Exercise duration per week (Poll)

[imjustawarrior]

Please describe your exercise routine in your response. I will leave it up to the individual to define exercise.

Hike 2 days a week for a total of about 5-6 hours. I try to do elevation with every hike. If I feel good, I'll run some of the trail.
Row 2 days a week. I am building up my steady state (zone 2) duration. Currently, it is 40 minutes. I also do one Norwegian 4x4 on the rower which takes 35 minutes.
I try to do some stretching, pushups, and dumbbells.

I spend about 1 hour a day walking the dog, but I'm not counting that in my exercise time.

 

[SecondCor521]

Ski with my daughter about once a week. Elapsed time 4 hours minimum, but not sure if that should count as all exercise since one sits on the lift half the time.

Lift/HIIT at the gym with same daughter usually twice a week.

Zone 2 run or lift/HIIT at the gym solo about once a week.

Half hour neighborhood walks mostly for stress reduction, not really exercise but counts as movement at least.

Will be starting to train in early February for a half marathon in May. That will replace the lift/HIIT stuff and will probably be five days a week of running, most days will probably be at least 2-3 miles up to maybe 8-10 miles for the longer training days.

 

[braumeister]

Very brisk (zone 2) walk, 70-90 minutes, every morning (barring days with rain or snow).
Strength training at random times during the day.

 

[DayDreaming]

At least one long hike with elevation per week - 12-15 miles usually.
Yard work, volunteer trail maintenance and forest stewardship - no set schedule.
My routine is... not much of a routine - some days I do very little exercise, if I hike, that's 5 or 6 hours continuous exercise.

 

[Ronstar]

60 mins zone 1 walk on treadmill and 45 mins weights at YMCA - 3 days a week
45 minute zone 2 run 3 days a week
35 minute norwegian 4x4 run once a week

Haven't hiked in a couple of months, but I'd like to start getting a 2 hour hike into the mix once a week or so.

 

[Chuckanut]

3 days a week upper body exercises, leg strengthening exercises
6 days a week stretching and balance exercises
2 days a week cardio 15-20 minutes of work on a stationary bike, HIIT style.
Walking - two long walks a week, and one or two short walks on non long walk days. More if possible. Walks always involve hills, sometimes rather steep ones.

Needless to say there is a lot of overlap in the above schedule.

I try to strictly follow this schedule, because I know that unexpected events that soak up most of my daily time, can and do occur.

I do NOT care to exercise for the sake of exercising. I find it boring. But, it is a necessary part of my life as I very much more do not like how many body feels if I don’t get regular exercise.

I have reached a point where my number one exercise goal is to not hurt myself. Recovery times are too long. No Iron Man here. I am more like an aluminum foil man.

 

[Car-Guy]

Zero - What exercise I get is by fixing things or maintaining the property.

 

[SecretlyFI]

Swim 45 minutes once a week. Cardio/strength training class 55 minutes 3 times a week.
Pilates 55 minutes 3 times a week
45 minute brisk walk with hills once a week
Two days a week are 2 of the above. One day a week is no exercise.

 

[Cognito]

Swim. 20 days a month. I compete in the masters swim WI. I work out all the muscles I can. Freestyle 300 yards. Snorkel w/ large fins for resistance. 225 yards. Butterfly 50 yards. What I call squid stroke. On my belly w/ snorkel, push from my waist overhead and swim backwards. At the end of the pool, with feet against the wall, chest in pulls. Toe raises in the shallow end.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I walk 30-60 minutes daily. I take a water aerobics class twice a week.

 

[COcheesehead]

Over 300 consistently.
I’ll do 3-4 bike rides of 90 minutes to 2 1/2 hours. In between it’s a hike or walk of 60 - 90 minutes. Dogs get a 30-60 minute walk every day.
If weather is bad, I have a spin bike. Weights on occasion.
I workout every day. Strava tells me I am in the top 2% of Strava users for workout consistency.

VO2 max is in the high category for my age. Resting heart rate is around 50. I feel like I am 35 at age 62.

 

[pacergal]

Everything has been limited recently due to arthritis flare in hip and knee and IB(iliotibial band) syndrome, PT only at the office and at home.
I was finally able to walk the dog around the block (up one hill and down) yesterday, but knee is paying for it today a bit. Gotta start back somewhere.

 

[Koogie]

Exercise consists mostly of running (trail mostly) and biking (also gravel mostly). Also try and do weights/calisthenics routines 2 or 3 times a week (male, age 52)

Total time depends on the season (I'm in Canaduh) and if I am training for something specific. A yearly average is usually about 7 hours per week. If its summer and I'm training for a running race it's not unknown to be hitting 75kms a week (7ish hours) and also biking about 5 or 6 hours a week (about another 100-150 kms).

Garmin tells me that my VO2max is 50 and fitness age is in the late thirties. Average resting heart rate in the high 40s.

It should be noted I lost about 110 lbs during Covid (not from Covid). Its resulted in me really enjoying what I am still physically capable of at my age and I probably over exercise but if thats a vice, I'll happily live with it.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

45 minutes on the treadmill at 3 mph gets me 2.25 miles and burns around 300 calories according to the treadmill readout.
While I would like to do this every day, in reality I decide to sleep in a couple of days a week so 45 X 5 = 225 for me. I have no idea about heart rate, VO2, Norwegian 4X4, or HIIT. I just walk for 45 minutes.

 

[Dtail]

4-5 hours (240 to 300) minutes of exercise on average 5x weekly playing Pickleball on a high skill level basis.

 

[grasshopper]

The dogs take me for a walk every day, no leashes I go 3 miles they may go 7. Two 800 ft elevation gains and losses, always under a 3 min mile on rocks and dirt. Lots to do around the ponderosa, so no fitness club just 1/2 mile road maintenance rain or shine.

