Don't Go Too Fast, But I Go Pretty Far
March 14, 2023 6:18 AM Subscribe
I'm trying to up my activity to hit the minimum-required 150 minutes per week. I already walk 15 miles (and five hours) per week as my standard workday commute - but it's at a standard pace. Can I still count any of that?
I'm getting conflicting information about whether standard-pace walking can count towards the recommended 150 minutes of "moderate" exercise per week. Some sources define "moderate" exercise as "anything that gets you out of breath" - and I'm not sure I'm walking quite fast enough for that; at least I'm not huffing and puffing and sweating. Having a bum knee stops me from going too fast. I do try to stay in constant motion (i.e., if one intersection has a red light in one direction, and I can change direction to where there's a green light so I can keep moving, I do that), and sometimes I sneak my pace up to what I can handle.
But on the other hand - that is a not-insignificant distance. I walk to and from work every day if the weather allows; it's 1.5 miles each way, and there's a slope, so that on the way home I'm walking uphill.
I also try to go to a gym twice a week (although I've been slacking), where I do 30 minutes of strength training for my knee; I also walk there (that's about a mile), but I take the bus home half the time. And yes, I'm already planning on sucking it up and really doing that twice a week.
I'm not sure whether just doing that is quite enough, so I want to add something - but I hate exercise in general. Literally the only thing I've found that I can tolerate to add onto this are some videos with short bursts of cardio (like, 10 minutes at a time). I'm able to put up with doing one of those right when I get home from work, for another 50 minutes a week.
Now - if the walk to and from work and the walk to the gym counts, that would be enough. But I'm confused about whether the walking counts. Does it? (And if it doesn't - what are some other short things I can do that I won't hate?)
I'm getting conflicting information about whether standard-pace walking can count towards the recommended 150 minutes of "moderate" exercise per week. Some sources define "moderate" exercise as "anything that gets you out of breath" - and I'm not sure I'm walking quite fast enough for that; at least I'm not huffing and puffing and sweating. Having a bum knee stops me from going too fast. I do try to stay in constant motion (i.e., if one intersection has a red light in one direction, and I can change direction to where there's a green light so I can keep moving, I do that), and sometimes I sneak my pace up to what I can handle.
But on the other hand - that is a not-insignificant distance. I walk to and from work every day if the weather allows; it's 1.5 miles each way, and there's a slope, so that on the way home I'm walking uphill.
I also try to go to a gym twice a week (although I've been slacking), where I do 30 minutes of strength training for my knee; I also walk there (that's about a mile), but I take the bus home half the time. And yes, I'm already planning on sucking it up and really doing that twice a week.
I'm not sure whether just doing that is quite enough, so I want to add something - but I hate exercise in general. Literally the only thing I've found that I can tolerate to add onto this are some videos with short bursts of cardio (like, 10 minutes at a time). I'm able to put up with doing one of those right when I get home from work, for another 50 minutes a week.
Now - if the walk to and from work and the walk to the gym counts, that would be enough. But I'm confused about whether the walking counts. Does it? (And if it doesn't - what are some other short things I can do that I won't hate?)
Per another page on the CDC site:
Moderate Intensityposted by Etrigan at 6:43 AM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
The talk test is a simple way to measure relative intensity. In general, if you’re doing moderate-intensity activity, you can talk but not sing during the activity.
- Walking briskly (3 miles per hour or faster, but not race-walking)
I guess (as someone whose job involves encouraging inactive people to get active at achieveable levels) I'd push back gently on the premise of your question. There's nothing magical about 150 minutes, and it's not a binary that once you hit 150 minutes of "acceptable" exercise, your health will suddenly improve.
Having a specific number to suggest to people is really useful in public health messaging. But realistically, it's very much a sliding scale. Doing 150 minutes of moderate walking will make you healthier than not walking at all. Doing 150 minutes of more intense exercise will probably make you healthier than moderate walking. But there's nobody out there with a clipboard deciding whether or not specific exercise "counts", or ticking a box for whether you're out of breath for 100 or 170 minutes.
All that said, if you really want a measure, the current UK physical activity guidelines (.pdf download) say 150 minutes of "moderate activity - increased breathing, able to talk" or "75 minutes of vigorous intensity, breathing fast, difficulty talking".
