“There is always going to be a reason why you can’t do something; your job is to constantly look for the reasons why you can achieve your dreams.” - Shannon Miller
Let’s talk about what’s the best type of exercise.
While I am not a personal trainer, (and I do appreciate professionals staying in their lane) I am an athlete and holistic healthcare professional and get asked this question A LOT! So I did my research and here’s what I found out. So, let’s dive right in.
Let me tell it to you straight: the best exercise is the one you will do and do consistently.
The CDC recommends the average adult in the US get 150 minutes of moderate to intense exercise or 75 minutes of intense exercise weekly. While the WHO recommends up to twice that amount plus 2 days of strength. Moderate exercise is roughly defined by the ability to be able to have a conversation while moving but can’t quite sing a song.
Now, I grew up with parents who were tennis teaching professionals, and both amazing athletes in multiple sports. Mom qualified for the Boston marathon while pregnant with me, and dad had a full-ride baseball scholarship in college. So, as one might imagine, I grew up an athlete, knowing nothing less.
For me, exercise, physical activity or movement, whatever you feel comfortable calling it, was a normal daily habit and part of life.
But I know for many of my clients and maybe even you, it can be a challenging habit to develop, especially later in life when we feel we already have a million and one things to do.
I think rather than really getting too tied up on what is THE BEST type of exercise, it’s really more of a question of what you enjoy and what will you do or even want to do. Then find time to do that every day or week.
Even after a big injury in 2019, where I was forced to take over a year off regular exercise, I had to start again by adding it to my calendar and treating it like any other important meeting or appointment so I could make it a regular habit again.
Aside from that, I will tell you that what we do know about activity does have different benefits. Here’s a few things that we know from scientific research:
Start where you are. If you do nothing start by standing more, then a 10-minute walk. If you are an endurance runner, try adding 1-2 sessions of 10-20 minutes of weights to start and build up from there. And maybe it’s something as fun as picking up a new sport like pickleball?
Don’t do something you don’t like because you think you have to or someone told you needed to for whatever reason! I promise you will likely not stick to it. And really what you want to do is create a habit.
More frequent smaller volumes of moderate to intense movements are typically better than one larger one only once a week. This can be anything from 10-20 minutes of HIIT to mowing the lawn or chopping wood.
People get hung up on one type of exercise they believe is best, but it is also, like food, and variety, that seems to be the most beneficial. Think aerobic and anaerobic every week.
Think of movement on a sliding scale, the more intense the work is the shorter duration is good, and the more gentle the movement the longer you can do that. So, this can beam shorter time with weights and longer time hiking or walking.
If you are a busy person, HIIT is the best bang for your time.
Something is often better than nothing.
BUT if you have adrenal insufficiency or ever feel so exhausted after exercise you can’t go on, you likely want to dial it back. This could be inhibiting any type of healing, further compromising your adrenals and causing more stress on the body than is good.
The top five types of movements best for different reasons are: walking, strength training, cycling, swimming and yoga.
Over the longer term aerobic exercises (think cardiovascular exercises like running, walking, cycling, and swimming) are shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, breast and colon cancer, depression and bone health.
My weekly routine has currently evolved over a year into weight lifting 30-45 minutes 5-6 times a week, one run outdoors or a spin on the bike inside, maybe yoga once with daily walks and lots of stretching and foam rolling to stay healthy, so I can keep doing all this.
Just remember whatever you do, enjoy it, and do it regularly!