One of the most common questions that exercisers ask is: “How long should I work out every day?” The answer to this question depends on your goals and current health status. While following minimum guidelines for physical activity can help maintain health and combat the negative impacts of a sedentary life, losing weight and getting fit takes more effort. In addition, an individual's current level of fitness will also determine how much they should work out each day.
When people wonder how long they should be exercising they may hope the answer is less versus more. In fact, the recent health and fitness trend is to do shorter workouts for weight loss. But this fad might not always be effective for everyone—whether you're trying to lose weight or improve your level of fitness.
The best method to determine how long you should work out shouldn't be based on fitness trends. Of course, you can (and should) still include short workouts on rotation in your schedule. But it would be best to incorporate longer cardiovascular workouts to lose weight and stay healthy.
According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), you should exercise for 150 to 250 minutes per week to lose weight. The organization also suggests that more exercise provides better results.
If you want to keep the weight off for good, ACSM prescribes a minimum of 250 minutes of moderate- to high-intensity exercise per week.
To meet the ACSM guideline, you could simply work out for 40 minutes a day. But that exercise schedule could get boring, which may cause you to quit your program. In addition, to lose weight effectively you need to exercise at varying intensity levels. This requires that you adjust your workout duration to accommodate various workloads. It's also helpful to keep track of your daily calorie needs for weight loss. This calculator can provide you with an estimate.
Muscle mass decreases with age, which enhances the importance of routine resistance training. Strength training builds stronger muscles and bones to support the joints and prevent fractures and can be beneficial for managing arthritis.
In addition to cultivating a regular strength training regimen, it's important to make sure that you're still incorporating enough cardiovascular activity to maintain or improve your current level of aerobic fitness.
Switching up your workout routines and workout lengths can help stave off boredom and help you stay motivated. But be sure to carve out time for rest and recovery to avoid injury or burnout.
A 2016 review and meta-analysis published in Sports Medicine suggests that strength training at least two days a week can effectively build and strengthen muscle. Some experts recommend three days or more.
The American Heart Association (AHA) has physical activity recommendations for basic health maintenance for adults and children in the United States. Here's a close look at some of AHA's advice.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that only around 22.9% of U.S. adults aged 18–64 meet the minimum guidelines for physical activity each week.
To reap the health benefits of regular exercise, AHA suggests that adults gradually increase the amount and intensity of exercise to reach a goal of 300 minutes (5 hours) of physical activity per week. Not only can they boost your exercise motivation, a wearable budget fitness tracker helps you keep track on key fitness data from steps to sleep cycles.
To incorporate more heart-pumping physical activity into your daily life, AHA recommends being less sedentary whenever possible. Even light activity such as getting up and going for a short walk or performing gentle stretching can help offset the risks associated with too much sitting, according to AHA. In addition, AHA suggests the following activities:
Moderate-Intensity Exercise
Vigorous-Intensity Exercise
While getting enough exercise is crucial for maintaining and improving health, staying hydrated and getting proper nutrition is just as important. For advice on following a healthy, balanced diet, refer to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
How long you should exercise every day depends on your workouts and personal health and fitness goals. If you are healthy enough for vigorous exercise, your workout program should include challenging, high-intensity days (20 to 30 minutes), less-intense exercise days for active recovery (30 to 45 minutes), and moderate days when you build endurance, improve heart health, and burn fat (45 to 90 minutes). Each of these workout goals requires a different exercise duration. In general, you'll want to incorporate a mix of the following each week.
High-intensity intervals (HIIT) workouts need to be short. Why? Because your body simply can’t work very hard for a long period of time. If you find that you can complete high-intensity drills, such as throwing punches and kicks at a punching bag, for an hour or longer, you’re probably not working hard enough.
HIIT workouts should last 20–30 minutes and feel extremely challenging. Keep in mind, however, that you burn more calories from EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), also known as “the afterburn,” if you structure high-intensity workouts properly.
Measure workout intensity with a heart rate monitor and make sure you reach your target heart rate for the session. If you are well-rested going into the workout, you'll find it easier to work hard enough to reach that goal.
We've tried, tested, and reviewed the best heart rate monitors. If you're in the market for a heart rate monitor, explore which option may be best for you.
The purpose of an easy day workout is to allow your body and your mind to rest. Of course, you could sit on the couch to recover as well. But an active recovery helps to increase your body’s range of motion, decreases your stress level, and increases your daily caloric burn.
Active recovery is simply a low-intensity movement that increases the range of motion in your joints. For many people, an easy walk, hike, leisurely swim, or slow ride on a recumbent bike is a solid active recovery exercise. Some yoga classes (restorative yoga, for example) are another smart option. An easy active recovery workout can last 30–45 minutes.
Most of your workouts during the week will fall into the moderate category. These workouts burn more calories than a recovery day but allow your body to recover and prepare for high-intensity workout days.
However, because your body isn't working as hard on moderate workout days, you need to exercise for a longer period to burn enough calories to lose weight. Aim for these sessions to last 45 minutes or longer.
If possible, schedule one long workout, 75 minutes or more, during the week. This longer session challenges you mentally and builds cardiovascular endurance.
If it seems overwhelming to try to schedule all of these workouts into your weekly routine, start by choosing one or two days per week for your more challenging activities. Then schedule the day after each challenging day as an easy day. Finally, fill in the rest of the days with moderate sessions, and be sure to include a rest and recovery day as well.
You can design a plan on your own or use a sample workout schedule to help create your exercise plan. You might also benefit from working with a personal trainer. Developing a personalized plan you can stick to for the long term can help you reach your goals. Downloading a fitness app can also make it easier to achieve your fitness goals.
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