Fitness At Any Age

What are the recommendations for increasing fitness for youth, adults, and seniors?

There is good news for all Americans. Scientific evidence shows that physical activity done at a moderate-intensity level can produce health benefits (USDHHS, 1996). If people have been sedentary, they can improve their health and well-being with regular, moderate levels of activity each day. 

Those who participate in moderate- to vigorous-intensity activities regularly should be encouraged and supported in their efforts to continue. While activity at a higher intensity or performed longer offers more health benefits, this level of activity may not be a realistic goal for everyone, at least not to start with. Many Americans, for whom the term "exercise" brings up negative images and emotions, can celebrate the good news by setting a new personal goal-achieving and enjoying the benefits of a regularly active lifestyle that includes a variety of moderate- and/or vigorous-intensity activities.

Adults should strive to meet either of the following physical activity recommendations. See General Physical Activities Defined By Level of Intensity for a chart that lists the intensity levels of many types of activities.

• Adults should engage in moderate-intensity physical activities for at least 30 minutes on 5 or more days of the week. 

• Adults should engage in vigorous-intensity physical activity 3 or more days per week for 20 or more minutes per occasion 

- Healthy People 2010 

More good news is that it's never too late to start an active lifestyle. No matter how old you are, how unfit you feel, or how long you've been inactive, research shows that starting a more active lifestyle now through regular, moderate-intensity activity can make you healthier and improve your quality of life. 

This next section provides guidelines for how active you need to be to gain some benefit and general information on activity levels of Americans. 

How active do adults need to be to gain some benefit?

Physical activity does not need to be hard to provide some benefit. Participating in moderate-intensity physical activity is a vital component of a healthy lifestyle for people of all ages and abilities. There is no demographic or social group in America that could not benefit from becoming more active. 

The table* below provides recommendations on how to increase your physical activity based on your current activity level. Check it out to see where you are and how you can challenge yourself. 

If....	Then...
You do not currently engage in regular physical activity,	you should begin by incorporating a few minutes of physical activity into each day, gradually building up to 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity activities.
You are now active, but at less than the recommended levels,	you should strive to adopt more consistent activity: moderate-intensity physical activity for 30 minutes or more on 5 or more days of the week, or  vigorous-intensity physical activity for 20 minutes or more on 3 or more days of the week.
You currently engage in moderate-intensity activities for at least 30 minutes on 5 or more days of the week,	you may achieve even greater health benefits by increasing the time spent or intensity of those activities.
You currently regularly engage in vigorous-intensity activities 20 minutes or more on 3 or more days of the week,	you should continue to do so

So What the difference between moderate activity and vigorous activity? Moderate activity is like increased walking and vigorous activity is jogging or weight-lifting or Zumba. Vigorous activity is something you can't do every day. Your muscles have to recoup and they need 48 hours when your middle age and as much as 72 hours between workouts if you're older. You can't rush vigorous workouts because you're actually tearing down muscle tissue and it means time to recover. Moderate workouts like walking 10,000 steps is exhausting but doesn't tear down muscle tissue so you can do it more often and moderate active has been proven to be better for losing weight.

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