If you struggle to fit regular exercise into your daily routine, you’re not alone.
However, a recent study has discovered that intermittent exercise can provide the same benefits as regular workouts, so you can squeeze your fitness in around your busy schedule without sacrificing any of the positive effects on your mental and physical health.
Read on to discover more about weekend workouts and how you can make the most of them.
A study found intermittent exercise could be as effective as regular exercise
The study discovered that people who exercised just once or twice a week received the same health benefits as those who regularly exercised.
Similar to frequent exercisers, these “weekend warriors” – people who fit a week’s worth of exercise into one or two days – have a lower risk of developing more than 200 diseases compared to inactive people.
Becoming a weekend warrior can be a great option for those whose work or life gets in the way of exercising during the week and who would rather do their fitness in two longer sessions.
The NHS recommends that people between the ages of 19 and 65 take part in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity, 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, or a combination of both each week.
Over two days, this would become an even split of 75 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or around 40 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity each day.
Here’s how you can become a weekend warrior
If you think exercising on the weekend might help you get in shape this year, keep reading for our tips on how you can make the most out of intermittent exercise.
1. Include more than one type of exercise
It’s important to incorporate several different areas of exercise into your workouts, which can be more difficult when you’re doing so over a shorter period.
The NHS recommends that you should be engaging in aerobic activity — the kind that raises your heart rate and makes it difficult to hold a conversation — as well as strength training.
Aerobic exercise includes activities such as:
- Swimming
- Jogging
- Dancing
While strength training includes:
- Lifting weights
- Cycling
- Yoga or pilates
Finding a balance between the different types of exercise can help you create the most efficient workout in the shortest amount of time.
2. Create a plan
It’s important to plan so you can spend your free time wisely.
Creating a workout plan for yourself will help you to ensure you can balance your duties with your health. You can save yourself time when you’re free on the weekend to exercise by booking fitness classes or deciding what area of fitness you’d like to work on in advance.
It is also vital to plan a workout that suits your fitness level. Planning a longer workout might mean you also have to prepare a suitable meal beforehand so you have the energy to exercise for longer without overdoing it.
3. Make it fun
For those who enjoy going to the gym, this may seem like a no-brainer. But for those who don’t consider themselves the sporty type, it is important to find the fun in your exercise routines.
Some fun exercises you might want to try include:
- Aerial silks
- Roller skating
- Geocaching
- Table tennis
- Indoor rock climbing
Try lots of different activities until you discover one you enjoy, and you’ll find yourself much more motivated to take on those longer workouts.
4. Exercise with other people
Finding other people to exercise with can help you balance your social life and your physical health.
It can be difficult to balance a full-time job and your responsibilities with socialising with your friends and family. Although exercising at the weekend is good for your physical health, it’s important to maintain your mental health by socialising.
Whether you are working out in a gym with your friends or engaging in a team sport or an exercise club, spending time with other people can help to hold you accountable and make fitness more fun.
5. Don’t overdo it
Squeezing all your exercises into one weekend can lead to a higher risk of over-exercising and injuring yourself.
When partaking in long endurance fitness sessions, it’s especially important to build thorough warmups and cool-downs into all your exercise routines so you don’t cause yourself any injuries.