If you wanted to add something, I'd say the best thing would be more strength training for the rest of your body (not just your knee), rather than cardio - it helps with bone density and slowing down muscle loss as we age (IIRC you are, like me, a ~middle aged woman? So strong bones right now FTW). It might need some work to figure out what you can do without aggravating your knee, but would pay dividends if you can do it.
posted by penguin pie at 6:45 AM on March 14, 2023 [21 favorites]
Having a specific number to suggest to people is really useful in public health messaging. But realistically, it's very much a sliding scale. Doing 150 minutes of moderate walking will make you healthier than not walking at all. Doing 150 minutes of more intense exercise will probably make you healthier than moderate walking. But there's nobody out there with a clipboard deciding whether or not specific exercise "counts", or ticking a box for whether you're out of breath for 100 or 170 minutes.
All that said, if you really want a measure, the current UK physical activity guidelines (.pdf download) say 150 minutes of "moderate activity - increased breathing, able to talk" or "75 minutes of vigorous intensity, breathing fast, difficulty talking".
If you wanted to add something, I'd say the best thing would be more strength training for the rest of your body (not just your knee), rather than cardio - it helps with bone density and slowing down muscle loss as we age (IIRC you are, like me, a ~middle aged woman? So strong bones right now FTW). It might need some work to figure out what you can do without aggravating your knee, but would pay dividends if you can do it.
posted by penguin pie at 6:45 AM on March 14, 2023 [21 favorites]
What you're doing is good! It is! But you do need to get that heart rate up. "Huffing and puffing and sweating" is more likely to be vigorous than moderate exercise, but we tend to overestimate how high our heart rate is going doing more normally paced activities. You could try buying an inexpensive fitness monitor to see for yourself. They're not the most accurate, but it should give you a rough idea.
Since you are already going to a gym, may I suggest (if your knee permits) trying a semi-recumbent bike? I find it mechanically easier to get my heart rate up when I'm just focusing on moving my legs--far easier than when I'm on the treadmill. I am not a big fan of the exercising either (understatement), so I usually watch something on my iPad.
posted by praemunire at 7:25 AM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Since you are already going to a gym, may I suggest (if your knee permits) trying a semi-recumbent bike? I find it mechanically easier to get my heart rate up when I'm just focusing on moving my legs--far easier than when I'm on the treadmill. I am not a big fan of the exercising either (understatement), so I usually watch something on my iPad.
posted by praemunire at 7:25 AM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Walking is great. It's better than not walking. But it doesn't count towards the CDC health minimum (or other similar guidelines) because you don't break a sweat. From the link you shared, under "Aerobic activity – what counts?"
On the "what won't I hate?" front: instead of looking for something rote and inoffensive, consider opening your heart to stuff you currently hate. The physical cultures you find cringe, or you associate with meathead bros, whatever — you could love them. Preconceptions stop us from exploring things we'd enjoy. There are plenty of sports with bad reputations which are actually filled with nice people having fun: powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, and kettlebells (including kettlebell juggling) are some where I bet you could find people to get along with, either in person or online. (And they have ways to work around an uncooperative knee.)
posted by daveliepmann at 7:41 AM on March 14, 2023
Moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity means you’re working hard enough to raise your heart rate and break a sweat.The UK governing bodies have a similar guideline and felt the need a few years back to explicitly announce that "moderate" is actually quite vigorous. Being out of breath and breaking a sweat should be extremely clear indicators – if it's borderline it almost certainly doesn't count.
On the "what won't I hate?" front: instead of looking for something rote and inoffensive, consider opening your heart to stuff you currently hate. The physical cultures you find cringe, or you associate with meathead bros, whatever — you could love them. Preconceptions stop us from exploring things we'd enjoy. There are plenty of sports with bad reputations which are actually filled with nice people having fun: powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, and kettlebells (including kettlebell juggling) are some where I bet you could find people to get along with, either in person or online. (And they have ways to work around an uncooperative knee.)
posted by daveliepmann at 7:41 AM on March 14, 2023
(I meant to include: I find watching something on the iPad much more comfortable when my head's not bobbing!)
posted by praemunire at 7:48 AM on March 14, 2023
posted by praemunire at 7:48 AM on March 14, 2023
You can get your heart rate up doing moderate weights/body weight exercises at speed - I have a PT-like routine of low-weight back and arm exercises that raises my heart rate.
