By: Joann Bally CSCS
So how much exercise do you really need? The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the American Heart Association (AHA) have tried to answer that by updating the 1995 exercise guidelines published by ACSM and the CDC. The current guidelines don’t really change the previous ones, but they do clarify and expand the recommendations. They are outlined below, or you can read the whole article at the AHA website (search Exercise Guidelines). These are for healthy adults ages 18 through 64, and are intended to promote and maintain health. They are not necessarily sufficient for a high level of fitness or enhancing athletic performance.
1. Maintain a physically active lifestyle.
2. Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise for at least 30 min. on 5 days a week, or vigorous aerobic exercise for a minimum of 20 minutes 3 times a week.
3. Moderate and vigorous can be mixed, e.g., walk briskly 30 minutes twice a week and jog 20 minutes on 2 other days.
4. The moderate and/or vigorous activities are in addition to light activities performed during daily life, such as crafts or light housework, and activities of very short duration.
5. The 30 minutes of moderate activity can be accumulated during the day, at least 10 minutes at a time.
6. Vigorous activity, like jogging, causes rapid breathing and a substantial rise of heart rate.
7. In addition to aerobic activity, do activities using the major muscles of the body to maintain or increase muscular
strength and endurance.
8. Doing more than these basic recommendations is optional for those who want to improve fitness, further reduce the risk of illness or disability, or prevent unhealthy weight gain.
Aerobic exercise is repetitive movement using the large muscles of the body, usually the legs. You have to keep it up for at least 10 minutes for it to count toward the 30, and it should be at a brisk pace; a window-shopping stroll around the mall doesn’t count. You do have to spread this out during the week. Don’t walk 2-1/2 hours or run for an hour on one day and think you’re done with it. Besides walking and jogging, swimming, bicycling, skating, rowing, cross-country skiing, jumping rope, and elliptical trainers and other cardio machines are aerobic exercise and count as long as it is continuous and sufficient to raise your heart rate a bit. Golf counts if you walk. Sports/games and gardening are often stop-and-go and may not qualify, you get credit for a soccer match or a good game of tennis. How much you feel you are pushing yourself determines whether it is moderate or vigorous.
The muscular strength and endurance exercise for most people is going to be weight training. You can use machines, free weights, elastic bands, or body weight, but you have to use enough resistance to be challenging. The guidelines recommend 8-10 exercises of 8-12 repetitions.
In a nutshell: as a minimum, walk briskly 30 minutes 5 days a week and do strength training twice a week. Better yet, do more.
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