 | Harvard Commentaries Man to Man How Much Exercise Do You Need? dmtHMSContent
Excerpted from The No Sweat Exercise Plan. Lose Weight, Get Healthy, and Live Longer. A Harvard Medical School Book by Harvey B. Simon, M.D. (McGraw-Hill, 2006). Mix daily activities, formal workouts, and sports to get the cardiometabolic exercise you need for health. And for best results, do some stretching nearly every day and some strength training two or three times a week. The older we get, the more we need these supplementary activities. And as the years roll on, most of us will also benefit from some simple exercises to improve balance and prevent falling, a major health problem for seniors. 3. Exercise for recreation No need for a point system, clock or calendar when you're exercising for the fun of it, as long as you meet your minimum needs for health — 150 CMEs a day or about 1,000 a week. But the recreational value of exercise brings up a point that's relevant for hard-working men who are "too busy to exercise." Exercise is a great way to blow off steam and lift your spirits. If your work threatens to overload your psyche, consider using exercise to refresh your mind. For some, that will mean a trip to the gym to burn off some stress on a treadmill or elliptical trainer; for others, it will be a walk or jog outdoors to get away from it all; and for others, it will be a bit of stretching or yoga at bedtime. But don't let exercise add to your stress. If you hit a truly overwhelming patch, you can take a few days off without losing your edge. Baseball legend Yogi Berra got it right when he said exercise is 90% physical — and the other half is mental. 4. Exercise for competition To stay well, exercise for health fitness. To hit your peak for road running, racquet sports, basketball, biking or any other competitive sport, work out for aerobic fitness. That means boosting your heart rate to 70% to 85% of its maximum and holding it there for 20 to 60 minutes. If you're like most of us, you'll have to build up slowly. Be sure to warm up before and cool down after aerobics when you work this hard. You'll also benefit from stretching and strength training. If you're really going for the gold, do interval training or speed drills. It's a lot to ask of your body, particularly as you get older. And because intense exercise is more likely to cause injuries than moderate exercise, it's particularly important for competitive athletes to listen to their bodies and react promptly to signals of distress. Aerobic exercise has done a lot of good for many people. But because it is demanding, it has discouraged many others from exercising at all. That's why everyone should exercise for health fitness, but only the motivated and conditioned among us can set high-level aerobic fitness as a realistic goal. 5. Exercise for appearance Weight loss is the most common exercise goal. You can get there with the moderate exercise you need for health. But for faster, more impressive weight loss, double your goal to 300 CME points or about an hour of moderate exercise a day. It sounds like a lot, but remember that you can break it into chunks. Remember, too, that the little things you can build into your daily routine really help, such as climbing stairs and walking for transportation. And to really make progress, cut down on the calories you consume as you boost the calories you burn with exercise. Sorry to say, you can't selectively shed fat from your belly, butt or thighs. But you can use calisthenics and strength training to firm up your muscles, which will make you look thinner and better. Back to top Exercise Your Options So how much exercise do you need? Just enough to meet your goals. Make health fitness your first priority. Remember to get a check-up before you start a new exercise program. Choose the activities that best fit your schedule, your budget, your abilities and your taste. Construct a balanced program by adding the weight training, stretching and balance exercises that you need. Start slowly, build up gradually, and — above all — stick with it. As Yogi might have said, exercise is half ability and 90% persistence. Back to top Harvey B. Simon, M.D. is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Health Sciences Technology Faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the founding editor of the Harvard Men's Health Watch newsletter and author of six consumer health books, including The Harvard Medical School Guide to Men's Health (Simon and Schuster, 2002) and The No Sweat Exercise Plan, Lose Weight, Get Healthy and Live Longer (McGraw-Hill, 2006). Dr. Simon practices at the Massachusetts General Hospital; he received the London Prize for Excellence in Teaching from Harvard and MIT.
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