I tend to think that walking seventeen-ish miles a week over and above your walking-around-the-house-and-work plus strength training is fine, frankly, and if this were me I would just expand the time on weights. You can do a lot of back and upper body stuff seated if you can't do standing stuff due to the weight on your knee.
Add some calisthenics at the gym, too - back before covid when I felt good about going to the gym, I went two to three times a week (plus I had a bike commute) and did about twenty minutes of fast elliptical, thirty minutes of weights and then another fifteen-ish of leg lifts, clamshells, etc.
posted by Frowner at 7:55 AM on March 14, 2023
I tend to think that walking seventeen-ish miles a week over and above your walking-around-the-house-and-work plus strength training is fine, frankly, and if this were me I would just expand the time on weights. You can do a lot of back and upper body stuff seated if you can't do standing stuff due to the weight on your knee.
Add some calisthenics at the gym, too - back before covid when I felt good about going to the gym, I went two to three times a week (plus I had a bike commute) and did about twenty minutes of fast elliptical, thirty minutes of weights and then another fifteen-ish of leg lifts, clamshells, etc.
posted by Frowner at 7:55 AM on March 14, 2023
Best answer: But it doesn't count towards the CDC health minimum (or other similar guidelines) because you don't break a sweat
Whether or not one breaks a sweat while walking seems dependent on far too many factors of which the temperature, weather, and humidity are far more important than walking pace. If you have a smart watch or whatever, than anything above 90 heart beats per minute (which certainly can include walking) to 120 should count as 'moderate'.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:56 AM on March 14, 2023 [9 favorites]
Whether or not one breaks a sweat while walking seems dependent on far too many factors of which the temperature, weather, and humidity are far more important than walking pace. If you have a smart watch or whatever, than anything above 90 heart beats per minute (which certainly can include walking) to 120 should count as 'moderate'.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:56 AM on March 14, 2023 [9 favorites]
Best answer: Both the NYT and Washington Post have had recent articles about exercise snacks. I'm guessing your knee means you're not going to be running up any stairs, but there are other ideas in that post, including links to suggested exercises. The latest trend in newspaper health section articles is emphasizing the need for, and effect of, strength training for middle-aged bodies. I personally need to be better about strength training to supplement my own walking, but that seems like it might be a thing you could do as a snack (a couple minutes of hand weights, a 7-minute-workout sort of thing, or whatever). Some exercise is always better than none.
posted by fedward at 8:02 AM on March 14, 2023
posted by fedward at 8:02 AM on March 14, 2023
Response by poster: Coming back in because I think I wasn't clear - it's not really so much a specific activity I hate when it comes to exercising, it's the fact that I have to spend time doing it and have special clothes for it and ugh. If I want to use a recumbent bike, I have to leave my house and go to a gym, then sit there on this damn thing for a period of time going nowhere, then spend more time getting home, and there's an hour gone from my day. Even if I save time by stopping at the gym en route home from work, I still have to bring clothes to work with me and change into them and find a locker for my stuff and ugh. Can't I just go home and change there and do the 10 minute video in my living room because that's short and I'd be done and I'd already be home and I can chill out right away?....
So that's the mindset, is my point. It's not like "I don't like activity X but maybe I'd like Y", it's more "I need to be tricked into exercising because it all just feels so pointless and too much of a bother and I would rather be doing literally anything else". Walking to work feels like it has a point because it's a form of transportation. The strength stuff for my knee is "I need to fix my knee", so there's a "point" to it. The appeal of the short videos is that...well, they're short, so I can talk myself into doing them easier in my living room (I also found some ones that are borderline fun), and I think the approach of adding things in little "snacks" like that would fit better - "I'll be stuck here waiting on this for three minutes; I know, I'll do some jumping jacks while I wait."
Both the NYT and Washington Post have had recent articles about exercise snacks. I'm guessing your knee means you're not going to be running up any stairs, but there are other ideas in that post, including links to suggested exercises.
