05/09/22

#129 Aerobic exercise - how much?

This week we answer your questions about exercise.

Especially exercise for weight loss.

How much aerobic exercise or cardio should you be doing?

This is separate from the strength training that we talked about last week.

I know that many of you are really confused about this.

Firstly my advice is to exercise for health, wellness, longevity and quality of life NOT weight loss.

You simply cannot exercise off poor food choices. It just doesn't work especially for women as we age.

Control your weight with your food choices not by punishing yourself with exercise.

The world health organisation guidelines for adults per week to protect against heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers are:

at least 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity;
or at least 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity; or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity throughout the week
should also do muscle-strengthening activities at moderate or greater intensity that involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week, as these provide additional health benefits.

That translates to 30-60 mins of walking, biking, swimming, rowing, jogging etc 5 days a week plus a minimum of 2 strength training sessions.

This may sound overwhelming to some of you but just start with a daily 10 min walk. Preferably in the morning and outside in nature if possible. Make it a habit like brushing your teeth you will be amazed at both the mental and physical benefits of this. Then you can slowly build up from here in little bite sized chunks.

More is not always better! I am over 7kg lighter now than when I was running marathons! I now run 5-10km once a week.

I am not condemning longer endurance exercise (I loved it- when I wasn't injured) but for me it increased my stress hormone levels and did not control my weight- the average fat loss for running a marathon is 350g!

The sweet spot for most of us is 30-60 mins slow steady state cardio. Enough to get your heart rate up but not so that you are puffed out - 5 - 6 days a week, plus 2-4 strength training sessions and 3 short sharp high intensity interval sessions (I do intervals on a spin bike for 10 mins max).

Too much high-intensity interval work is not great for those of us approaching menopause or post menopause, again from experience it can cause more injuries and slow fat loss down by increasing stress hormone levels.

Members and 12-week course members there is a workshop on 24TH MAY at 1.30 pm where I will go through all of this with you and answer your questions live.

Non-members can attend by claiming your 2-week free membership by clicking the Link below:

https://www.outlookforlife.com/offers/FRjC7gZW