Get More Exercise
“Get More Exercise”
Has this phrase ever been a self-adopted goal for the year…part of a new year’s resolution, perhaps?
Maybe you have witnessed someone’s health journey and as part of this transformation, inevitably, one of their secrets was … yup, getting more exercise.
Or sometimes, it comes in the form of a gentle verbal nudge from your doctor during a routine physical or follow-up health visit when discussing blood pressure, excess weight, stress, or blood sugar levels. It’s true: one of the ways to help manage any one of those listed medical conditions is to, “get more exercise”.
A well-intentioned phrase, but also - super vague.
Getting more exercise, quite practically, is doing anything more than what you have been doing up until the present. However, did you know that there are intensity and duration thresholds that scientific studies have shown lead to the health benefits of improving blood pressure and blood sugars? That is the threshold that physicians are referring to when we recommend getting more exercise. But how can we expect people to meet the requirements if we are not explicit in describing what those exercise targets are?
So, this is my intent with this post: help educate as to what the exercise targets are for health benefits.
Before diving into some numbers, I think it is helpful to first review some definitions. Do you know the difference between physical activity and exercise? Many of us may use these two words interchangeably, but there is a difference between the two.
Physical activity refers to any activity, whether planned or not, that involves movement of the body beyond rest.
Exercise is intentional and planned movement of different muscle groups with the purpose of improving health and fitness. There are different types of exercise, such as:
Aerobic exercise
--Types of exercise using repeated and continuous movement of large muscle groups that rely primarily on oxygen, glucose (sugar), and lipids for energy
--Examples: walking, cycling, jogging, and swimming
--Physiology lesson: aerobic exercise can increase blood sugar uptake into the muscle by 50-fold without insulin’s help! This increases insulin sensitivity.
Anaerobic exercise
--Relies on glycogen (your body’s stored sugar) breaking down into fuel without the help of oxygen (hence the name, anaerobic). This type of energy production during anaerobic exercise occurs to power the working muscles when the blood is unable to provide them with oxygen quickly enough. Typically, this type of exercise is more intense, but shorter in duration, than aerobic exercise.
--Examples: sprinting (full out fast short interval run), strength training (using free weights, weight machines, bodyweight, or elastic bands).
Other types of exercise include flexibility (such as stretching, pilates, yoga) and focused balance exercises (yoga is once again, an example).
OK, now with an understanding of definitions – what are the time and intensity recommendations for the types of exercise? Here in the United States, the American College of Sports Medicine publishes guidelines that addresses this question.
Aerobic Exercise
According to the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, the recommendation for aerobic activity is as follows:
· Adults between the ages of 18 and 65 years old should do at least
o 150 - 300 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week
-OR-
o 75 – 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week
· Going above 300 minutes of moderate physical activity per week can provide additional health benefits.
· The time can be broken up into shorter segments one day and a longer continuous segment on the other.
OK, now we have a time target! But you likely noticed the words, ‘moderate’ and ‘vigorous’ embedded in the recommendation. This refers to the intensity of the exercise. So how do we determine the intensity?
First, calculate your maximum heart rate (MHR). MHR = 220 – Age. So, for a 46-year-old, the maximum heart rate is 220 - 46 or 174 beats per minute (bpm).
Next, the intensity of physical activity can be determined by a percentage of this MHR, as listed below. Let’s use the same 46-year-old person I used in the above example.
· Light activity: <64% of MHR (or <111 bpm)
· Moderate activity: 64-76% of MHR (or 111-132 bpm)
· Vigorous activity: >76% of MHR (or >132 bpm)
Strength Training Exercise
According to the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, the recommendation for strength training activity is as follows:
· Adults between the ages of 18 to 65 years old should do strength training two to three times per week
· They recommend doing it on non-consecutive days to reduce any risk of injury to muscles, however, if doing two consecutive days, then it is best to focus on one muscle group one day and then a different muscle group the following day. So for example, back and shoulders one day and then legs and glutes the following day.
· Aim to do one set of 8 to 12 repetitions for each major muscle group, like the quadriceps, hamstrings, abdominal muscles, shoulders, and back muscles
Flexibility Exercises
Yes, make sure you also put time in to stretch it out! According to the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, the recommendation for flexibility exercises is as follows:
· 10 minutes two to three times per week, also focusing on targeting all the major muscle groups listed above in the strength-training section
Switching It Up
An important point I would like to highlight is the importance of engaging in different types of exercise when trying to optimize metabolic benefit. What do I mean by that?
Doing different types of exercises increases energy expenditure - which is an important component of our metabolism. By switching up the exercises you choose, you keep the body ‘alert’ – meaning it can’t go into autopilot and predict the exercise you are going to do since you are consistently choosing different activities that require the use of different muscle groups.
If you engage in just one activity over, and over, and over again, your body will get really good at knowing what to expect from that exercise and you know what happens? It starts burning less calories for that same activity, even though you are still working at the same intensity and same length at time. The body adapts to this predictable exercise and conserves energy. From a metabolic perspective, that’s not what we are trying to achieve.
We want the body to maximally expend energy when we exercise, safely of course, and the best way to do so is by adding variety to the exercises you do. One day you might go for a game of racquetball. The next time you may get on a spin bike. The next time you may focus on resistance training of the lower body. The following day you may do 30 minutes of a yoga-flow, and so forth. Variety is good for the body and truthfully, will also likely keep you more engaged and less likely to get bored with exercise.
Bringing it All Together
So, if you are looking for a way to improve health that doesn’t involve filling another prescription – intentionally fitting different types of exercise into your health habits is key to improving your health. This intention has to go beyond fulfilling a new year’s resolution.
Unfortunately, the statistics on seeing new year’s resolutions through past the first couple months are pretty dismal. Instead, engaging in exercise should be enthusiastically approached as the critical health habit that it ought to be – and for this, time of year is a moot point. '
Alright! Now you are equipped with important information related to exercise – types, intensity, and time targets. Pick out activities that interest you, lace up some sneakers, and work toward the goals listed here- you’ve got this!
Looking for some programs to help get you started? Here are some helpful sites to check out:
http://www.physicalactivityplan.org
https://sparkamerica.com/spark-cities/
Important note: If you have not been participating in regular exercise and have known cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or kidney disease, please speak with your doctor to discuss appropriate medical clearance prior to engaging in exercise.
References:
https://health.gov/paguidelines/second-edition/report/