Yep - that kind of "exercise snacks" approach is exactly what I was aiming for, and I just wasn't clear whether the walk to work would count as one. But that's the kind of approach I'm trying to aim for, where it suggests "do X for only three minutes" or "do Y while you're waiting for your roommate to get out of the shower" or whatever. And the guideline about "any heart rate above 90 beats per minute counts", so I may start paying attention to that as well while I sort this out. (Although I don't have a smart watch, but I've been toying with getting one....)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:12 AM on March 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
So that's the mindset, is my point. It's not like "I don't like activity X but maybe I'd like Y", it's more "I need to be tricked into exercising because it all just feels so pointless and too much of a bother and I would rather be doing literally anything else". Walking to work feels like it has a point because it's a form of transportation. The strength stuff for my knee is "I need to fix my knee", so there's a "point" to it. The appeal of the short videos is that...well, they're short, so I can talk myself into doing them easier in my living room (I also found some ones that are borderline fun), and I think the approach of adding things in little "snacks" like that would fit better - "I'll be stuck here waiting on this for three minutes; I know, I'll do some jumping jacks while I wait."
Both the NYT and Washington Post have had recent articles about exercise snacks. I'm guessing your knee means you're not going to be running up any stairs, but there are other ideas in that post, including links to suggested exercises.
Yep - that kind of "exercise snacks" approach is exactly what I was aiming for, and I just wasn't clear whether the walk to work would count as one. But that's the kind of approach I'm trying to aim for, where it suggests "do X for only three minutes" or "do Y while you're waiting for your roommate to get out of the shower" or whatever. And the guideline about "any heart rate above 90 beats per minute counts", so I may start paying attention to that as well while I sort this out. (Although I don't have a smart watch, but I've been toying with getting one....)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:12 AM on March 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
Walking briskly (3 miles per hour or faster, but not race-walking)
Also, as far as I can tell, 3 miles per hour, or a mile every 20 minutes, is a normal walking pace (consistent walking, not ambling or stopping every few seconds ala shopping), so just straight up walking to your work should be fine.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:17 AM on March 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
While I suppose it is possibly for people to overestimate their exertion, our fitness-obsessed culture has always led me to underestimate how hard I was working. Before I got a heart rate monitor (in my case an Apple Watch), I would have estimated that exercise that turned out to be at 75% of my max heart rate was “moderate” and only exercise at ~95% of my max heart rate was “vigorous”. I believed you really had to be going at it for exercise to be meaningful.
But when I started checking in on my heart rate during exercise and commuting, I realized that my normal brisk city walking pace definitely counted as moderate exercise, and also that if I scaled back on the intensity of my actual workouts to a mostly moderate level I performed better, felt better, and improved faster.
For me, it was a good reality check—I never felt I could use the sweating or talking tests because I run hot in general and am basically always sweating a little, plus I have terrible allergies that are always impacting my breathing. If you don’t want to go all in on your own device, maybe see if a friend has one kicking around they would loan you for a week just so you can do a diagnostic.
posted by CtrlAltDelete at 8:19 AM on March 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
But when I started checking in on my heart rate during exercise and commuting, I realized that my normal brisk city walking pace definitely counted as moderate exercise, and also that if I scaled back on the intensity of my actual workouts to a mostly moderate level I performed better, felt better, and improved faster.
For me, it was a good reality check—I never felt I could use the sweating or talking tests because I run hot in general and am basically always sweating a little, plus I have terrible allergies that are always impacting my breathing. If you don’t want to go all in on your own device, maybe see if a friend has one kicking around they would loan you for a week just so you can do a diagnostic.
posted by CtrlAltDelete at 8:19 AM on March 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
My Garmin watch (which also tracks heart rate) specifically tracks intensity minutes. It records all walking as basically zero, unless I'm sick or it's hot outside, in which case it tracks some of the walking as "moderate" intensity. So walking seems borderline.
I don't know if your knee will allow it, but there is a "rucking" fad going around, that is basically walking/hiking with a weighted backpack. No need for a special backpack or special weights, you can accomplish the same with sand, garbage bags, and duct tape. It makes walking a little harder and gives you sympathy for overburdened students.
