Exercise... For How Long?

A while ago Elle wrote about her take on why you need to exercise. I figured it was high time I weighed with my approach since I definitely agree it's a good idea for your overall health.

photo from battsimon on flickr

I know there are several studies out there that say how long you have to work out in order to "get a good workout" or "see any results".

A March 2010 Los Angeles Times article said

The 60-minute-a-day recommendation, released online Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., is aimed at women of normal weight who don't want to diet but do want to avoid gaining weight over time. Most Americans gain about 1.5 pounds a year between age 25 and 55.

But the issue of how much exercise is required to maintain a normal weight is far from settled. Other exercise experts say that an average of 35 minutes a day, seven days a week, is probably sufficient. But that's still a lot of exercise.

The study referred to in that article says the 2008 federal recommendation was 150 minutes a week.

Another study published in the Journal of Physiology and featured on CNN also in March of 2010 says

... doing short-duration, high-intensity training sessions may be just as effective as longer duration, less intense exercise. Simply put, you can do your workout in just 20 minutes and still see the benefits.

And in June of 2010 USA Today profiled yet another study (this time out of Massachusetts General Hospital) saying

"Ten minutes of exercise has at least an hour of effects on your body," says Gerszten, who found some of the metabolic changes that began after 10 minutes on the treadmill still were measurable 60 minutes after people cooled down.

It's a lot to try to keep straight - even in this small sampling.

In my experience, ten minutes is always better than nothing. On days that I only have ten minutes to do any sort of workout, I feel better than on days where I decide I'm too busy or too tired or what-have-you. Of course working out for a longer amount of time further enhances these benefits, but after only ten minutes I feel stronger, refreshed, and ready to take on whatever's next in my day.

In fact, any day that I'm able to move around a fair amount (instead of being pretty much confined to a chair for eight hours) I feel better - even if it's just walking around. But I feel even better if I've had some dedicated exercise time. That setting aside of time helps settle my mind and keep me focused on one thing instead of my thoughts zooming around to all the things I have to do or whatever may be bothering me, etc. It's calming.

So now you know the minimum amount of time I think is good to exercise a day. Coming up soon, I'll be sharing my experiences on what activities to do.

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