What’s the Minimum Amount of Exercise That I Should be Doing?

We get asked this question a lot in clinic. Our standard answer is to reference the WHO and NHS England guidelines of at least 150 minutes or 2.5 hrs weekly of moderate intensity, aerobic physical exercise. e.g walking briskly. The WHO also recommends muscle-strengthening exercise at least 2 times per week targeting all major muscle groups.

An American study published in August 2022 in the British journal of Sports Medicine has shed some new light on minimum suggested levels of exercise and the balance between aerobic and strengthening exercise.

This study followed over 400000 US adults over 18 years.

They found that compared to adults that did no aerobic activity, 1 hour per week of aerobic activity was associated with substantial mortality risk reduction with any additional benefit levelling off at 3 hours per week.

Similar results were observed for men and women and for individuals younger and older than 60 years.

An additional 1 times per week of muscle strengthening exercise e.g. resistance training, confers further health improvements.

Interestingly, from a clinical and musculoskeletal point of view, in Islington, many of our clients are doing very well with their aerobic exercise, they are aware of the health benefits and in London there is a lot of walking to be done to get anywhere. However, it is the strengthening aspect that often needs addressing to help with the musculoskeletal problems that they are presenting with.

We can help tailor exercise programmes targeting all 7 major muscle groups – back, legs, hips, abdomen, chest shoulders and arms and using easily available and inexpensive exercise bands or light weights or we can advise on an appropriate gym programme. If you’d like to find out more or have any questions please get in touch.

References

Article reference: Coleman CJ, McDonough DJ, Pope ZC, et al. Dose–response association of aerobic and muscle[1]strengthening physical activity with mortality: a national cohort study of 416 420 US adults. British Journal of Sports Medicine; 11 August 2022. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2022-105519

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/physica...

Bull FC, Al-Ansari SS, Biddle S, et al. World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Br J Sports Med. Dec 2020;54(24):1451-1462.

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