The "out of breath" thing is entirely nonsensical. People can run marathons without being out of breath, yet I'm sure we can agree that marathon running counts. I think some of the advice is continually misinterpreted and oversimplified.
posted by meowzilla at 10:06 AM on March 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
I don't know if your knee will allow it, but there is a "rucking" fad going around, that is basically walking/hiking with a weighted backpack. No need for a special backpack or special weights, you can accomplish the same with sand, garbage bags, and duct tape. It makes walking a little harder and gives you sympathy for overburdened students.
The "out of breath" thing is entirely nonsensical. People can run marathons without being out of breath, yet I'm sure we can agree that marathon running counts. I think some of the advice is continually misinterpreted and oversimplified.
posted by meowzilla at 10:06 AM on March 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Okay: shifting the focus on this a bit, since I'm now looking into a fitness tracker. I'm leaning towards the straight-up fitness trackers a bit since I don't need to do the whole Dick-Tracy "I can use my watch as a phone" thing, I just want something that will track my heart rate and activity level, really. So a followup question: asking if anyone has any particular recommendations for a fitness tracker that will also keep track of whether you've done "enough" activity for a given week or whatever, even if you have to input that data yourself. Or if it automatically ties to a web site so you can monitor things that way, that'd be great.
And rucking sounds accessible but it looks like you'd have to go for an hour or so at a time, so it feels more like a future option once I've gotten some kind of habit going already.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:25 AM on March 14, 2023
And rucking sounds accessible but it looks like you'd have to go for an hour or so at a time, so it feels more like a future option once I've gotten some kind of habit going already.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:25 AM on March 14, 2023
I'm also one hates the whole "omg i have to go this PLACE" aspect of exercising, and I have not had a lifelong love of exercise. Last August I got an Apple watch, and since it came with a free month of Apple Fitness+ I tried it out of curiosity -- and since then, there's only three days I haven't hit my daily workout goal. Closing rings is sooo satisfying!
It works with the watch, showing your heart rate and calories on your tv screen as you go. They have tons of workouts for all kinds of things, most of which don't even need equipment -- HIIT, strength, dance, kickboxing, yoga, pilates; there's biking and rowing if you like that, walking and running, etc. Their coaches are encouraging and very kind.
Even without the $10 subscription, the Apple Watch is a great fitness tracker. It'll even start logging a walk and ask if you want to record it as a workout.
have PE classes evolved from the 80s pedagogical approach was "traumatize everyone who isn't a natural athlete"? that could change the world
posted by mimi at 11:02 AM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
It works with the watch, showing your heart rate and calories on your tv screen as you go. They have tons of workouts for all kinds of things, most of which don't even need equipment -- HIIT, strength, dance, kickboxing, yoga, pilates; there's biking and rowing if you like that, walking and running, etc. Their coaches are encouraging and very kind.
Even without the $10 subscription, the Apple Watch is a great fitness tracker. It'll even start logging a walk and ask if you want to record it as a workout.
have PE classes evolved from the 80s pedagogical approach was "traumatize everyone who isn't a natural athlete"? that could change the world
posted by mimi at 11:02 AM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
it's the fact that I have to spend time doing it and have special clothes for it and ugh. If I want to use a recumbent bike, I have to leave my house and go to a gym, then sit there on this damn thing for a period of time going nowhere, then spend more time getting home, and there's an hour gone from my day
Just on this part here. I ride a non-stationary recumbent, and I have since my first long bike trip. People who ride upright bikes wear special clothes, like bike shorts. Not me! All I have to do is make sure I have some pants on*. Then if I want some exercise, I hop on my bike and run errands. And there's zero hours gone from my day.
To also answer the original question, I think you have to check in with your body. It sounds like you and I get similar amounts of exercise. I bike and walk, and everybody assumes that means I'm athletic. Maybe everybody else works differently or something? I am verifiably not athletic, and my body doesn't feel exercised enough unless I'm literally spending 4 hours/day biking or walking.
*Skirts and recumbents don't mix
posted by aniola at 11:25 AM on March 14, 2023
Just on this part here. I ride a non-stationary recumbent, and I have since my first long bike trip. People who ride upright bikes wear special clothes, like bike shorts. Not me! All I have to do is make sure I have some pants on*. Then if I want some exercise, I hop on my bike and run errands. And there's zero hours gone from my day.
