Weekend workouts might be enough for your health

Weekend workouts vs regular exercise

New research released by the Journal of the American Heart Association¹ suggests that doing at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise in just two days had similar health benefits as staggering it throughout the week.

What the study found

Zhi-Hao Li, Ph.D. epidemiologist at the School of Public Health at Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China and the study's lead author, says: "You don't need to exercise every day to stay healthy. As long as you get 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week - whether packed into one to two days or spread out - you can significantly reduce your chance of dying from cardiovascular disease, cancer or other causes."

If you're finding it hard to squeeze in daily workouts during a busy week, weekend workouts might still help you meet your recommended activity levels.

Li says: “The research provides reassuring evidence that even sporadic physical activity can have lasting health benefits, making it easier for people to prioritise their wellbeing amid busy schedules.”

How much exercise should you get?

Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Heart Association (AHA) recommend that, over the course of a week, you should aim for one of the following:

Key findings

The study, which included more than 93,000 people from a large biomedical database in the UK explored how different physical activity patterns affected the chance of dying from all causes - specifically heart disease and cancer.

Researchers categorised the data into three groups of people:

• Active weekend warrior - completed most of their exercise in one or two days.

• Active regular - spread their activity throughout the week.

• Inactive - did not complete the recommended minimum of 150 minutes of weekly physical activity.

Compared to the inactive group, the weekend warrior and active regular groups had a significantly lower likelihood of death from all causes, cardiovascular disease and cancer if they completed 150 minutes of physical activity a week.

“This reinforces the idea that meeting the 150-minutes of physical activity per week guideline is key to longevity, regardless of the activity pattern,” Li says. “Any activity - whether structured exercise such as jogging, or daily tasks such as gardening - can be included if the intensity is moderate to vigorous.”

Keith Diaz, Ph.D., Florence Irving Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, USA says the study's findings emphasise that the total volume of physical activity is the crucial factor for health benefits - rather than how it is distributed across a week.

“Many people struggle to fit in daily exercise during the workweek," says the American Heart Association expert volunteer, and member of the Association’s Physical Activity Science Committee. "However, this research shows that even if you can only be active on the weekends, you can still gain meaningful health benefits."

Essential advice for weekend warrior workouts

Diaz adds that one important caveat to remember is that trying to fit 150 minutes of exercise into just one or two days can be a lot on your body.

"Some research suggests that weekend warriors have a slightly higher likelihood of musculoskeletal injuries compared to those who exercise more regularly," he says.

"However, the benefits of exercising just on the weekend far outweigh the potential health hazards. If you are going to be a weekend warrior, make sure you do proper warm-ups and build up and progress to higher volumes of activity over time. This will help to reduce your chance of injuries.”

Further reading

1. Liao et al: Association of Accelerometer‐Derived Physical Activity Pattern With the Risks of All‐Cause, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer Death