Guideline for how much exercise we should be doing (Only 24% of adults meet the weekly recommended requirement). How much do you do? a day or week?

[iloverachel]

How much exercise are you guys getting done a day? Or week?

Recommendations for Adults

• Get at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous aerobic activity, or a combination of both, preferably spread throughout the week.
• Add moderate- to high-intensity muscle-strengthening activity (such as resistance or weights) on at least 2 days per week.
• Spend less time sitting. Even light-intensity activity can offset some of the risks of being sedentary.
• Gain even more benefits by being active at least 300 minutes (5 hours) per week.
• Increase amount and intensity gradually over time.
  
  
  
• 
  
  According to the CDC, only around 24.2% of adults in the United States meet the recommended physical activity guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities, meaning that only about a quarter of the population meets the average weekly exercise requirement
  
  

 

[ForgottenAgain]

Seems quite hard to achieve if you have a 9 to 5 and want to relax after work.
Pardon the dumb question but, what would be "aerobic activity" specifically?
And is the recommendation to do all those things?

When I was doing better, years ago, I would do yoga + pilates for 1h 3 times a week. Compared to the recommendation, it seems unsuficient, unless I'm understanding it wrong.

 

[iloverachel]

Seems quite hard to achieve if you have a 9 to 5 and want to relax after work.
Pardon the dumb question but, what would be "aerobic activity" specifically?
And is the recommendation to do all those things?

When I was doing better, years ago, I would do yoga + pilates for 1h 3 times a week. Compared to the recommendation, it seems unsuficient, unless I'm understanding it wrong.

that's true work can make exercise difficult. Aerobic i guess is cardio, running, skipping, walking, jogging, bike riding etc. I think if you are busy with work you can just incorporate something easy and not too draining, like a 20 minute walk, 20 push ups, and 10 star jumps. Slowly work your way up

 

[Sutter]

Stroll.

Play with an old cat, Luna. No scienced exercise goals for her. Will say she plumped out. Now worked out myself at times more to be more in tune with a lazy moment. Starting small, she works out her front paws chasing a fast moving toy in striking distance. Pretty sure her short range pounce power increased. However, her overall small asteroid mass remained the same.

Might seem like switch words coming at her but found had to move to cat food rationing. Found that was effective in my own small planet gravity situation. Exercise now is moving, small concerns and work outside so a fair bit of walking anyway.

Weekly probably spend a large amount of time walking after the cat. There is a friendly but aloof ritual in finding the spot to play. Lessens her laziness and fair retaliation for portion sizes. Even though stepped in the boat with her.

Could have named her I love Rachel, but more fitting for her elegance and size plus miffs off werewolves around a moon cat pulling an old man around with a caring gravity.

Could have run more numbers but strolled through with a wandering thought. More exercise? Maybe another cat.

 

[Forever Sleep]

Exercise certainly helps me physically and mentally/emotionally. I can't deny that. Sadly, I pretty much hate it though. The very best I get to is begrudgingly tolerating it!

I don't do enough compared to the guidelines though. 9-10 mins strenuous exercise a day. (Rowing.) Probably double that time to recover from it! Both times decrease as I gradually get fitter.

I've no intention to increase my time suffering though! I can tell myself- go and do your 10 minutes of exercise hell. I managed maybe nearing 300 consecutive days last year before it all started going wrong due to intense pressure of work.

If it's 15-20 minutes though, I'll start to make excuses! So- I think it's important to 'know thyself' too. If you know 30 minutes of strenuous exercise will stop you doing it all together, aim lower! Great, if you then feel like increasing but to my mind, doing something is always better than nothing.

I think that feeling of failure when you don't reach your time, when you don't do enough, when it's too much, can really work against us. I used to find that at the gym- when I used to go. They were so intent on pushing people that it would become so unpleasant and, you'd start picking up injuries. I think it's very important to keep things manageable to keep them sustainable. I feel like you kind of know naturally yourself when you can move that bit faster or do more. That's my take though. From a very reluctant but hopefully committed point of view.

 

[iloverachel]

Exercise certainly helps me physically and mentally/emotionally. I can't deny that. Sadly, I pretty much hate it though. The very best I get to is begrudgingly tolerating it!

