300 minutes per week for adults.

http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm

These are just basic guidelines, and you can certainly do more as long as you allow some recovery time. When I say recovery time I dont mean to not do any activities, but do recovery type activities in between the intense ones.

---

The cool thing about recovery time is your body can be trained to recover faster.  That said, "recover" may not be the correct term; I'm thinking "refuel" may be better.  I say this because when I'm first running after a long ("long" as in mulit-year) layoff from running, going for a run every third day is a bit taxing.  After a few months switching to every other day feels about right, however, once a good base has been built, I've found the body is ripe for adapting to daily, or even twice a day runs with no ill effects or increased risk of injury.  I think the key to daily runs is to change things up a bit from day to day; in my case, even though most of my daily runs are ten or more miles, some days I'll knock down a hilly road run in as little as 1:25 while other days I'll do an easy flat trail run and take more like 1:45 to finish.

---

I agree. I have been power walking for over a year and do it every day, and sometimes 2 and 3 times a day.

What i was saying is that if I do a very extream power walk that pushes me a lot, my next one will be at a casual pace. This seems to help the muscles recover for the next extream session, plus I can still get my walks in.

Since I have been doing jog/power walk intervals, my recovery sessions are now power walks, and in my jog/power walk intervals, I am up to about 1 mile of stright non-stop jogging so far. Not too bad considering i started with 30 seconds of jogging...:)

[shipo]

---

@bcalvanese wrote:

 

What i was saying is that if I do a very extream power walk that pushes me a lot, my next one will be at a casual pace. This seems to help the muscles recover for the next extream session, plus I can still get my walks in.

---

Perfect!  By doing what you're doing you're allowing for recovery/refueling and at the same time training your body to get with the recovery/refueling program quicker which will allow you a faster turn-around time.  Next thing you know you'll be ready for one of those 200+ mile relays where you'll need to run upwards of 20 miles split into three legs in a 24 hour period.  🙂

[bcalvanese]

---

@shipo wrote:

---

@bcalvanese wrote:

 

What i was saying is that if I do a very extream power walk that pushes me a lot, my next one will be at a casual pace. This seems to help the muscles recover for the next extream session, plus I can still get my walks in.

---

Perfect!  By doing what you're doing you're allowing for recovery/refueling and at the same time training your body to get with the recovery/refueling program quicker which will allow you a faster turn-around time.  Next thing you know you'll be ready for one of those 200+ mile relays where you'll need to run upwards of 20 miles split into three legs in a 24 hour period.  🙂

---

I'll be happy just being able to "slow" jog for an hour non stop...LOL

But once I get to that point, who knows what will come next...:)

[DanielleinDC]

I love my walks in the park. Even when I do stop to say hello to the dogs being walked by their humans, I still burn roughly 6 calories a minute. What I like is that there are little steps throughout the path I use, and steps to a lower level of the park (which is on a hill). Today I put some tempeh in a marinade and then went for a walk.

When winter comes, though, it's going to be the treadmill or a Leslie Sansone walk video. Not to mention we go on quite a few road trips, making things tougher.

[USAF-Larry]

---

@DanielleinDC wrote:

When winter comes, though, it's going to be the treadmill or a Leslie Sansone walk video. Not to mention we go on quite a few road trips, making things tougher.

---

The important thing is to not start making excuses for why you can't exercise - all too quickly excuses can become a habit which is very hard to break. Instead, look for reasons TO exercise.