Staying Active in a Sedentary world
We, as humans, are dynamic beings, we were made for movement. Despite a growing body of literature showing the positive effects of physical activity on cardiovascular health and immune health all the way down to the molecular level of DNA health, most people do not get enough exercise. This raises two questions, how much are we supposed to get? And what can we do to help get it?
According to the World Health Organization, the current recommendations for activity are 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week with 20-30 of those minutes being vigorous activity. It is also recommended that resistance training is done twice per week hitting all the major muscle groups in two 30-60 minute sessions. Now, while most of the research on aerobic activity is done based on heart rate zones, the general rule of thumb is, if it is fast enough that you cannot maintain a conversation, that is moderate activity.
The resistance training is vital to offset age related decline in muscle mass that occurs at close to 10% per decade over 40. This decline is also completely preventable with the right training schedule. Training should hit the major patterns at least once a week. These patterns are the bases for all human movement. They are horizontal push, horizontal pull, vertical push, vertical pull, squat, hinge, lunge, and gait. These patterns will address every major muscle group in the body and help keep the body functionally strong.
Now that is a lot of exercise, so what should someone do if they cannot get it all in. A group of researchers found a minimum effective dose of exercise with what they called the 7 minute workout. This workout consisted of doing an exercise for 30 seconds then taking a 10 second break and then moving into a new exercise. The exercises are jumping jacks, wall sits, push ups, crunches, step ups, air squats, dips, plank, high knees, lunges, push ups with rotation and side planks on each side. Start to finish the workout takes about 8.5 minutes, not a big ask. Most importantly, this workout was done daily. This is a great way to begin an exercise program. Everyone has 8.5 minutes in their day that they could devote to movement. This workout also hits almost all the major movement patterns and almost all of the major muscles, giving a resistance training benefit.
An easy strategy to keep in the habit of doing the workout is called Chaining or what some have called The Seinfeld Strategy. Jerry Seinfeld notoriously used this method to help him write comedy. You put a big red X on the calendar on the day that you do the workout. From there your only goal is to not break the chain of Xs. Each day you do the 7 minute workout, you add another X. When you break the chain, you draw a circle on that day and write a small explanation of why you did not do the workout. This builds in not only a reward system of seeing the Xs pile up but a self accountability as you have to express why the chain was broken.
The goal is not perfection, but progress. As you increase your activity, it will slowly pay dividends in other areas of your life. So keep that chain going.
Law TD, Clark LA, Clark BC. Resistance Exercise to Prevent and Manage Sarcopenia and Dynapenia. Annu Rev Gerontol Geriatr. 2016;36(1):205-228. doi: 10.1891/0198-8794.36.205. PMID: 27134329; PMCID: PMC4849483.
Mattar L, Farran N, Bakhour D. Effect of 7-minute workout on weight and body composition. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2017 Oct;57(10):1299-1304. doi: 10.23736/S0022-4707.16.06788-8. Epub 2017 Jan 13. PMID: 28085122