There are many different prescriptions for the optimal amount of exercise we need. We hear things such as 20 minutes walking a day, 40 minutes of cardiovascular activity daily or resistance train 4 times a week. The annoying answer to this is actually...It Depends.
Not only are we incredibly different from a genetic standpoint, but our lifestyle habits and work expectations create a demand that only allows us to do so much. Our goals also have great variety and mean different things to each of us.
A few examples of this are...
Mrs Jones is a 70 year old woman whose main priority is damage limitation and being able to continue to move pain free- Sustainability is the aim of the game here and would benefit from training 2x a week. More would be great and do her the world of good, but 2x a week is a safe number for her.
James is a 28 year old city boy who wants to get as shredded as possible so he can look great on his beach holiday. He has no serious family commitments, single and works from 9-6pm Monday to Friday. James will most likely be very motivated and the way he looks and feels will be at the very top of his priority list. He does not have to worry about kids and can focus exclusively on himself. James would do very well training 5/6x a week for short bursts of time, or as long as he could keep consistent.
Ben is a 46 year old entrepreneur with several businesses, a family with 3 kids, travels for business every week and has a few hundred employees to look after. His stress levels are exceptionally high. Ben wants to lose weight and get a little bit leaner. Although Ben is the boss and can create his own schedule, he has a great deal of responsibility that doesn't allow him to sleep deeply at night. Although is he has a great sense of humour he carries a lot of extra stress internally. Training 3x a week is a good number that will not put too much stress onto his body and do him more harm than good. Anything more that that would probably cause more damage.
Sarah is a new mother of two and wants to lose her tummy and pregnancy weight. Her sleep is pretty bad, averaging 4 hours of sleep a night for what seems like forever. She is not working, but her stress levels remain very high with the new responsibilities she has. Sarah could easily do 4/5x a week when she is feeling motivated, but 2-3x a week would be a better number for her over the long haul as she will be more likely to stick to it. Someone like Sarah would typically stop and start plans all the time. Zero sugar diets etc. The key for her is to stick to a sustainable number of sessions over a longer period. This would allow her body to adapt to her new lifestyle change.
Piers is 45 and founded a very successful venture capitalist firm. He is in very high demand and travels all over the world each week. He has to deal with 1500 emails a day and gets pitched to at least 10 times a week. Very wealthy, but time poor. The key for Piers is to get small doses of exercise where possible. I would even say that 20 minutes of medium- high intensity exercise in the morning each day would be best.
Jane is a 34 year old and has just left her job to start her own thing. Her goals are to lose a little bit of weight so she can keep a clear head and feel better about herself. Jane will have a lot of free time that she doesn't know what to do with. This can lead to feelings of guilt and as if she is procrastinating. A steady routine of 3-5x a week will give her structure as well as the benefit of weight loss and better clarity.
For people serious about fat loss Precision Nutrition recommends a minimum of 5-9 hours of exercise a week. This is totally doable as long as it is enough of a priority in your life to focus on. For those that want to get into slightly better shape, then 3-5 hours a week. At a bare minimum I would say try and hit 3 hours week. Vary the intensity depending on how you feel. Obviously try to push yourself but if you are not feeling great, then turn up and do the best the best you can with the energy you have.
Yours In health
Patrick Fallis