It was suggested last week that the 150 minutes of exercise recommended by the NHS and also the American College of Sports and Medicine (ACSM) are too difficult for people to stick to. I have a bit of an issue with this article, personally I don’t believe that 150 minutes per week is too much and here’s why. 

Firstly, lets talk about the recommendations. The current guidelines for physical activity, taken from the NHS website, are as follows:

To stay healthy, adults aged 19-64 should try to be active daily and should do:

• At least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity such as cycling or fast walking every week, and  
• muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms).  

OR

• 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity such as running or a game of singles tennis every week, and
• muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms). 

OR

• An equivalent mix of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity every week (for example 2 30-minute runs plus 30 minutes of fast walking), and
• muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms).  

YAWN

How much information overload is that?! No wonder people think it’s too much.

Lets break this down.

What is counted as exercise?

Physical activity and exercise are two separate things. The World Health Organisation defines activity as:

“any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure” 

i.e whatever gets you moving from A to B is physical activity. Whether that is a journey from the fridge to the sofa, or a 10 mile hike.

They define exercise as:

“…a subcategory of physical activity that is planned, structured, repetitive, and purposeful in the sense that the improvement or maintenance of one or more components of physical fitness is the objective.”

In other words, we go to the gym or do fitness classes to become stronger, faster, fitter, more flexible or to lose weight.

Therefore it’s not just your hour at the gym doing spin that counts towards your increased activity, it’s your walk to and from the gym. It’s your activity throughout the day before you get to the gym.

150 minutes too much?

150 minutes works out at two and a half hours, divide that by 7 and you end up with 35 minutes per day (approximately). Lets get out the calculator.

In an ideal world we would get 8 hours sleep each night. 24 – 8 = 16 hours in which to be active.

Time spent getting ready for work, eating breakfast etc, estimate 1 hour. 16 – 1 = 15 hours

Commute to work, estimate 1 hour. 15 – 1 = 14 hours

Lets generalise and say that people work an 8 hour day, so we can take away 7 hours of work time (an hour lunch break is enough time to squeeze in some activity). 14 – 7 = 7 hours

Communting from work, estimate 1 hour. 7 – 1 = 6 hours

Time spent cooking and eating evening meal, estimate 1 hour = 6 – 1 = 5 hours

Time spent relaxing in front of the tv or enjoying another sedentary activity, generous estimate of 2 hours. 5 – 2 = 3 hours

Time spent getting ready for work the next day, getting ready for bed etc, estimate 1 hour. 3 – 1 = 2 hours

Now, our days do not break down into simple mathematics like this, but for this fictional person they have two hours spare in the day. During that two hours they need to carve out 35 minutes in which to be physically active. Leaving a further 1 hour and 25 minutes for whatever they choose to be doing.

This activity doesn’t need to be done all at once either. Breaking down the exercise into 10 minute chunks will still give you the benefits of being active.

75 minutes vigorous exercise

Yes, vigorous exercise is an option, and the time spent doing that is significantly lower. Bonus right? Well, maybe not.  I teach several high intensity classes each week that would fall into this category, and they are definitely popular with all different kinds of people, both genders, all shapes and sizes and fitness levels. Classes such as Insanity and Spinning and excellent ways in which to boost the intensity and therefore reduce the duration spent in the gym. But these classes are not suitable for everyone.

If you are:

Pregnant or a nursing mother? This is not suitable for you

Suffer from diabetes or asthma? You need to check with your GP

A bone or joint condition could be made worse by this type of exercise

New to exercise or sedentary for a long time? It’s best to start off slow and save this till later

Do you have a heart condition? Then this intensity is not suitable.

Not to mention that a high intensity session should leave you dripping with sweat and in desperate need of a shower. If time is a problem for you this will add a further 30 minutes, at least, onto your activity.

Muscle strengthening activities

You have three options with muscle strength exercise, go to the gym, go to a class, or exercise at home. Our fictional person has 2 hours spare so there is time for all of these. If time is against you there are many body weight exercises that can be done at home, youtube is full of videos and ideas. Anyone who has been to a fitness class knows you can do a few squats, lunges, push ups and planks during the ad breaks when watching tv. Even everyday activities like going shopping can add resistance to your activity for the day.

I’d love to but I have no time…

Now, if you just don’t want to, that’s ok. There is no law saying that you MUST exercise every day, no-one is going to take you outside and shoot you for not wanting to go for a walk. If you genuinely feel that you don’t have time all it takes is a plan to get started. Being active is all about small steps, literally in fact, a 10 minute walk during your lunch break shaves 10 minutes off your total for the day. Small steps at a time add up to a big difference in the long run.

In conclusion

I strongly disagree with this article, it is not too demanding to find half an hour each day in which to be active. You can break this time down into smaller chunks to ensure that you get a bit of activity each day. It’s not hard to take the stairs instead of the lift, it’s not impossible to go for a walk round the block during your lunch hour or get off one bus stop earlier than usual. It’s not difficult to leave your car if your destination is only a ten minute drive away.

Articles like this were brilliant to me as an overweight teenager. This would have made me believe that my p.e teachers were wrong, that my doctors were wrong, that all that activity each week is pointless. The newspaper says it’s ok to do 20 minutes a week and I can manage that, I’ll do it tomorrow. No, I’ll start on Monday. Or next week once I’ve researched it more. Before you know it weeks have passed and a simple 35 minute walk each day has become an impossible task.

The truth is, if you start out and only manage 10 minutes a day it’s better than nothing and over time you can seek out opportunities to move a bit more, to add more time and increase your activity. Do not allow yourself to make excuses and certainly do not allow other people to make them for you.

If you can move, then do it.