Minimum Requirements

I don’t have my little video done for today but I wanted to get this posted anyways!
Do you guys know that the government (more specifically the Center for Disease Control and Prevention or the CDC) releases info every few years as to what the minimum requirements Americans need to get health benefits? I think that this is pretty cool! They put millions of dollars (I’m sure) into studies and research to determine what we need to be healthy.

I mean, they won’t tell you how to prepare for a body building competition or how to be super duper thin but they do tell you how to get the health benefits of exercise… to me, that is so important! Not all of us can or want to be fitness models or super models, we just want to be healthy! This is becoming more and more important to me as I get older. I want my body to function properly, ya know?

Let’s start with the cardiovascular/aerobic requirements-

The bare minimum to get health benefits is really not that much at all! You need to do either of the following or a combination of the two:

• 150 minutes (or 2 hours 30 min) of moderate-intensity activity per week
• 75 minutes (or 1 hour 15 min) of vigorous-intensity activity per week

Like hi. Spread throughout the week you can TOTALLY do that. Even if you split it into 10 minute segments. You can definitely get this done.

If you’re already used to doing the minimum and want to up your game, try working your way up to here:

• 300 minutes (5 hours) of moderate-intensity activity per week (that is only an hour a day during the week- not including Saturday!)
• 150 minutes (2 hours 30 min) of vigorous-intensity activity per week (30 minutes a day peeps…. not unreasonable at all!!)

Sooooo what does moderate and what does vigorous mean?
Honestly, this will be different for every person based on what your fitness level is right now. You’ll have to decide for yourself (using tools like a heart rate monitor can be very helpful for determining where you should be). Brisk walking may be vigorous for one person and moderate for another. Again, it all depends on where you are right now!
If you need help figuring out where you should be or start, just email me! I’ll do whatever I can to point you in the right direction.

Lets talk weights now.
As much as I love cardio weights are just as important! My two favorite benefits of weight lifting is that you actually burn more calories throughout the day (more muscles = a higher metabolism) and your bones can actually get stronger. I know that lots of women suffer from osteoporosis (where your bones get more porous and not as strong) as they age. I don’t know about you but if I can avoid a hip replacement I sure as heck want to.
I love THIS article from Women’s Health Magazine. Super easy to understand and really encouraging!

The requirements are really simple and stay pretty consistent (once you get used to this, you could of course pick up more days that you do weights and strength training):

• Strength train 2 or more days of the week and be sure to work all of your major muscle groups at least once throughout the week

What are the major muscle groups? Literally all you have to do is split your body into sections: arms, shoulders, chest, abs, back, and legs. Easy peasy right?

The cardio and strength training is key but don’t forget to stretch after every workout! Staying limber gets more and more important (I swear as you get older even by a year you get tighter and tighter).  Your bod will thank you for staying flexible! It’s also a good excuse to cool your body down, which is mega important! I’ll be posting a warm up and cool down segment for you next week that can be used for basically any workout that you do! Keep an eye out for that.

Top: Forever 21, sold out but similar HERE _
Bottoms: Nordstrom, found in store, similar HERE​
Shoes: JCPenny, found in store, similar HERE
Photography: Sarah Arnoff Photos