ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

How fit do I really need to be?

Updated on January 19, 2018
Source

We know that exercise is good for our health, but how much exercise do we need to make a real difference? Is it necessary to spend four nights a week humping weights in the gym or will a daily 10-minute walk to the shops do the job? Your Body Weight has all the information you need to know - read it before you invest in a new pair of trainers.

Almost any exercise will make a difference

Exercising moderately for at least 30 minutes a day for five days a week is enough to provide major health benefits, according to the US Centers for Disease Control, the American College of Sports Medicine and The UK Health Education Authority. And the 30 minutes of exercise needn't be in one session - it can be accumulated throughout the day in chunks of at least 10 minutes.

'Moderate' exercise includes walking fast or briskly, swimming, table tennis, golf, dancing, heavy DIY (e.g. mixing cement), digging the garden and heavy housework - in fact, virtually anything that raises the heartbeat and leaves you feeling slightly warm and out-of-breath.

If you do nothing else, get walking. Fast walking helps with the metabolic risk factors for heart disease, reduces the risk of developing diabetes and helps people avoid weight gain. A study of male postal workers, people who spend a lot of time walking, found that their risk of dying from any cause between the ages of 20 and 74 is about one-third less than the average for all men.

Step it up

Moderate exercise is healthier than no exercise but regular vigorous exercise is better still. In fact, anybody who wants to get fitter should be aiming for two or three continuous and vigorous 20-30 minute aerobic workouts each week. This level of exercise - which includes squash, running, football, fast cycling, tennis and aerobics - provides the optimum health benefits. It should, ideally, be accompanied by additional strength and stretching exercises.

A long-term study of over 17,300 men in the USA has found that the more energy a man expends each week in vigorous physical aerobic activity, the less likely he is to die prematurely from any cause. The risk of death is one quarter lower among men who burn off 1500 or more calories a week in vigorous exercise compared to those using fewer than 150 calories.

But don't overdo it

The more exercise you do, the healthier you become - up to a point. While 35-45 minutes of moderate exercise tends to boost immunity, three hours of exertion reduces immune system effectiveness for at least 6-9 hours after the workout. If you run 60 or more miles a week, moreover, your risk of illness is about double that of someone running fewer than 20 miles.

And finally

.... Only one-third of adult men are moderately active on a regular basis and just one in ten are vigorously active. Since an inactive lifestyle is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, colon cancer, osteoporosis, anxiety, depression, memory loss and low self-esteem, too many of us are missing out on a cheap and reliable health benefit which, if it were a drug, would almost certainly be in far greater demand than Viagra.

Fortunately, however, it's never too late to start. A study of almost 10,000 men aged 20-82 found that those who were judged unfit at two medical examinations about five years apart had the highest death rate and men who were physically fit at both examinations had the lowest. But what's particularly significant is that men who changed from being unfit to fit between the two examinations reduced their risk of dying by 44% compared to those men who remained unfit.

Are you exercising hard enough?

To be sure of good health benefits from your aerobic exercise, you need to be working at the right level. Some fitness experts recommend exercise at different levels of heart rate; others prefer an easier-to-use method based on a simple scale of how hard the exercise feels. A scale of 0-10 is widely used:

How Hard Does it Feel?
Level
Nothing At All
0
Very Very Light
0.5
Very Light
1
Light
2
Moderate
3
Somewhat Heavy
4
Heavy
5-6
Very Heavy
7-9
Very Very Heavy
10

If you are new to exercise, you should start with moderate-intensity exercise at level 3. As you become fitter, steadily increase your effort until you're working out vigorously at levels 6-8.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)