How Much Exercise is Enough?

Before you can answer the question, "how much exercise is enough?" you have to first answer another question: enough for what?

For improving your heart health?
Or for losing weight?

The answer is going to be different depending on which one you're talking about.

See, health professionals know darn well that some exercise is better than no exercise. And it actually doesn't take all that much to move people from the "most at risk for heart disease" category to the "much less at risk" category, and only a little more to move them to "very little risk".

Yet we also know from our own experience that if we scare the public too much they wind up doing nothing.

Take exercise and weight loss. It's a nasty little secret- albeit one I've talked about for years- that exercise is not the most effective way to lose weight. (It is, however, the only way to maintain weight loss.)

And, if that weren't bad enough, the amount of exercise we typically do doesn't come close in either length or intensity to really knock the pounds off.

But if we tell the public that, many people won't even bother to go for a walk. Or garden. Or do anything moderate that could still extend their life and improve their well-being. They'll just give up ("it doesn't make a difference anyway, right?")

What to do, what to do?

I opt for truth telling. And the truth is this: if you're using exercise to lose weight- the primary motivation for most people- you've got to do a lot more of it than you think.

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, released July 28, tells the story plainly. It's headline:

"Current Exercise Recommendations May Not Be Sufficient for Overweight Women to Sustain Weight Loss".

Here's the executive summary: In addition to limiting calories, overweight (and obese) women need to exercise almost an hour a day for five days a week if they are to have any hope of sustaining a weight loss of 10 percent over two years.

This comes as no surprise to those of us who have been following the National Weight Control Registry, a database of thousands of people who have successfully lost substantial weight (at least 30 pounds, typically more) and kept It off (at least a year, typically five).

These folks typically exercise an hour a day.

Think about it. Our Paleolithic ancestors typically traveled around 20 miles a day; much of it spent hauling stuff around. We were meant to move- a lot. Twenty minutes three times a week on the Stairmaster is helping your heart quite a bit- but it doesn't begin to undo the damage to your waistline of a couple of meals at McDonald's. Sorry, but that's the truth.

In the current study, the almost 25% of people who were successful at losing weight and keeping it off reported burning up an average of 1835 calories per week more than those who lost less weight. That came to about 275 minutes per week more than "baseline" levels of activity.

Interestingly, that's not all they did- they also completed more telephone calls with the researchers, showing once again that accountability and connection and partnering is a powerful tool in the weight loss journey (one reason I'm so hot on coaching programs.

This JAMA study didn't address the issue of the efficacy of various forms of exercise, but I continue to believe that short burst training, interval training, circuit training and the like is a far more effective way to burn calories and fat than long slow aerobics. That said, a number of studies do show that even 30 minutes a day of walking can improve overall health, lower the risk for mortality and even help you grow more brain cells.

So which kind of exercise should you do?

That's a no brainer: Why not do both?

As I talk about in The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth, and at much greater length in the forthcoming book on Energy (jan 2009), you can do burst training a number of different ways. You can use a terrific home machine like the Xiser, or you can do it with no equipment at all- just alternate a minute or two of "normal" aerobic walking with a much higher intensity jog or fast walk for 30 seconds. Repeat 4-10 times. Even if you're just beginning, you can do your own version of burst training. Start with what's comfortable- say a 5 on a scale of 1-10- and then do a 7 for 30 seconds.

Your heart, brain and waistline will all thank you profusely!