If You Only Exercise On The Weekend, Don’t Stress It

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Are you someone who loves to exercise during the week to help strike a balance between work, your social life and your personal time? Or are you someone whose main objective is to just survive the insanity of the week and then take full advantage of your free time on Saturday and Sunday?

Often times, the latter persona is thought to be less healthy, but new research suggests that your “weekend warrior” status can be equally as valuable so long as you still reach the total recommended weekly workout time.

The UK-based study analyzed the exercise habits and health profiles of more than 60,000 adults in England and Scotland. Some were consistent exercisers while others relied on weekend time to be active. In the end, the data revealed that those who work out only on weekends lower their mortality risk just as successfully as those who spread their activity out over the course of the week.

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In the study, those who worked out on weekdays and met the recommended activity guidelines of the UK’s National Health Service had a 35 percent lower risk of death than the sedentary people in the study. Weekend warriors who also successfully met those guidelines had a 30 percent lower risk of death than the same inactive folks. People who were active during the week had a 41 percent lower chance of death related to cardiovascular health, and people who were active on the weekend had a 40 percent lower chance. The weekday workout folks exhibited a 21 percent lower risk of death by cancer, and the weekend exercisers revealed an 18 percent lower risk.

In other words, the two kinds of active people fared virtually the same when it came to reducing their mortality risk.

“Millions of people enjoy doing sport once or twice a week, but they may be concerned that they are not doing enough,” study author Gary O’Donovan told The Guardian. “We find a clear benefit. It’s making them fit and healthy. Weekend warriors are people who meet the recommended volume of physical activity each week through only one or two sessions. They are doing a large proportion of vigorous exercise and that makes you fitter than moderate exercise.”

So yes, public health experts recommend spreading out your exercise needs and logging 30-minute sessions five days a week. But two 75-minute sessions over the weekend still accrue 150 minutes of activity, don’t they? And logging those minutes (in whatever pattern you choose) is better than not logging them at all.