How much excercise should I be doing to get fit?
You have heard it said by health officials that 30 minutes of aerobic activity a day, at least three times a week is sufficient to maintain a healthy body weight and prevent disease. This won’t make you more fit, but it will get you out of the 25% of the population that is the least active and at the greatest risk of disease. For fitness, the recommendation is in the terms of the 3 variables: • Frequency – 3-5 days per week • Intensity – 60-90% of Max HR • Duration – 20 – 60 minutes per session (not including warmup/cooldown) The intensity can be figured out by using your heart rate or your perceived exertion. This is a workload that’s going to get your heart rate up, you may be a bit out of breath, you can talk but not sing, etc. The low end will be comparable to that “moderate intensity” above, whereas the high end will probably be something that will fatigue you in 20-30 minutes. 30 mins three times weekly is really a minimum.
