How many minutes you exercise in a day depends on what your exercise goals are. If your goal is to lose weight, you may need to exercise between 150 to 250 minutes per day with moderate intensity each week in order to lose weight. That comes out to about half an hour of exercise every day. If your exercise goal is to maintain your weight, you will need to exercise roughly the same amount of time each day, which amounts to half an hour each day.
Busy Work Schedule
If you don’t have the time to do longer workouts, shorter bursts of activity may be ideal for you. You need to adjust your schedule based on when you have the most time to work out or exercise. For example, when you have free time, you may want to work out for about an hour. During the middle of the workweek when you have deadlines to meet, however, should be different. In that scenario, a 30- to 40-minute workout will be good enough.
Workout Intensity
When it comes to exercising, you will typically need to complete two different types of activities per week to maintain optimal health. This typically includes moderately intensive aerobic activities such as swimming or biking or walking your dog. You will also need to take care of your core by doing exercises that strengthen your muscles. When it comes to moderately intensive aerobic activity, you should strive for completing approximately 200 minutes a week. This comes out to about half an hour a day.
For core-strengthening activities such as doing push-ups or lifting weights, you will want to schedule a minimum of two days per week.
What Counts as Aerobic Activity?
Aerobic activity is considered to be anything that causes you to breathe quicker and your heart to beat faster. Going hiking, walking your dog, or dancing are all considered to be aerobic activities. Moderate-intensity activities include walking quickly, swimming, mowing the lawn, or riding a bicycle. Vigorous aerobic activity means that you’re breathing really hard and fast and your heart rate is very high. Examples of these activities may include playing tennis or playing basketball.
Which Activities Count as Strengthening Your Core?
Muscle-strengthening activities work out all the major muscle groups in your body, such as your hips, abdomen, arms, and shoulders. Each week, you should be performing activities that help to strengthen the core muscles in your body along with aerobic exercises. If at all possible, you should do core strengthening activities until you feel like you cannot do another repetition. A repetition is the completion of an activity, such as lifting weights or doing sit-ups. One set consists of eight to 12 repetitions per each activity. Examples of these activities include doing resistance exercises with your body weight and some forms of yoga.
