unsure about current conditioning dosage when it comes to meeting guidelines

Hey BBM crew,

I hope you’re well. I’m having difficulty with dosing my conditioning activity to meet the physical activity guidelines (and eventually exceed them). Specifically, I’m not sure where I fall whether using MET dosage, or total time of activity.

I just increased it but:

Stationary Bike
25 minute duration
3x week
~74-79% of predicted maximum heart rate
138-152 bpm, consistently near the higher rather than lower range

Whether in MET minutes or activity duration (within either a moderate intensity and/or vigorous range), where does this put me and where should I reasonable head? In my current life context, I’m happy with meeting or exceeding the guidelines by a little.

Thanks!!

Andrew

Andrew,

I suspect you already think that you’re not doing enough conditioning, as 75-min/wk of ~ zone 2 work is not really enough by any metric, as it’s probably not vigorous intensity (e.g. > 6 METs). That said, calculating METs from HR isn’t straightforward. A number of formulae have been proposed, with 0.05 * HR(net) + 2, where HRnet is HR (during activity) - resting HR. I’m guessing you’re currently ~ 350 MET-min/wk of conditioning. I’d aim to ~ double your conditioning as you’re currently doing it.

-Jordan

don’t think HR data of this meets the current guidelines as it’s 75 min/wk of

Hey Jordan,

Brilliant. Thank you. I’ll now work my way towards doubling it!

Andrew