To also answer the original question, I think you have to check in with your body. It sounds like you and I get similar amounts of exercise. I bike and walk, and everybody assumes that means I'm athletic. Maybe everybody else works differently or something? I am verifiably not athletic, and my body doesn't feel exercised enough unless I'm literally spending 4 hours/day biking or walking.
*Skirts and recumbents don't mix
posted by aniola at 11:25 AM on March 14, 2023
Response by poster: People who ride upright bikes wear special clothes, like bike shorts. Not me! All I have to do is make sure I have some pants on*. Then if I want some exercise, I hop on my bike and run errands. And there's zero hours gone from my day.
My gym will not allow you just to wear jeans or something, you have to wear Actual Working-Out Clothes. That's what I meant.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:29 AM on March 14, 2023
My gym will not allow you just to wear jeans or something, you have to wear Actual Working-Out Clothes. That's what I meant.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:29 AM on March 14, 2023
*If* your knee will hold up, one easy way to do this would be to walk faster on your way home every day - basically race your last week's average. That will put your heart rate up.
I have a pretty base model Fitbit that I like. You can tie it to your smartphone or look on the website (but it needs a bluetooth connection to a device whether laptop, etc., to update to either.)
posted by warriorqueen at 11:37 AM on March 14, 2023
I have a pretty base model Fitbit that I like. You can tie it to your smartphone or look on the website (but it needs a bluetooth connection to a device whether laptop, etc., to update to either.)
posted by warriorqueen at 11:37 AM on March 14, 2023
Mod note: Hi Op, please limit your future responses in thread, as Ask Metafilter is more for concrete questions and answers and less for back and forth type chatfitler.
If you have additional or related questions, feel free to start another question, thanks!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 11:42 AM on March 14, 2023
If you have additional or related questions, feel free to start another question, thanks!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 11:42 AM on March 14, 2023
I have a useful concept for you! The concept is a MET unit. A MET unit is the objective measure of the ratio of the rate at which a person expends energy, relative to the mass of that person, while performing some specific physical activity compared to a reference, set by convention at 3.5 mL of oxygen per kilogram per minute, which is roughly equivalent to the energy expended when sitting quietly.
There’s a lot of math involved but basically 1 MET is the energy you expend sitting on the coach quietly for 1 minute. The key here is that you are looking to reach a total number of METs over a week, and you can achieve that by doing a relatively low-MET activity for a long time, or a relatively high MET activity for a shorter time. As long as you get to the total number of recommended METs you are likely to achieve the benefits of the recommended exercise guidelines.*
There is a chart on the Wikipedia page that approximates different MEt values for different activities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent_of_task
So, for example, you can either do 150 minutes of walking (3 MET) a week (which does in fact meet the guidelines), or you can expend more effort over a shorter time to achieve similar benefits, for example, 75 minutes of bicycling (6 MET).
*that said, you would undoubtedly reap additional benefits with more and more vigorous exercise. The return on investment for health and longevity seems to diminish above around (iirc) 6 hours of vigorous excise a week. You could also add just a few minutes, like seriously 5 minutes three times of week, of high intensity interval training, and see huge benefits. And if you can devote a few minutes a week towards lifting heavy things that also has many, many additional benefits.
posted by bq at 12:18 PM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
There’s a lot of math involved but basically 1 MET is the energy you expend sitting on the coach quietly for 1 minute. The key here is that you are looking to reach a total number of METs over a week, and you can achieve that by doing a relatively low-MET activity for a long time, or a relatively high MET activity for a shorter time. As long as you get to the total number of recommended METs you are likely to achieve the benefits of the recommended exercise guidelines.*
There is a chart on the Wikipedia page that approximates different MEt values for different activities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent_of_task
So, for example, you can either do 150 minutes of walking (3 MET) a week (which does in fact meet the guidelines), or you can expend more effort over a shorter time to achieve similar benefits, for example, 75 minutes of bicycling (6 MET).
