How much exercise do you do each week, and why?

[Blissybop]

Bit of a debate with a friend about how much the average person exercises so I was wondering if you were being totally honest how much do you excercise? Not just the gym but any sport, class, hiking etc.

And also why? As in why do you/don’t you?

Whilst others may enjoy sitting at home watching Netflix , I would rather be doing a reformer class at my gym

In the real world though most people do both

I am not arguing with rest days, rest is definitely important and I do know many people who have had issues due to overtraining. But general population does not need to worry about that, and you can certainly go to gym more than twice per week.

Oh that’s great to hear you’re getting back at it. Well done. May you remain well and injury free!

@OhThePotential running a farm is really hard physical work!

@Lampzade Yes i said claiming cos i think some on here are bullshitting and if not are either over training or doing very low impact classes.

I used to kickbox at a fairly high level - blackbelt path - and did not as many exercise sessions as people are claiming on here - I generally did five hours a week of training and sparring and an hour of yoga and then my general "life" exercise - eg walking etc..

Rest days are important but I would say that for a person who is quite fit, a ‘rest day’ can include things like yoga and walking. I like loafing as much as the next person but if I do too much of it, I lose flexibility really quickly- hip flexors and hamstrings 😫

Why would people lie though? It's not very nice to accuse people of lieing.

I hope that PT upthread isn’t working with women. Terrible advice for bone health and functional fitness.

We have some really great women PTs in our town who are getting menopausal and post-menopausal women into lifting, it’s fantastic when I go past the gym and they’re doing one of the classes outside with the free weights.

I think I will stick to listening to my Olympic gold medalist coach thanks.

Tbf to @Ginmonkeyagainpeople lie all the time
on here. As for why, who knows but people are weird. Channel 4 documentaries taught me this!

What has much exercise you used to do got to do with how much other people do now? I don’t see the connection.

Is he even qualified? I get saying something to make you happy but the dude should be honest, either that or he’s the worlds most clueless pt.

An hour of dog walking when I’m not in the office (he either goes to daycare or DH is with him when I am in the office so he still gets exercised!).
30-45 mins pole or hoop 5-6 times a week.
20 mins of weights after pole/ hoop.

I’ve just bought a little stepper machine for under my desk as work as I really struggle with sitting still!

@Ginmonkeyagain
I think that it’s worth remembering that everyone’s definition of a ‘lot of exercise’ is different
Being a former professional kick-boxer obviously gives you a very different frame of reference but that doesn’t mean that other people are exaggerating what they do .
Some people genuinely train for hours a week especially when their exercise includes
walking , gym sessions, classes , swimming etc
I do a lot of exercise myself so I know that it’s perfectly possible to have a routine that sounds excessive to someone else but is simply normal for you .

You do realise that different sports will have different training programmes? I train six days a week but each session is not maximum effort. Some of my water sessions are technical focused, others geared around high intensity. Same with land training and ergs, the latter will be a mix of UT2 steady state rowing and others high anaerobic interval training which blow out your lungs and legs. In between the weights sessions there is stretching and core work.

It would be a bit pointless to pretend online that you do more exercise than you do. No one knows who you are!

Perhaps you’re right that some of the replies aren’t true or are exaggerated. But I teach fitness classes and can assure you that many of the same people come to many of the same classes. I have participants who do more classes than me (15 a week).

I have a participant who cut down from 14 classes a week to 10 a week, and recently cut down again to 8 classes a week. She turns 88 next month. Most of the classes she is now doing are yoga and Pilates based but she also still does Bodycombat. She’s completely awesome and an excellent example to us all.

I have an 80 year old friend at my gym and she does three classes a day on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. She swims on Wednesday and walks her dog twice a day.

I go to a mixture of spin, weights & general toning classes around 3/4 times a week, 45 mins each. I occasionally do yoga, pilates, gym workout & swimming too. I go for a walk on the days I don't go to the gym. I also run around 5k with a friend every 1-2 weeks

This is bonkers coming from a PT.

I’m not sure who he trained with but I also have a fitness qualification (that I don’t use, I just used to further my own practise) and the level 3 anatomy part of the course was very detailed. There were whole units on osteoporosis and the aging body. I was so shocked to realise how easy an aging body can become frail and literally fracture as well as lose muscle. You don’t need to be throwing heavy weights about but I would say lifting weights is more important in your 50s than it is in your 20s! You’re not building your body up but fighting to keep it.

Whilst swimming is great for you I would personally say combining it with Pilates or yoga is the best because they too give all over body conditioning but they also focus on functional mobility. You don’t do any other classes which focus on toe mobility- your toes are so important as you age because they aid you getting up and down!

Absolutely none. Exercise bores me rigid. I'm fairly active in the normal course of my life - I don't drive, so I walk everywhere - but I don't do anything for the sake of exercise.

my gym has a special seniors package with non peak hours entry time, so they all show up just when I'm finishing my morning class. I am pretty sure many of them are there every single day, and why not? As people are saying, does not mean they go full out every single day, some days it may be just stretching. And they are all fit and mobile.

I have to say, I have a gut feeling (based on zero scientific knowledge) that your boyfriend is right.

exercises come and go - in 20 years time reformer Pilates and weight lifting will seem terribly passé but of course they will have been replaced by something else.

a really close friend of mine, late 30s, trains 4-5 times a week lifting heavy weights. She has a recurring shoulder injury and another friend of hers also has an injury. I have to ask myself - what is this all for? It’s not your career, you’re not an Olympian. Weight is 80% diet, and you can be healthy by walking, I agree swimming is great. I find yoga good and if I had a bit more time I’d do that a bit more regularly. But I really think we’re exhausting ourselves doing all this exercise or stressing ourselves out thinking we’re not doing enough!!

I know not everyone is going to agree.

I tend to agree too. I think resistance work, which can be weights, is important, but suspect the OTT heavy lifting is a fad.

No one should heavy lift to injury, it should be done in a safe and knowledgeable way, it isn’t it’s a fad, it’s your friends are clueless and hurting themselves.

Exercise is so much more than weight though, I do it for the improvement in my mental health and increase in positive thoughts. It makes me feel 10/10 happy rather than 7/10.