I don't do enough compared to the guidelines though. 9-10 mins strenuous exercise a day. (Rowing.) Probably double that time to recover from it! Both times decrease as I gradually get fitter.

I've no intention to increase my time suffering though! I can tell myself- go and do your 10 minutes of exercise hell. I managed maybe nearing 300 consecutive days last year before it all started going wrong due to intense pressure of work.

If it's 15-20 minutes though, I'll start to make excuses! So- I think it's important to 'know thyself' too. If you know 30 minutes of strenuous exercise will stop you doing it all together, aim lower! Great, if you then feel like increasing but to my mind, doing something is always better than nothing.

I think that feeling of failure when you don't reach your time, when you don't do enough, when it's too much, can really work against us. I used to find that at the gym- when I used to go. They were so intent on pushing people that it would become so unpleasant and, you'd start picking up injuries. I think it's very important to keep things manageable to keep them sustainable. I feel like you kind of know naturally yourself when you can move that bit faster or do more. That's my take though. From a very reluctant but hopefully committed point of view.

Fair enough. Just wondering what your fitness level is like? For me personally, the fitter I became (which took months), the more i started to enjoy it due to more endorphins released. Once it becomes a habit, your tolerance generally increases and you feel less fatigued etc. Maybe over time you can learn to love it. I used to hate exercise now I can't imagine a day without it

 

[Forever Sleep]

Fair enough. Just wondering what your fitness level is like? For me personally, the fitter I became (which took months), the more i started to enjoy it due to more endorphins released. Once it becomes a habit, your tolerance generally increases and you feel less fatigued etc. Maybe over time you can learn to love it. I used to hate exercise now I can't imagine a day without it

I expect that's part of the problem really- I'm not very fit. It certainly got easier as I got fitter (relatively speaking) but then- I find, as you get fitter, you naturally tend to start pushing yourself harder so, it was never easy as such. Maybe I don't do enough to get the endorphin rush. I'm usually just simply relieved that it's over and I can get my breath back!

In terms of a level of fitness, I simply don't know what's considered 'good'. I did 2000m rowing everyday for likely something like 300 days consecutively. You'd think that would have built up some level of fitness. I suppose it did comparitively. My best time was 8 mins 32 secs on a resistance between 6 and 7. Bear in mind I'm female and was 44 at the time.

It's just so disappointing though really. A couple of months ago, I was regulary hitting 8 mins 50 secs. It's taken me over a week to get from 9 mins 20 secs back to 9 mins 6 secs yesterday and it was so difficult to start with. I hate how quick it is to just lose progress. That ought to make me reconsider stopping in future but, I'm not sure it will!

I guess we probably shouldn't be obsessed with our times but then- it's surely a good way to assess how we're doing. Did you always get a endorphin rush? From the very start? Is it very strong? Literally like doing something really pleasurable? Maybe I'm just missing it. I certainly feel better after exercise but, hardly euphoric. I've had stronger rushes from eating chocolate- unfortunately!

 

[iloverachel]

I expect that's part of the problem really- I'm not very fit. It certainly got easier as I got fitter (relatively speaking) but then- I find, as you get fitter, you naturally tend to start pushing yourself harder so, it was never easy as such. Maybe I don't do enough to get the endorphin rush. I'm usually just simply relieved that it's over and I can get my breath back!

In terms of a level of fitness, I simply don't know what's considered 'good'. I did 2000m rowing everyday for likely something like 300 days consecutively. You'd think that would have built up some level of fitness. I suppose it did comparitively. My best time was 8 mins 32 secs on a resistance between 6 and 7. Bear in mind I'm female and was 44 at the time.

It's just so disappointing though really. A couple of months ago, I was regulary hitting 8 mins 50 secs. It's taken me over a week to get from 9 mins 20 secs back to 9 mins 6 secs yesterday and it was so difficult to start with. I hate how quick it is to just lose progress. That ought to make me reconsider stopping in future but, I'm not sure it will!

I guess we probably shouldn't be obsessed with our times but then- it's surely a good way to assess how we're doing. Did you always get a endorphin rush? From the very start? Is it very strong? Literally like doing something really pleasurable? Maybe I'm just missing it. I certainly feel better after exercise but, hardly euphoric. I've had stronger rushes from eating chocolate- unfortunately!

