The Minimum Amount of Exercise Required To Be Healthy
I’m putting my tough-love hat on today. Stop saying you don’t have time. All you need is 11 minutes.
Happy March, High Performers.
It’s Friday, and I’ve got some excellent news for you.
But before I get to that, please fill out my reader survey. You can win a $100 Amazon gift card just for answering five questions!
Okay, back to fitness.
Maybe you’ve already seen it, and if you’ve been a subscriber for a long time, I’ve likely already tried to convince you of it.
The British Journal of Sports Medicine released an extensive study almost a year ago today that was a meta-analysis of physical activity and heart disease/cancer-related deaths.
Normally, I’m skeptical of research studies, regardless of the size, because, with every study that’s released, there probably exists a counter-study that disproves it.
But this is no average meta-analysis. When I say this study was large, it was LARGE.
This one took into account 196 studies over 10 years, which included roughly 30 million participants. That’s a lot of people.
It didn’t just tell us “exercise is good,” because that’s obvious.
It said that 11 minutes per day can greatly reduce the risk of all-cause mortality (death). That’s 77 minutes per week. Let’s break that down.
Really? 11 minutes per day?
This study made headlines because the risk of developing the disease wasn’t very dissimilar between people who exercised for the recommended 150 minutes per week (or about 22 minutes per day) and the 77-minute group.
Those who exercised 22 minutes per day lowered their risk of all-cause mortality by 31%, and the group who exercised 11 minutes per day reduced their risk by 23%.
So even if you’re constrained for time throughout the week, all you need is 11 minutes per day to significantly reduce your risk of not only dying from disease but developing it, too.
What can you do with 11 minutes, you ask? Well, for starters, you can certainly get your heart rate up above 135 beats per minute (which is my barometer for achieving effectiveness in your exercise) and burn a decent amount of calories.
Here’s a lesson in Habit Stacking by New York Times Best-Selling Author James Clear, from his book Atomic Habits.
If you wake up in the morning and shower before work, make a quick breakfast, and head out, you can budget time for an 11-minute workout the night before by laying out your workout clothes, prepping your work/day clothes, and setting up a mat or any equipment you might have.
Your training won’t need to be loud, either (stick around for some example workouts at the end — paid subscribers will be able to see the entire workout), so don’t worry about waking up your spouse.
If you’re not a morning person and can’t wake up 20 minutes earlier than you currently do, set up the same workout dojo during your morning routine, and leave your clothes somewhere you’ll see them after you finish your work day so you can change into them and bang out your 11 minutes right after work.
This habit stack will be a good segue into getting hungry for dinner and probably burn off some of the extra calories from lunch. As a New York City-based trainer, I know lunch is a problem meal for 90% of workers (and students), but the quality of workplace food is a newsletter for another day.
The Bare Minimum
Don’t be fooled — I don’t want you to stop here. This study is very promising and shows that there needn’t be much physical activity in your week to improve your health’s bottom line significantly.
Those who train with me regularly know I’m a fairly easy-going, non-drill-sergeant style trainer. That doesn’t mean I’ll be sleeping easily, knowing 77 minutes a week is going to be the new norm for you.
For some of you, it will be, but I will ask you nicely (just this once) to consider aspiring for the recommended 150 minutes over time. Eventually, 11 minutes per day will become easy, and when it does, I hope you’ll consider the benefits of doing more.
For now, though, some resources on how to gauge your training intensity can be found on my Instagram Page, including which exercises are good to start with and which ones will lead to high-heart-rate training sessions.
Interested in kickstarting your 11 minutes per day routine?
I know at least some of you are thinking, “Okay, 11 minutes can’t be that hard. What can I do to start this tomorrow?”
If you haven’t previously expressed interest in training with me or aren’t quite ready yet, don’t worry. I’m going to give you a good place to start, totally free. Consider it the beginning of our client-coach relationship.
Note that there are modifications for each exercise — if something is too difficult or you have an injury/complication that prevents you from doing the recommended move, you can regress to the modification and still get a great 11-minute workout.
Alright, without further ado, here’s what I got for you. Weights can be added if they’re available to you!
The 11-minutes per day workout template (Pick 3 of these 8 exercises each day, complete all sets of one exercise before moving to the next)*
Squat Up-Downs - Three sets of 12 reps (6 per leg) - 30 seconds of rest between sets
Modification - Bodyweight Squats (same sets, reps)
Alternating Reverse Lunges - Three sets, 30 seconds of lunging - 45 seconds rest b/s
Modification - 30 seconds jogging in place (same sets, reps)
Push ups - Four sets, 10 reps - 30-45 seconds rest between sets
Modification - Kneeling Push ups (same sets, reps)
*I HIGHLY encourage anyone who has further questions about this routine or any other to hop on a call with me to discuss the best routine for you. If you’re unsure if these are a good fit for you, let’s chat.
I hope you enjoy the weekend!
~ Fran
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