A little goes a long way
I've told you before that you don't need to become a muscle-head in order to gain incredible health benefits from exercise.
Better yet, you can do a minimum of just 10 minutes of exercise per day in order to improve your fitness level. That means a lowered risk of cardiovascular disease. And those 10 minutes doesn't have to be a 5k race, either.
A new study (finally) supports my position on getting the right amount of the right exercise. A group of 464 overweight, postmenopausal women who didn't already work out were recruited to participate. The average age was 57, and they had an average BMI (Body Mass Index) of 32—which placed them in the obese range.
The researchers' aim was to get a better understanding of the link between exercise and fitness—specifically, how much exercise you need to do to achieve different levels of fitness.
The women were put into four separate groups and were randomly assigned. Three of the groups were prescribed an exercise regimen, and how much they exercised was based on the "recommended physical activity dose." (This is a recommendation from the NIH as to how much exercise folks should get—a minimum of 30 minutes per day.) The criteria were set at 72, 136 or 198 minutes per week—depending on the group to which they were assigned.
Either an exercise bike or a treadmill was used, three to four times per week and over the course of six months.
And the fourth group, serving as the control, continued to do no exercise whatsoever.
The women's aerobic fitness was measured, and the results showed an increase that correlated perfectly with how long their workouts were. For the group that did 72 minutes, the increase in aerobic fitness was about 4 percent, the 136-minute group showed a 6 percent increase, and the 198-minute group showed an 8 percent increase.
And to keep the study specific to the parameters set, there were no other exercise performed, nor were there any other changes in cardiovascular risk factors, like cholesterol level or blood pressure.
If you're currently doing nothing in the way of exercise, change that today. At least get up and dance during TV commercials. As this study clearly shows, something is better than nothing.
You can always build up from 10 minutes per day, but the important thing is to get started.
