Meeting the Physical Activity Guidelines

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

I have two questions about meeting the physical activity guidelines.

  1. When it comes to aerobic exercise, are “heart rate zones” a good metric to determine if you are meeting the proper intensity (ex: zone 2=moderate, zone 3=vigorous)?

  2. If heart rate zones are a good way to track aerobic exercise, I am wondering if my resistance training would count towards the 150-300 minutes of cardio. I do steady state cardio every day for 22 minutes in heart rate zone 2, and I also lift 6 times a week. I exclusively do bodybuilding style training so due to the higher rep sets and shorter rest times, my heart rate is usually elevated to the same rate it would be during cardio for the majority of the training session. Can I count the time spent with an elevated heart rate during my lifting sessions towards the 150-300 minute recommendation?

2

Riley,

  1. Heart rate zones can be used, sure. Similarly, one could look up the activity they’re doing on the met compendium and see if it’s vigorous or moderate conditioning activity. I don’t think most people who are regularly active need to micromanage this though.

  2. Resistance training does not count at all towards conditioning and there are ways to elevate your HR that do not count as exercise at all. While lifting weights is part of the activity guidelines, the conditioning recommendation is separate from them. 10/10 would recommend doing both.

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