When you want to get into good physical shape, it makes sense to want to exercise a lot. However, depending on who you listen to, you might think you exercise too much or not enough. Go to one expert and you will find a totally different answer to the next. This is because exercise and how much we need on a daily basis is often a personal matter – it’s all dependent on the kind of life that you need.
Naturally, someone who works as a joiner is going to need less exercise per day than an IT operative. Sitting down at a desk all day means that you often need to make up that physical shortfall somewhere else in the day. Just how much exercise do we really need, though? Is there any kind of universal or general plan that you can stick to?
Let’s take a look. Since exercising is obviously an important part of our lives, you probably want to get the minimum done at the very least. If you are like many people and find working that minimum out quite tough, though, we’ll try and break it down for you below.
Getting yourself into good physical condition
First off, you need to know how much physical exercise that you need. For many people, this means going for more aerobic-based exercises. If you are not too fussed about maintaining major physical strength, then you can probably write off some of the strength training rules out there. We still recommend that you try and fit as much strength training in as you can, though.
However, for a start, you should probably want to take more part in aerobic-based fitness activities. These are very much the cornerstone of good physical health and will help with everything from stamina to weight loss.
On average, an adult wants to be getting around 150-minutes of moderate aerobic exercise in a single week, meaning 30-minutes per day from Monday to Friday. If you find it hard to do that, then you could go for the alternative – half the amount of time, double the intensity. It means less breaks and more demands on the body, though. Keep that in mind, as it might be too much of a physical toll on your body at this moment in time. You might wish to start off with the more moderately minded exercise instead.
You should try and spread it out across the whole week, too. Trying to fit in two and a half hours of exercise into one day and then doing nothing for the next day days is not a good idea at all. Instead, it would be well within your benefits to start working out a bit more even if it’s just for a small portion of the afternoon or evening.
Every little helps when it comes to aerobic activity and will definitely play a role in improving your quality of life as time goes on.
What about strength training?
As mentioned above, strength training is often a distant second to aerobic exercises. In the health stakes, though, you would be unwise to rule out the importance of going for some strength training on a regular basis. When used in the right manner, such exercises are more likely to push the body in the right direction and thus force you to put in more physical effort.
If you are looking to become stronger and more physically able, then you should look to try and fit in strength training two days per week. If space is an issue for you, then you can easily go to the gym and try some of the exercises below from Gymequipmentgb.co.uk – you could also make use of the in house personal trainers that most gyms have.
Your aim should be work on all of the major parts of the body during your strength workouts. This means that you should be looking to work the majority of your muscle groups, so try and find strength exercises that are going to really challenge the body in more than one area.
You should keep going until you start to really feel the burn after 10-15 reps. If you are finding that you cannot reach this number, then lower down your weight volume. By the same token, though, if you can get in excess of 15 reps without having to really break a sweat, then you can probably move it up a bit more in terms of the weight.
All of this is very useful for making sure that you can begin to see meaningful gains in a short space of time. Just remember that two days per week is enough for moderate exercise: unless you want to get much stronger, that will keep your body fit.
What else can I do to stay fit?
Remember that your exercise per day is going to be relative to what you do. If you spend much of your working day hauling around bricks and other heavy instruments, then you might not need so much strength training. Try to consider where you need to work on, though, relative to your fitness needs. Say you are doing manual labour, but you find it hard to lift anything too heavy – you probably need some new and improved strength training.
But say you cannot make it to the top of a flight of stairs without being out of breath. You probably need to work on your conditioning and stamina as much as anything else. Many of us make the same mistake, so you should look to try and do a balanced workout. But if you feel that you are really feeling at something in your work due to physical limitations, put more importance on one over the other.
For those who are not working out much due to a sedentary job, though, you should definitely look to try and fit in the exercise levels suggested above. That can really lead to improved physical conditioning and greater long-term benefits.