 

[Steelpony]

I walk at slightly faster then my walking speed on a gym treadmill getting my heart rate up to 110-120 beats a minute for a half hour per week. Followed by about a half hour 45 minutes of weight training using machines and free weights then do balance training lasting about 15 minutes. All the same day 3 times per week.This has been my routine since I retired about 16-17 years ago.

Before that I ran about 2 5k’s a week for about 25 years wth weight training in between. Nothing on the weekend but maybe some races.

I played basketball and volleyball in addition during the winter when I cut some of the running down before retirement.

Any conditioning disappears quickly now when I do skip days due to travel mostly.🫩

I voted about 3 hours a week plus. I have more time for other hobbies now.

 

[MTB4me]

Mostly cycling, usually 3-4 times a week for 2 or more hours each ride if outside or 1 hour if inside on the trainer. In all but winter time, I also do trail work about once a week. That’s usually a 6-7 hour deal with a local countertop crew.

 

[Lsbcal]

I am impressed by the poll numbers. What is missing is the age of the people reporting and maybe how broadly their exercise addresses their body's needs.

I'm 77 and trying to broaden my exercise goals. Right now that means:
1) walks in hilly terrain and at a good pace of 21 to 23 minutes per mile. Walks of 2mi to 5mi.
2) using an exercise bike to get my heart rate to 120-140 beats/min for ~20 minutes of workout. Used to be a runner.
3) dumbbell exercise to strengthen my upper body including doing resistance stuff like pushups

I am probably over 300 min per week.

P.S. I try to do proper warmups before diving into the exercise.

 

[Zona]

I am impressed by the poll numbers. What is missing is the age of the people reporting and maybe how broadly their exercise addresses their body's needs.

Me too -- it's good to see so many folks here getting out and doing some kind of exercise! I'm 50 and should do more, but I do a strength and conditioning class twice a week for 50 minutes, then one day a week I do either a pilates or yoga class for 50 minutes. On alternating days at home I'll get on an inclined treadmill for a 45 minute walk, 2-3 times a week depending on my schedule. In retirement I am exercising more than I ever have, but I can still tell that my body is going to need me to do even a bit more as I age, and I definitely feel like I should do more cardio or intervals. I like rowing, and someone upthread mentioned a Norwegian 4x4 workout that looks interesting so I'll check into that.

 

[Mark1]

DW and I get a lot of exercise mostly due to our lifestyle. I have data on many of our exercise, since I like to record most of our activities. For the record, DW is 69 and I'm 64 yo.

We have a different exercise DVDs for each day of the week which vary from 55 min to 70 min (say 60 min average). When we travel for longer duration or need to leave earlier in the morning for long day hike, etc. we might skip exercise (and/or not double up the day prior to leaving), so probably only exercise maybe 47 weeks out of 51 weeks this year. This calculates out to about 47weeks X 7day at an hour a day, or 329 hours.

We have hiked 1,223 miles so far this year at maybe an average of 2.5 mph, so 489 hours.

We have biked 1,230 miles so far this year at maybe 13 mph, so 102 hours.

We have XC skied 142 miles so far this year at maybe 3 mph, so 47 hours.

329+489+102+47=967 hours per 51weeks this year so far or ~ 1,140 minutes/week. I won't count the landscaping maintenance on our 1.5 acre property, which is also a lot of exercise.

We were talking about one of our hiking club members at a Xmas eve party who still gets after it at either 88 or 89 years of age. His arms might shake sometimes, but they are very toned and he did summit Mt Kilimanjaro this summer (IIRC, 3rd oldest person on record), which goes to show you...use it or lose it. For what it is worth, the oldest person to summit Kilimanjaro was a women at 89 years of age.

 

[savory]

Winter and summer are different. Right now, 3 days per week of pickleball for 2 hours +/- depending on turnout.

3 days of mostly non- aerobic weightlifting and often 15 minutes of PB wall drills, stationary bike, treadmill and/or jump rope.

Rarely drive the car to fitness like PB, grocery shopping, medical appointments, or going anywhere the bus goes. Often, once or twice a week I add a longer walk to a shopping trip or just walk

Summer adds considerable amount of bicycling. PB summer courts are further. Exercise rides are added. And while we (DW) are still healthy, a multi-week bike tour.

This works for me as I feel better than James Brown and he feels good.

 

[SecondCor521]

VO2 max is in the high category for my age. Resting heart rate is around 50. I feel like I am 35 at age 62.

Have you kept V02 max high your whole life? If not, how long did it take to get to where you're at now (in terms of months or years of consistent training).

My V02 max was high when I was a teenager, but now, after 35 years of non-exercise, it is mediocre but improving with consistent effort. But it's improving very very slowly which frustrates me.

 

[Focus]

Does going up and down the stairs constantly in our new townhouse count? (Yes, I ignored the recommendation that one should downsize to a single-level home.)

I do 1.25-1.5 hours of weight training three times a week and 45 minutes on the treadmill three to four times a week (burning 300 calories, like ArmchairMillionaire).

I considered adding some cardio after the weight training, but not before. I don't know how some of you do the latter in terms of mustering the needed energy.

 

[COcheesehead]

Have you kept V02 max high your whole life? If not, how long did it take to get to where you're at now (in terms of months or years of consistent training).

My V02 max was high when I was a teenager, but now, after 35 years of non-exercise, it is mediocre but improving with consistent effort. But it's improving very very slowly which frustrates me.

I can only speak to when I had access to a device to measure it. Over the last six years, it has come slowly down a couple points as I have aged, but still in the high range. From what I understand it is very hard to improve it as you age. Mine stays within .2 -.3 range currently. It’s hard to move the needle. My brother who is in terrible shape has about half the VO2 that I have.