now you say I need 4x more cardio?
Now you say I need 4X more cardio?
British study says 630 minutes per week of cardio is the new standard—sort of
The headline of a recent email caught my attention
“NEW STUDY: WHY 150 minutes of cardio is NOT ENOUGH for your heart.”
I had to dig deeper.
I wanted to know the details of this study, how it was done, how the researches came to their conclusion, what the CDC here in the US thought of the study and were they going to change their recommended 150 minutes per week.
I called my wife to come and sit with me, and we read the contents of the email together.
“It’s interesting,” she said. “I mean, do the math. It means an hour and a half per day. We do at least that and we don’t exactly work out anymore.”
“Right. I just get up every morning, look outside and say, ‘Hey, Honey. It’s a nice day outside. You want a bike ride or a hike?”
She laughed. “Or, you say, ‘Hey, Honey, it’s a crappy day outside. What do you say we go out and have some fun anyway? Bring a raincoat.”
She was right. Not much stops us from just getting out. Getting out and moving.
I was curious to see how much we actually move each week so I grabbed my journal. I have not kept track of weekly bike rides or mountain hikes, but it was pretty easy to put the times together. My low total for any week over the last couple of months was 10 hours. Fourteen to fifteen hours of activity per week seemed average.
My wife and I do most of these activities together. We go on three bike rides together every week. In summer, when the valley is hot, we ride in the higher elevations close to Mammoth lakes at an elevation of 7,000 to 8,000 feet.
Also in summer we head to high country for mountain hikes at 10,000 feet elevation or more. We do that together also, two or three times a week. She has taken to rucking lately—thanks to Michael Easter or maybe Peter Attia. She carries a 20 pound weight vest for her hikes twice a week. I just throw a 16-pound sandbag plus water bottles and snacks into my daypack.
I do at least one solo bike ride a week and jam in some extra mileage.
Granted we’re retired and have all the time we want for outdoor adventure, but we weren’t exactly slouches during our working life. My routine was 200-300 miles of cycling per week. Andrea swam a minimum of an hour and a half per day—sometimes pool and sometimes ocean back when we still worked full time.
Meanwhile, I read more about the cited study. Researchers at Oxford University tried a unique approach, instead of relying on each study participants’ self-reported activity, participants were required to wear a fitness watch with accelerometer. That way there was no fudging. Exact minutes per week including speed were recorded.
There were over 90,000 participants and all were followed for up to 8 years after the initial recording of activity levels.
The 150 minutes per week of cardiovascular activity per week was found to be an excellent baseline, because in this UK study that level of activity dropped the likelihood of cardiovascular incident (stroke, heart attack, new cardiovascular condition) by 8-9%.
However, that higher level of exercise, 600-630 minutes per week, was shown to decrease cardiovascular events by 30%. A much better number and now considered the benchmark.
Surprisingly, researchers saw no upper ceiling. It has been assumed that too much aerobic activity could harm the heart. According to this study that was not the case.
What about incidents of atrial fibrillation—Afib—among extreme endurance athletes, like ultra-marathoners and marathon swimmers? I may get to that in another article, as this does occur, but the researchers stand by their findings: no upper limit.
There is more to unpack here. Researchers found that for unfit people, the recommended 150 minutes per week was not enough to bring down the risk of cardiovascular problems. An additional 30-50 minutes per week was needed to get that 8-9% reduction in cardiovascular events. That turned out to be because the unfit people just beginning an exercise program exercised at such low intensity that they needed to go longer. Researchers recommend that previously sedentary and unfit people should be monitored by a physician or experienced trainer to note changes in fitness.
When markers such as resting heart rate showed clear signs of improvement, those people could reduce activity to 150 minutes per week.
Unless…unless the person says, “Well, 8-9% reduction in heart problems is nice, but I like that 30% figure a lot better. How about I go for that?”
That takes about 10.5 hours per week of aerobic activity. For many, that’s daunting. That’s why the CDC says go for 150 minutes per week. They would rather not be unmotivating.
You know my approach. It’s get outside and do something. Severe wind sometimes cancels. I could say snow cancels, but do you have any idea how long it takes to clear a 100 yard long driveway when the snow is 3 feet deep? And rain does not cancel. Right, I know. Maybe we’re a couple of outdoor nuts.
Was the headline of the email I mentioned at the beginning a bit over the top? Sure. Clickbait. And yet in the end accurate.