Do weekend warriors get the benefits of daily exercise?

Weekend Workouts vs. Daily Exercise

I heard a story about a guy, who after a late flight, didn’t want to miss a day of working out. So he started walking laps in the hotel parking lot at 3 in the morning. He was so tired that he fell asleep while walking and ran into a parked car in the process.

Some dedicated souls (like that guy) find a way to exercise every single day.

Others carve out 3-4x during the week. While others are weekend warriors who squeeze in a few workouts on Saturday or Sunday, which allows their routine to run much smoother.

But which is better?

A brand new study asked the following:

Do you get the same heart health benefits working out on the weekend vs. throughout the week?

This UK study looked at 89,500 people (ages 40-69) and divided them into three groups: :
#1: Subjects who exercised 150+ minutes (1-2 days per week)
#2: Subjects who exercised 150+ minutes (3-7 days per week)
#3: Subjects who didn’t exercise (also called procrast-ercising)
 
The result:

After checking on the subjects over a six year stretch, researchers determined that whether someone packed their exercise into 1, 2, or 3+ days per week – as long as they did 150 (or more) minutes per week they had lower risk of atrial fibrillation, stroke and heart failure.

And those who crushed it, and did 240 minutes had even greater cardiovascular health.

Something to note about this study:

Subjects activity level was determined after 1 week. That means they may have adjusted their workout habits (or lack thereof) over the six year stretch. Also, they did not look at the nutrition habits of these people.

Still, this study shows a glimpse into what’s possible.

Many people have in their mind that to get any benefit from exercise they need to sweat it out every day for an hour minimum (and get 6-7 hours’ each week).

However, this-here study showed that as little as 2 ½ hours per week was all it took to reap cardiovascular benefits.

Now maybe you aren’t motivated by heart health...

But sometimes remembering these ‘minimum numbers’ is enough to stay the course – even if your routine is small or short right now. It helps to know that the work you’re putting in does matter – even if you haven’t seen all the measurable progress you want to out of it yet.

Kelan Ern

P.S. Over the last few years, I've been assembling a compilation of some of the best tips, insights and strategies that I've come across on fat-loss, health-boosting nutrition and the mindset of lasting transformation. This will not a step-by-step program. It's more of a collection of guiding principles, fundamentals, and tactics that when applied can take your health and fitness to the next level.

​More on that soon...