I didn't always have an endorphin rush from exercise. In fact, at my most depressed and heaviest at over 225 lbs I dreaded working out. I was asking all my friends on tips to enjoy training. I started with like 20-30 minutes a day and some times gave up after 10 minutes. But as I started to eat clean and lose weight and see results, I got more endorphins released and eventually training is something I NEED or else my mood just worsens.

I recommend building your fitness level slowly, and hopefully you start getting those endorphins. Your diet should also be good too. If you get too much dopamine from other sources such as alcohol, drugs, junk food, you will get less endorphins from exercise Going on a dopamine detox can help reset your dopamine receptors.

Good luck my friend

 

[Forever Sleep]

I didn't always have an endorphin rush from exercise. In fact, at my most depressed and heaviest at over 225 lbs I dreaded working out. I was asking all my friends on tips to enjoy training. I started with like 20-30 minutes a day and some times gave up after 10 minutes. But as I started to eat clean and lose weight and see results, I got more endorphins released and eventually training is something I NEED or else my mood just worsens.

I recommend building your fitness level slowly, and hopefully you start getting those endorphins. Your diet should also be good too. If you get too much dopamine from other sources such as alcohol, drugs, junk food, you will get less endorphins from exercise Going on a dopamine detox can help reset your dopamine receptors.

Good luck my friend

Thank you. Good luck to you also. Thank you for the helpful tips too. My diet definitely needs addressing!

 

[Regen]

Thank you very much for sharing and the reminder. I know that sport is very necessary. But it's very difficult for me.

In the past there was a time I do very much sports. Then there were many years I do nearly nothing, I only walk between bed and kitchen. Since three years I go for a daily walk with my dog and this changed my fitness a little. Since three months I try to visit the gym I used in the past. And every time I am there I don't regret it. But it's very hart for me to find the energy to go to the gym. I only want to lay in bed. And sometimes I feel very nervous about the people in the gym, I think about what they think about me and such things. And then my less energy and my fear are the reason I don't go.

But I really like posts like that, because some future time I want to get my body back and I want to get in motion. I have to come in motion to change other things too.

Let's fucking do it :-)

 

[iloverachel]

Thank you very much for sharing and the reminder. I know that sport is very necessary. But it's very difficult for me.

In the past there was a time I do very much sports. Then there were many years I do nearly nothing, I only walk between bed and kitchen. Since three years I go for a daily walk with my dog and this changed my fitness a little. Since three months I try to visit the gym I used in the past. And every time I am there I don't regret it. But it's very hart for me to find the energy to go to the gym. I only want to lay in bed. And sometimes I feel very nervous about the people in the gym, I think about what they think about me and such things. And then my less energy and my fear are the reason I don't go.

But I really like posts like that, because some future time I want to get my body back and I want to get in motion. I have to come in motion to change other things too.

Let's fucking do it :-)

thanks for the kind words. I understand, I used to be nervous about people at the gym as well, so I started going at 5am when it was empty. I kind of got used to it, as you go more and more, you realize most people there are nice and are usually busy focusing on themselves.
Small baby steps worked for me. Best of luck

 

[ThatStateOfMind]

I'm not as physically active as I should be, tbh. I do walk quite a bit per week as I'm forced to by college parking being so far. I walk ~1.5-2 miles Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and ~3-4 miles on Tuesday and Thursday. That takes me around 70 minutes per week. It's better than I used to do, though, and for that, I'm a little proud.

I've never been able to stick to the gym. I was able to more consistently when I had a gym partner but our schedules rarely aligned, so we didn't go together much. I struggle with motivation to go and to make it a habit.

I don't think it's a sustainable method for fitness for me. I prefer activities in nature like hiking. I'm considering trying rock climbing soon, it seems like a fun way to stay active. I intended to go to a class but had a crazy migraine the day of and had to miss it :(

that's true work can make exercise difficult. Aerobic i guess is cardio, running, skipping, walking, jogging, bike riding etc. I think if you are busy with work you can just incorporate something easy and not too draining, like a 20 minute walk, 20 push ups, and 10 star jumps. Slowly work your way up

Replying to also add, I've heard walking during your lunch break does wonders.