Monday, August 13, 2007

Exercise Guidelines

Updated Physical Activity Guidelines Released 8/13/2007

The American College of Sports Medicine and Medicine (ACSM) and the American Heart Association (AHA) have updated their 1995 Exercise guidelines for healthy adults and older adults. You can find the guidelines and additional information at http://www.acsm.org.

The ACSM and AHA basic recommendations for healthy adults under age 65 are:

Do moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days a week
OR
Do vigorously intense cardio 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week
AND
Do eight to 10 strength-training Exercises, eight to 12 repetitions of each Exercise twice a week.

Moderately intense physical activity is defined as “working hard enough to raise your heart rate and break a sweat.”  The ACSM and AHA also offer tips like splitting the 30 minute activity into three, 10-minute bouts if that is easier for your schedule and mixing up high intensity workouts on some days with moderate intensity workouts on other days to meet the goal.  Longer workouts may be necessary for weight loss.