What’s Your Level Of Physical Activity?
A basic law of physics states, “A body in motion tends to stay in motion, a body at rest tends to stay at rest.” Our modern conveniences have altered human behavior in more ways than anyone could have predicted. While convenience and comfort have certainly increased, the toll on human health is far worse than many realize.
A lifestyle which lacks physical activity is crippling. As our lives become more convenient, they also become dangerously sedentary. Obesity isn’t the only problem that might occur from inactivity. A multitude of health complications also occur when our muscles are not used.
Free Download: 6 Risks of a Sedentary Lifestyle
How Much Physical Activity Do Adults Need to Stay Healthy?
Before getting into how much physical activity adults need to stay healthy, let’s first discuss what types of activities count. Basically, activities are broken down into two categories: aerobic and muscle strengthening.
Aerobic
These are the types of exercises that get your heart rate up like:
Muscle Strengthening
Activities that work the major muscle groups, such as legs, arms, chest, back, and shoulders count under this type of physical activity. This includes:
- Lifting weights using dumbbells, barbells or weight-simulating machines
- Using resistance bands
- Performing bodyweight exercises without any additional weight
- Certain types of gardening
- Yoga
Other Considerations
Besides the type of activity, two other considerations are:
- Time – how long you exercise
- Intensity – how hard you push your body
Usually the more intense the activity, the shorter amount of time it can be performed until failure. Intensity is broken down into moderate and vigorous.
Good examples between two types of intensities are walking (moderate) verses jogging (vigorous) or tennis doubles (moderate) verses singles (vigorous).
So How Much Physical Activity Do You Need?
In America, both the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and American Heart Association (AHA) recommend getting at a minimum 150 minutes per week of moderate aerobic activity, or 75 minutes of vigorous, along with two or more days per week of muscle-strengthening exercises that target all the major muscle groups.
Do one set of 12 to 15 repetitions per set of each muscle group exercise. Just make sure the muscle-strengthening days are not back to back as muscles need at least a day in-between to recover.
Start Slowly
If you’ve not exercised in a while, see your healthcare professional first before starting any exercise program. Second, start out slowly. You’ll know when you are exercising at the proper rate when you can carry on a conversation while exercising.
Gradually work up to the recommended minimum amount of activity time per week – 30 minutes per day, five days per week. Even three 10-minute sessions per day provide the same, if not more, health benefits than one 30-minute session.
The CDC and AHA also note that greater health benefits can be gained by bumping the aerobic time up to 300 minutes per week along with the same amount of strength training. The bottom lines are doing any physical activity is better than nothing and it’s never too late to start.
What Happens If You Don’t Do Any Physical Activity?
Inactivity increases your body mass or the ratio of fat to muscle within your body. Sitting still can literally kill you if you do it too much or for too long. Even simple, regular movement and muscle stimulation can provide your heart and other muscles with much needed activity. These 6 serious health risks are directly related to a sedentary lifestyle. Once you’ve seen these you might just have enough motivation to get up and get moving.
