Hello, If I may jump into this discussion , for what outcomes exactly are these recommendations for? And would adding 40 min cardio session after each workout if training 4 times a week cut it?
What are those consequences (for the strength training population)?
I actually think this pokes at something deeper: How to get people to change behavior? In short, I think itās pretty typical that folks have their own exercise preferences, perceived time restrictions, and motivations. How do we integrate these to make a recommendation that people can adhere to? Iām of the opinion that this is a backwards way of looking at behavioral change, as most people donāt need more education in order to change, rather they need to want to do it themselves. How to get people to that state of change is an individualized process, but rather than just tell people what to do- I think a good practitioner should be focused on evoking the individualās own motivations and resources for change prior to directing them towards and particular strategy.
Just as an aside, these conditioning recommendations are unlikely to compromise LBM and strength acquisition. Quite the opposite, in fact.
2 Likes
I am hopeful individuals will be more active through other less formal activities, e.g. walking, recreational sports, etc. In general, our templates get folks about halfway there each week 
1 Like
I assume thatās German for, āI stand corrected.ā
See the next post for āwhyā these are important.
If you did 4 sessions of 40 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic conditioning, thatād be 160 minutes, which would meet the minimum recommendations.
Again, this is for all populations as the strength training population is not unique in this context.
Meeting the physical activity guidelines can:
-Improve quality of sleep (decreased sleep latency, increased deep sleep duration, reduced daytime sleepiness)
- Improved cognitive function (planning, organizing, self-monitoring, etc.)
- Reduced risk of depression and adjunctive treatment of depression
- Reduced symptoms of anxiety
- reduced incidence of excessive weight gain
- reduced risk of falls and fall-related injuries
-reduced risk of certain types of cancer (e.g. breast, colon, esophageal, bladder, kidney, lung, stomach) - reduced risk of hypertension and improvement of existing hypertension
- reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and improved of existing diabetes
- improvement of osteoarthritis
1 Like
The recommendations are quite broad, which I suppose is the nature of such things, and simply recommending more seems to lead to further ambiguity.
Iām not sure what you mean. Can you explain?
The recommendations are:
75-150 min of vigorous aerobic activity per week or 150-300 min of moderate intensity aerobic activity per week (or some combination of the two)
2x/wk resistance training
Theyāve been exactly this for 10 years and Iām not sure what you mean by ambiguity or that eliminating the range would increase adherence.
Thanks Jordan. At first glace this does seem like a lot to fit in (classic excuse, I know), but breaking it down doesnāt seem too bad - Iām just thinking that to get minimum 150 moderate intensity per week would require c.20mins steady state cardio per day, and then on top of that to get minimum 75 mins vigorous would require c.10mins HIIT at the end of the moderate cardio (assuming itās okay to do both moderate and vigorous intensity in the same session?).
Equates to about 30-40 mins per day, which could easily be done before breakfast - right?
75 min of vigorous to 300 min of moderate and, I guess, any combination in between seems like a fairly broad recommendation to me, and you recommended 'to āexceedā that.
I know these general population based recommendations tend to be broad and I donāt know what would increase adherence. I suppose Iām just a little surprised by the level. I mean, you are doing your BBM template and not even skipping the GPP days, feeling pretty good about yourself and then find out you need to run 3 miles 4 days a week in addition. Seems like quite a bit, however there it is. Iād be curious how the numbers were determined.
Itās either or (or some combination of the two) to meet the conditioning recommendations. In other words, you donāt have to do both, but rather do one or the other.
This would be 25 min of vigorous aerobic activity 3x/wk or 40 min of moderate aerobic activity 3x/wk accumulated in 5 minute bouts.
Theyāre different recommendations and yes, weād like you to be more active than less.
No, you donāt need to run 3 miles 4x/wk to meet the recommendations. Youād need to do about 20-30 minutes of activity 2 additional times per week. Iād really encourage you to read the guidelines.
thanks Jordan, I guess a lot of people wanted to know more too.
I settled with 200min of moderate intensity per week for now, adding sessions of brisky walking.
My training sessions are close to my bedtime now, because the new routine of cardio. Only 1 hour before bedtime, it is a issue?
Another issue is that I am getting dizzy, when I am brisk walking at treadmill, I guess it is motion sickness. I hope my body will adapt over time
Ahh right, apologies I thought the requirement was for both. Thanks.
Not sure that math works out, Doc, but donāt want to come off as pedantic. Good day!
All of these can be said about strength training alone, so in this sense the strength training population is unique. Hence the question: What are the benefits of doing (or consequences of not doing) 150-300 minutes of aerobic training each week?
Itās emoji speak, come on old man get with the times!
Not really, no. The benefit is additive and there is a dose-dependent relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and improvement in many of these outcomes. The consequences of not meeting the aerobic training minimums is that your health benefits from training are likely to be worse for all listed health conditions and increased mortality risk.
Letās look at this closer. If the template recommends something like 35 min of steady state conditioning (35 of 150) and 24 min HIIT (24 of 75) would be pretty close to halfway there.