Physical Activity. How Much Do We Really Need?
Recent studies have shown that great benefits can be achieved with 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week. That’s just 21 minutes each day of the week, or 50 minutes of activity 3 times a week. Alternately, 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week. Again, that’s just 10 minutes a day each day of the week or 25 minutes 3 times a week.
Examples of moderate aerobic exercises are:
- Dancing
- Biking slower than 10 miles-16km an hour
- Walking faster than 3 mph-5 km per hour
Indications that you’re exercising moderately will be that it’s lightly challenging, you breathe fast but not out of breath. After about 10 minutes you’ll start to sweat just a bit and if with someone else, you can still talk to that person, but not intensely.
Examples of vigorous exercising include
- Biking faster than 10 mph-16 km/h
- Swimming laps
- Jogging or running
- Hiking uphill
Indications that you are exercising vigorously will be that you’re being challenged physically. You’ll start breathing rapidly and deeply. You’ll start to sweat just a few minutes after you start and you can’t say a few words without catching your breath.
We Must Not Neglect Our Muscles During The Week
If we don’t place an appropriate amount of stress on our muscles, on a regular basis, our strength will decline and our muscle tissue will disappear. No doubt you’ve heard the expression “use it or lose it” and that does indeed apply to our muscles no matter what age you are. You start to lose muscle strength at 30, even more so after 40, and after 50 it really accelerates.
A solid muscle strengthening fitness plan is a must for those of us over 40 years old and yes even at 50 and 60+ years old but not with the same intensity.
You should give 2 days a week to muscle strengthening activities that target all the major muscle groups:
- Chest
- Back
- Hips
- Legs
- Stomach
- Arms
- Shoulders
Each muscle group should be stressed 8 to 12 times per workout session.
Part 3 is soon to come. I truly hope you found part 2 informative and motivates you to become active.
