Do you relax after work and cram all your exercise into the weekends? That makes you a textbook weekend warrior – someone who does longer workouts less often.
We all know we should be doing at least a couple of hours of exercise a week, but until now there’s been little insight into how these workouts should be split up.
Now a huge study from scientists at the University of Sydney, which followed 63,000 adults in England and Scotland, has found that less frequent exercise could still reduce the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Researchers found that doing just one or two sessions of moderate to vigorous exercise per week could even lower the risk of these diseases in the obese and those with underlying health problems.
In fact, the study found death rates from all causes were lowered in both men and women who did just a couple of workouts.
Guidelines from the government say adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity (such as cycling or fast walking) or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise (such as running or a tennis game) per week. They should also do strength exercises “that work all the major muscles” at least two days a week, like yoga, digging in the garden or weight lifting.
I just ordered a Fitbit and my bank called to see if my card was stolen.
— JAY [ham] KAY (@NurseMurderer) August 12, 2015
But don’t worry if you’re not quite hitting that target. The paper’s senior author, Associate Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, says the benefits can still be felt “among people who do some activity but don’t quite meet the recommended exercise levels”.Unsurprisingly, the study also confirmed what most of know to be true – risk of death was 30% lower in active adults compared to those who were inactive. The paper was published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine and can be read here.