*that said, you would undoubtedly reap additional benefits with more and more vigorous exercise. The return on investment for health and longevity seems to diminish above around (iirc) 6 hours of vigorous excise a week. You could also add just a few minutes, like seriously 5 minutes three times of week, of high intensity interval training, and see huge benefits. And if you can devote a few minutes a week towards lifting heavy things that also has many, many additional benefits.
posted by bq at 12:18 PM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
I relate to this so much, I think of it as 'integrated exercise', and yes, I walked or biked to do errands. Multitasking!
I got a FitBit Inspire 2 for free from a friend. If your employer has a wellness plan and you're game to link it up, you might be able to earn some free gift/Visa cards as well.
posted by leemleem at 1:13 PM on March 14, 2023
I got a FitBit Inspire 2 for free from a friend. If your employer has a wellness plan and you're game to link it up, you might be able to earn some free gift/Visa cards as well.
posted by leemleem at 1:13 PM on March 14, 2023
I also have an Inspire 2, and it was only like $55 bucks on sale, so not much of an investment if you don't like it, and it has a heartrate monitor and tries to rate approximate exercise 'quality'.
posted by The_Vegetables at 3:22 PM on March 14, 2023
posted by The_Vegetables at 3:22 PM on March 14, 2023
Well I confirm I stayed the same weight for about 15 years until work from home and a job change cut my walking to almost nothing, and now I'm a weak noodle of non-fitness. I also walk as city transportation and based on the reactions of visiting suburban friends it's a different speed and thing from wandering the mall.
posted by sepviva at 4:19 PM on March 14, 2023
posted by sepviva at 4:19 PM on March 14, 2023
I have a FitBit and use it for more or less exactly this information. I have an Inspire 2. It counts steps, measures "zone minutes" and heart rate, and tracks the number of minutes of activity per week. You can set goals and track exercise. I know there are other options, but a cheap FitBit will do a lot of what you want.
posted by gingerbeer at 4:59 PM on March 14, 2023
posted by gingerbeer at 4:59 PM on March 14, 2023
I would say the walking does count towards something.
"HerGardenGym" on Instagram has some suggestions for low impact workouts (especially for problem knees) which are a bit of strength training and cardio, I think.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 5:55 PM on March 14, 2023
"HerGardenGym" on Instagram has some suggestions for low impact workouts (especially for problem knees) which are a bit of strength training and cardio, I think.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 5:55 PM on March 14, 2023
Yeah, I have a cheap fitbit. I was surprised that my normal moderate paced 2 mile walk to the coffee shop and back put me into the "target zone" heart rate for most of the walk. Especially when there was any incline, even a small one. I definitely recommend seeing what your current walks are doing.
I also hate the whole process of going for a workout (clothes, commute, strangers, and getting on a machine to go nowhere) so I bought a set of suspension strap training gear for my home office and do a few minutes here and there as I get a break between meetings, or on my way in and out to the kitchen for a snack, etc.
I'm also considering getting a bike for small errands. It's almost as fast to bike a couple miles as it is to take the car and find parking where I live. Maybe that would work for you, exercise with a purpose? I hate exercise for the exercise sake.
posted by CleverClover at 5:58 PM on March 14, 2023
I also hate the whole process of going for a workout (clothes, commute, strangers, and getting on a machine to go nowhere) so I bought a set of suspension strap training gear for my home office and do a few minutes here and there as I get a break between meetings, or on my way in and out to the kitchen for a snack, etc.
I'm also considering getting a bike for small errands. It's almost as fast to bike a couple miles as it is to take the car and find parking where I live. Maybe that would work for you, exercise with a purpose? I hate exercise for the exercise sake.
posted by CleverClover at 5:58 PM on March 14, 2023
Response by poster: Well, screw it -
My brand-new Fitbit Luxe is downloading a software update as we speak, and I've also sucked it up and bookmarked a 20-minute cardio exercise video to do every weekday after work. I figure that trying to figure this out WITH additional information is probably best.
Thanks.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:17 AM on March 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
My brand-new Fitbit Luxe is downloading a software update as we speak, and I've also sucked it up and bookmarked a 20-minute cardio exercise video to do every weekday after work. I figure that trying to figure this out WITH additional information is probably best.
Thanks.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:17 AM on March 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
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You don't have to be short of breath if you are not talking, let alone puffing and sweating.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:41 AM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]