You Don’t Have To Exercise For As Long As You Think

If you want to get in shape or improve your health or well-being, you probably know that exercise can help. But many people look at their schedule and think – “I don’t know how I could possibly fit exercise into my week…”

I get it. We’re all busy, and the thought of adding something to your miles-long to-do list probably feels overwhelming.

But there’s some good news. You don’t really have to exercise for as long as you think.

The Benefits Of Getting Any Amount Of Exercise

Exercise has A LOT of benefits. If you don’t know about all the many, many (so many!) benefits for your body and mind, I’ve written several articles on that topic, like this one:

The Many Benefits Of Exercise And How To Get Them

Here are the general guidelines for getting these benefits, from the American Heart Association and other health organizations:

Adults should do a minimum of 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity cardio exercise or 75 minutes per week of vigorous intensity cardio exercise, plus at least 2 days per week of strength training.

To optimize the benefits and get as fit and healthy as you possibly can, you’ll want to do even more than the guidelines suggest.

But not everyone wants or needs to optimize. If you’re an athlete, sure, you should structure your life around training as much as you can. But that’s not what a balanced, healthy lifestyle looks like for most people.

Even if you don’t quite meet those guidelines but you do some exercise regularly, there’s a good chance that you’ll increase your fitness, improve your overall health, decrease your risk of physical and mental diseases, and even live longer. You’ll also probably feel and function better throughout your day.

Those are very worthwhile benefits, and they’re within your reach.

What Happens If You Don’t Reach The Minimum Guidelines For The Benefits Of Exercise

Many studies have found that some exercise is better than none when it comes to a variety of health outcomes.

These studies usually categorize people based on how much physical activity they do (often based on questionnaires but sometime using more objective data like accelerometers), and then compare the categories to whatever outcome they’re studying.

In almost every study I’ve read (and I’m a nerd and read a lot of studies when I’m researching a blog post), there’s a “dose-response curve”.

When you go from no exercise to some exercise, there are health benefits. As you do more, the benefits increase. At some point they’ll plateau, and sometimes at the extreme end (think training for marathons, triathlons, or ultramarathons), the benefits drop off.

For example, one study that followed more than 400,000 people over 8 years found that just 90 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week was enough to significantly decrease the risk of death from various health conditions.

That’s a full hour a week less than the minimum recommended amount. People who did the entire 150 minutes or more each week had an even lower risk.

Here are some graphs I made based on the data from this study, as well as a couple of others:

You can see that there are benefits even with a little activity. It’s always good to move your body, and it’ll make you healthier no matter how much you do.

How To Make It Easier To Get “Enough” Exercise

If you do want to reach the minimum exercise guidelines, that’s easier than you might think as well.

Years ago, it was thought that you had to exercise in long continuous sessions to improve health and fitness.

150 minutes per week of moderate intensity cardio works out to about 30 minutes of brisk walking or slow jogging (or whatever kind of cardio you like), five days a week. Old guidelines said you had to do the full 30 minutes at a time.

Thirty minutes doesn’t seem like much, but many people struggle to fit that in with their other daily responsibilities. After all, it’s not really just 30 minutes. It’s the time it takes to change into your workout gear, drive to the gym, do your workout, drive home, shower and change again. It adds up.

What if I told you that you could split up your workouts into shorter ones and still get the benefits? In fact, that’s exactly what the current guidelines and the research says.

If you accumulate 30 minutes across the day, you’re good. You could do a few 10-minute walks or jogs, and you could add a few minutes here and there by taking the stairs, parking farther away, walking to a coworker’s desk instead of sending an email…

For more ideas, check out my article on How To Sneak More Movement Into Your Day

You’ll get the same benefits as if you did one continuous workout. And it will be much easier to fit it into your day.

For even more tips on splitting up your workouts to make them more achievable, check out my article on Time Saving Tips For Exercise.

The Research On Short Exercise Bouts

Sometimes when I tell people about the benefits of very short bursts of exercise, which I like to call “exercise snacks”, they don’t believe me. It seems too small and simple to make a difference.

Here’s some evidence to back me up:

A review study from 2019 looked at the results of 27 individual studies comparing short and longer bouts of cardio.

There was evidence that exercise bouts of less than 10 minutes improved a variety of health markers, including:

• Lower blood pressure

• Lower total cholesterol

• Lower LDL (“bad cholesterol”)

• Higher HDL (“good cholesterol”)

• Lower triglycerides

• Better blood glucose and insulin control

• Lower odds of having metabolic syndrome

• Lower risk of dying prematurely

There’s also evidence that very short bouts of movement, just two minutes at a time, has a positive effect on metabolism.

It’s clear that even very short bursts of physical activity can change the way your body functions. With consistency and time, those small changes add up, improving your health and well-being.

How Long Do You Need To Exercise For?

I do think everyone should strive to meet or exceed the recommendations for exercise, because it’s so profoundly good for you. But I recognize that that’s not necessarily realistic or achievable.

If finding the time to exercise is an obstacle for you, I encourage you to simply do what you can on a regular basis. It’s not about how long you work out for, the key is consistency over time. As you feel a difference, you might find that your exercise habits grow.  

If You Need Help

Here are a couple of FREE resources to help you get started on your fitness journey:

My Goal-Setting eBook, which walks you through the process of setting effective goals and creating action plans to achieve them.

My Strength Training 101 eBook, which will teach you how to set up your strength training program and progress your workouts to get results.

For personalized help, I offer in-person and virtual personal training programs to give you the expertly designed workouts and accountability you need to achieve your goals. It starts with a free consultation.