May 16, 2022 • 9 min read
How Many Minutes of Exercise Per Week is Good?
Published on May 16, 2022 |
Update on November 3, 2023
NASM Personal Trainer, NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist, ACE Sports Conditioning Specialist, NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist
Table of Contents
You are finally ready to change your life by including more physical activity to your daily routine. You start with the basics: running and strength training. You buy brand-new sportswear equipment. Then you wonder: how long should you work out in a day? Let’s find out!
The number of minutes you should exercise each day and week depends on your age and fitness goals.
Don’t worry, though, because you don’t need to calculate these numbers yourself. There are guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) that detail how much time people should spend being physically active each day and week regarding their age. [1]
For adults aged 18 to 64, the bare minimum is 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity weekly or at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercises weekly.
To break that down into a daily exercise routine, you want to perform 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise like jogging for five days each week. Or you can perform three high-intensity workouts at 25 minutes each. Ideally, if you can only do the bare minimum, you should strive to do a combination of both moderate and high-intensity exercise.
As recommended by the WHO, the optimal amount of activity time to further improve the health of adults is 300 minutes of moderate-intensity or 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercises weekly.
Again, to break this down into a weekly routine, you should perform either a moderate-intensity activity for 60 minutes, five days per week. Or you can perform 30 minutes of high-intensity exercise for five days per week.
We highly recommend mixing up your activities with varying intensity. For example, try one day of moderate-intensity exercise followed by a day of high-intensity exercise, then a rest day. Repeat this cycle.
With that said, you should start small and gradually increase the frequency, intensity, and duration of activity.
WHO also recommends doing muscle-strengthening exercises a minimum of two times per week to support the musculoskeletal system and provide additional health benefits. Such exercises can be of moderate or greater intensity.
Moderate-intensity exercise is any type of physical activity that causes you to breathe harder than normal while also increasing your heartbeat.
Moderate-intensity aerobic exercises make your heart rate up to 50 to 60% higher than when it’s in a calm state.
However, if you want to be more specific, you can calculate your age-related heart rate for moderate-intensity activities.
Your target heart rate should be 64% to 76% of your maximum heart rate. One of the fastest and relatively accurate ways to calculate your maximum heart rate is by subtracting your age from 220. [2]
For example, let’s say you are 35. Subtracting 35 from 220, your maximum heart rate will be 185 beats per minute or bpm.
Now, continuing with this example, to calculate your recommended target heart rate for moderate-intensity exercise, you would multiply 185 by 64% and 76%.
When performing a moderate-intensity activity, your heart rate should always be between 118 and 141 beats per minute.
Examples of moderate-intensity aerobic activities include
If it’s an active recovery day, consider activities like gardening and cleaning as they can increase heart rate without being too stressful during your day of recovery.
As the name suggests, vigorous or high-intensity aerobic activities significantly increase both breathing and heart rate.
The difference between moderate and high-intensity can usually be distinguished by a simple talk test. If you can’t say more than a few words without taking a break, then you are performing a high-intensity activity.
For vigorous-intensity exercise, the target heart rate is between 77% and 93% of the maximum heart rate.
Let’s continue with the example from above. In that example, the max heart rate is 185 bpm. To figure out the target heart rate for high-intensity activities, you would multiple 185 by 77% and 93%:
185 x .77 = 142.4
185 x .93 = 172.05
When performing a high-intensity activity, your heart rate should always be within a range of 142 and 172 beats per minute.
Examples of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercises include
Muscle strengthening exercises focus on developing the strength, size, and shape of the superficial muscle tissue. These exercises also help to improve neuromuscular connections or communication between the body and the brain.
Just because you focus on getting stronger doesn’t mean you will also gain muscle mass. You have to tweak the acute variables of every workout in order to align yourself with that goal. So, if you’re worried that by doing muscle-strengthening exercises you’re going to look like the Hulk, don’t worry!
Here are some examples of muscle-strengthening activities.
As you’ll see, all of these are great for your muscles, but with the exception of intentional weightlifting, they won’t make you bulk up. So, be proud to get stronger and don’t worry about getting huge and bulky muscles.
Day-to-day activities like climbing stairs or household chores like digging in the garden or scrubbing the bathroom are also great muscle-strengthening activities for active recovery days.
As mentioned above, just because you are performing muscle-strengthening exercises doesn’t mean you will automatically gain both strength and size.
To trigger muscle growth, you need to use specific training variables. In general, here’s one of the most proven sets of variables to help you build muscle. Keep in mind that these variables are used with a weightlifting workout.
Number of exercises:
Number of sets per exercise:
Number of repetitions per set:
Amount of weight to use:
Rest breaks:
Lifting tempo (in seconds):
Tips:
To enjoy and enhance your health, choose the type of activity that best aligns with your fitness goals.
For example, if you want to focus on longevity and cardio health, you can select running, walking in the fresh air, yoga, or dancing.
Or, if your fitness goal is to increase your endurance and strength, consider weightlifting, sprints, and circuit training.
From here, you’ll want to match your current fitness level and availability to the recommended amount of exercise time and exercise intensity.
Here are some ideas to help you get started:
Total: 5 workouts per week:
Total: 3 workouts per week
Total: equivalent to 150 minutes of medium-intensity aerobic activity + 60 min of muscle-building training.
To give you an idea of how to breakdown your workouts over the week while abiding by the guidelines from WHO, here’s a sample workout program to get you started:
Monday: Moderate-intensity exercise
Strength training – Full body workout
Tuesday: High-intensity exercise
Kickboxing class for 30 minutes
Wednesday: Active recovery day
Thursday: Moderate-intensity exercise
Jogging for 30 minutes
Friday: High-intensity exercise
Saturday: Rest day
Sunday: Active recovery day
If your goal is to lose weight, The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends at least 300 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity.
That equals 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity.
Your efforts will pay off even more if you reduce your daily calorie intake. The number of calories needed for weight loss is determined individually. However, a caloric deficit or burning more calories than you consume is required. You can use weight loss apps to track your nutrients and calories and always know if you are in a deficit.
Here are some more specific recommendations for people aged 65 and older:
You can look forward to two types of benefits from exercise: immediate and long-term.
Among immediate benefits are improved quality of sleep, reduced anxiety, and normalized blood pressure. That’s what you get after a single moderate or vigorous activity, even if you have an irregular training schedule.
Long-term effects provide much more health benefits, reducing the risks of
Regular physical activity also improves balance and coordination through the development of the musculoskeletal system. It positively affects the elderly in particular, as well-developed balance and coordination reduce the risk of falls and various injuries. [3]
Moderate kinds of physical activity are safe for the majority of people. However, if you have a chronic illness or history of injuries or surgeries, consult your medical specialist about the types and amounts of exercise that they recommend. Examples of chronic conditions include heart disease, arthritis, and diabetes.
If you have a sedentary lifestyle, have a disability, or are overweight, discuss high-intensity physical activity with your doctor before attempting.
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility!