Long Infrequent Workouts vs. Short Frequent Workouts
Ben Greenfield
Here’s a trick question: Which do you think is better — long workouts that you do every once in a while, or short workouts that you do more frequently?
Answer: It doesn’t matter!
A new study has found that people who do 150 minutes of exercise a few days of the week were not any less healthy than people who exercised more frequently throughout the week.
For example, someone who did not perform any physical activity on Monday to Friday but was active for 150 minutes over the weekend would obtain the same health benefits from their activity as someone who accumulated 150 minutes of activity over the week by doing 20-25 minutes of activity every day.
So the take-away lesson is this: Just exercise when you can – because total weekly volume counts more than how much you exercise each day!
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Young woman at the gym from Shutterstock
About the Author
Ben Greenfield received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology; personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA); a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an advanced bicycle fitting certification from Serotta. He has over 11 years’ experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports, and as helped hundreds of clients achieve weight loss and fitness success.