How much exercise is enough?

If we asked you how much exercise is enough, would you know? Would we even want to know? Most people give a rough guess at the government recommendations for adults, which is 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all days.

If we don’t know how much exercise is enough, then the government guidelines are a great place to start. We know a lot of people are saying “but I don’t have 30 minutes”. This is because 30 minutes is seen as a lot of time when put together, but if we break it down, we can see that this goal is very easy to achieve. Whether it is walking up the stairs at work, parking your car a little bit further away, walking the kids to school, riding to work, or when catching up with friends go for a walk with them, rather than sitting down. Your body will love you for it.

Is doing something better than nothing?

When we are doing any form of exercise, at any intensity of course it is better than sitting around doing nothing. A lot of people also see the 30 minutes as “if I can’t do that much today, why bother, I’ll start again tomorrow”. This is a bad approach, try to see the 30 minutes as a target, and if we can achieve this GOAL today, why not try and improve this goal tomorrow to 35 minutes?

If we can’t achieve 30 minutes, don’t worry, in trying to do at least one form of exercise per day, we are now getting one step closer to our goals than we were the day before. This step may be the smallest step, like taking the stairs, but remember it’s still one more step closer to your goals than you were the day before.

How much exercise is enough, to improve and maintain your fitness levels? The answer is at least 30 minutes per day with a well-balanced eating regime. If we cannot achieve this, don’t stress. Doing something is still better than doing nothing. Try to look at our day, what we did; if we have time for Facebook, Twitter or a coffee with a friend, then we have time to exercise. Grab that friend and go explore, our body will thank us.

Cheers, Xenus Fitness