How Much Do You Need To Exercise Each Day?

Do you need to exercise each day to lose weight? Regular exercise is the driver for burning calories and has both immediate and long-lasting effects. In addition to helping you lose weight, regular exercise and good physical fitness can make you feel better, give you more energy and perhaps even help you live longer.

But knowing how much you need to exercise each day is only half of the equation. You also have to know which type of activity you need. Exercise is broken down into two types of energy systems: aerobic (also known as cardio exercise) and anaerobic (also known as strength training).

Let’s take a look at these in more detail.

Aerobic Exercise 

Exercise activities falling under this category are further broken down by intensity into moderate and vigorous. Moderate includes brisk walking, running (at a slow jogging pace), swimming, mowing the lawn, etc. Aerobic exercises get your heart rate up and can be performed for a long period of time. You should break a sweat, but still be able to talk while doing them.

Vigorous exercise includes such things as marathon running, long distance cycling and lap swimming. They get your heart rate up into the 70% to 80% of your target heart rate (220 minus your age). While doing activities at this intensity level, you are sweating more, breathing harder and you won’t be able to say more than a few words at a time.

Anaerobic Exercise

These include strength training activities like weightlifting or heavy kettle bell swings. Anaerobic exercises can only be performed for a short period of time due to the body not being able to produce enough energy to last longer than from a few seconds to three minutes. To reap the most benefits from anaerobic, you should reach a point where it is hard to do the next repetition. Once you can do 12 to 15 repetitions per set, increase the amount of weight; your repetitions per set will then drop accordingly.

How Much Do You Need To Exercise Each Day?

The recommended amount of exercise per week is at least 30 minutes of exercise, or some type of physical activity, six days a week. This is further broken down into 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise spread over four days per week. Alternate in at least two days per week of anaerobic exercise that works all of the major muscle groups, such as the:

• legs
• hips
• back
• abdomen
• chest
• shoulders
• arms

Give your body time to rest and repair itself on the seventh day.

Exercise Session Duration

Many busy working professionals have a hard time finding a 30-minute chunk of time each day to exercise. However, what various studies have found is that three 10-minute periods of exercising per day is just as beneficial as one 30-minute period. For instance, you could go for a brisk walk in the morning, at noon and again in the evening.  The health benefit is the same as walking briskly for one 30-minute period. Almost everyone can find a few 10 minute periods in their schedule each day.

For even more health benefits, keep the same intensity level, but double your weekly aerobic activity to 300 minutes. Another option, as you get more fit, is to gradually change out some of your moderate intensity level exercises for more vigorous ones.

Free Report: Short Workouts For Busy People 

Short workouts are a great fat-burning system that can fit in with your lifestyle.  For many of us, finding time to exercise is something we know we should do, but it’s often the first thing to get dropped when we’re busy. However, it is possible to significantly improve your health and fitness with short workout sessions. Download this free report.