Ok, quick quiz.
What are the current recommended physical activity guidelines?
A) 30 minutes per week
B) 150 minutes per week
C) 300 minutes per week
D) 60 minutes per week
The correct answer is…………..
B
Did you get it right? Well done!
Get it wrong? Keep reading.
Now the above physical activity guidelines are based on low to moderate exercise. This means, walking, swimming, cycling, light resistance exercise, dancing, hiking, tennis to name a few.
At first 150 minutes may sound like a lot, to those that currently engage in 0 minutes per week it may look like an impossible task.
Let’s break down the math on this.
150 minutes can be broken down into bite size chunks
1. 5 x 30 minutes = 150 minutes
2. 2 x 1 hour sessions and 1 x 30 minutes = 150 minutes
3. 22 minutes x 7 days = 154 minutes
The above are examples of how we can break this down across our week, doesn’t seem so bad anymore does it?
Frequency is more important to me than the time spent. I would rather see you engage in smaller amounts of exercise more often then one big bout of exercise then miss an entire week before you engage in exercise again.
The recommendations change as we progress intensity as well.
For those that wish to push themselves harder, those that may have less time to spare than 150 minutes per week or people who just prefer a different style of sports may wish to up the intensity.
For those in the moderate to vigorous range we only need to engage with 75 minutes per week!
Examples of these activities include: jogging / sprinting, mowing the lawns, circuit or HITT styles of working out.
Still not sure where to start or simply want more information?
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