Recently an article was online about the differing recommendations science has put out for physical activity. Some say 20 minutes/day, some day 60 minutes/day (just to maintain)--that's a HUGE difference! What's a girl to do? I for one believe we must challenge our bodies. We should push ourselves to do more and to grow. It's not an easy proposition, but I believe stagnation does you no favors. My experience is when I have a goal I'm working towards (physically) I notice changes in my body and fitness level. When I'm not working on a specific goal, but simply to maintain, over time I notice a decrease in my fitness level. That said, not everyone should go out and sign up for a marathon, much of the key to my personal success has been finding something I love to do. For me, that's running, pilates, yoga & swimming. For you maybe it's golf, tennis, spinning, cardio-interval aerobics... Find something you love, make a note of your current abilities and set out to increase your abilities/stamina/resistance/ whatever and you'll see the results you want, I guarantee it!
By Madison Park, CNN
March 30, 2010 8:36 a.m. EDT
Recent
exercise findings have confused some people on whether they need to
work out harder for a shorter amount of time or moderately for a longer
period of time.
(CNN)
-- The headlines sounded promising -- 20 minutes of interval exercise
can provide the same benefits as many hours of conventional workouts.
But soon after came another study, this one suggesting that women
should work out an hour every day just to maintain their weight.
"It
does get confusing," Janice Bissex, mother of two and regular
exerciser, said after the studies were released in the past two weeks.
The
contradictory information can be disconcerting, said Stephen Ball,
associate professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the
University of Missouri. "It makes it look bad -- like physical activity scientists, we're changing what we're saying all the time. We're really not."
Exercise
experts say the most important message is to be active, regardless of
the latest studies. How much one should exercise depends on personal
fitness goals, they said.
But experts recommend that an average person stick to existing public health guidelines,
which recommend that children and teenagers exercise one hour every day
and adults get a weekly minimum of two hours and 30 minutes of moderate
intensity physical activity (such as brisk walking, dancing, gardening)
or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous activity (jogging, aerobic
dancing and jumping rope).
The key to exercise is that "some is better than none. More is better than some. Too much is difficult to get," Ball said.
The
two seemingly conflicting studies (20 minutes versus an hour of
exercise) examined different populations: young men versus middle-aged
women.
A study published in the March edition of the Journal of
Physiology found that short periods of high-interval training was just
as effective as long durations of endurance training, based on the
results from seven young, healthy men.
Some is better than none. More is better than some. Too much is difficult to get.
--Stephen Ball, associate professor about how much to exercise
Researchers from McMaster University in
Ontario, Canada, had the seven subjects pedal for one minute on a
stationary bike at the highest intensity they could muster.
This
one-minute burst was followed by about a minute of rest, another minute
of intense exercise, and so on, until participants reached 20 minutes
total -- 10 exercising, 10 resting.
Working out harder for less time effective
The
study suggested that quick, high-interval training "may represent an
alternative to endurance training to improve metabolic health and
reduce the risk for chronic diseases."
But, interval training isn't easy. It cuts down on time, but many people find the intense bursts of vigorous exercise difficult.
"It's uncomfortable exercise. It's high intensity, so it hurts," said Martin Gibala, lead author of the study.
While
interval training might be attractive for athletes or time-crunched,
twentysomethings who already work out, it may be daunting for others.
"It's
tough to get people [in their 50s] to do moderate exercises," Ball
said. "For intense exercises, it hurts. People don't like to do it."
Gibala,
chair of the kinesiology department at McMaster, said the results of
his research are not intended to replace existing guidelines.
"We're
certainly not suggesting this is the optimal approach to fitness," he
said. "Public health guidelines are based on very good science, so the
recommendations are very sound. But we also know the number one barrier
for exercise is the lack of time. It's incumbent on scientists to look
at other potential ways that we can get many of the same benefits in a
time-efficient manner."
Another research getting attention was a
March article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that
found that women who exercised an hour every day were better able to
stave off weight gain.
Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School studied 34,000 women, with the average age of 54.
Over
a 13-year period, the women gained an average of 5.7 pounds. The women
who successfully maintained their weight (13 percent) exercised an hour
a day at moderate intensity.
Hearing that left some women feeling discouraged.
"To
say that most women need an hour a day, it puts it into the category of
an unattainable goal," said Bissex, a working mother and a dietitian in
Melrose, Massachusetts. "That's frustrating. Getting that hour of
exercise, while being a successful career woman, while taking care of
kids, a partner or spouse, and parents, we're going to all end up
getting two hours of sleep."
That reaction is fairly common.
"When
I see studies that say one hour of exercise a day, people freak out and
say, 'I don't have that kind of time,' " Pete McCall, an exercise
physiologist at the American Council on Exercise.
"We can argue
about vigorous, moderate intensity and time. The fact is if you don't
do anything, you're going to significantly increase risks for disease
and other things that can take years off your life."
How much should a person exercise?
When looking for basic guidelines, exercise specialists recommend the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans,
issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A committee
of doctors and scientists reviewed the scientific literature to develop
the recommendations.
The amount of time a person should
exercise depends on his or her fitness goals, whether it's for weight
loss, health maintenance or performance training. And that person also
needs to fit diet and nutrition into the equation.
"If
you take in lots of calories, it doesn't matter how much you exercise,"
Ball said. "It takes a lot of exercise if you don't watch what you eat."
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