How Often Should You Exercise Aerobically?

Exercising aerobically on a regular basis has many health benefits. Exercise has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. In addition, you will reap some wonderful quality-of-life rewards from working out, such as less depression, better sleep, increased confidence and an overall sense of well-being. Even with so many rewards, it can be difficult to fit a regular exercise program into a busy schedule. To ensure that you are getting enough aerobic exercise, follow the guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  1. How Much Aerobic Exercise

    • The CDC recommends that you get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise a week for optimum health benefits. This may sound like a lot, but you can break it up into manageable segments of 10 minutes or more and accrue the time over seven days. It is up to you how often you exercise, but a good rule of thumb is to exercise at least five days a week.

    Determining Intensity

    • Exercise intensity is related to how hard an aerobic activity feels to you when you are doing it and is evidenced by how hard your heart is working, according to MayoClinic.com. If you are exercising at a moderate intensity, the activity feels somewhat difficult and your breathing is fast, but you are not out of breath. You can converse with someone, but you cannot sing your favorite song, and you break a light sweat in 10 minutes. When working out at a vigorous intensity, the activity feels like a challenge and your breathing is rapid and deep. You have to pause for breath after saying a few words, and you break a sweat after just a few minutes.

    For Increased Health Benefits

    • If you have weight-loss goals or want to reap even greater health benefits, you should get at least 300 minutes of moderate-intensity, or 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity, exercise every week. You can mix and match moderate and vigorous intensity levels to come up with a program that matches your goals. For instance, if you are looking to lose weight, you could do an aerobic workout for 100 minutes a week at moderate intensity and 100 minutes at a vigorous intensity.

    Other Tips

    • According to the CDC, you should also do strength training for at least two sessions a week, making sure to work all of your major muscle groups. Before exercising, do a low-intensity cardio warm-up and some light stretching to get your circulation going and help prevent injury. Do not overdo it -- build exercise intensity gradually and stop if you are in pain or short of breath. If you are new to a routine, check with your health-care provider before starting.