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With all the competing and often contradictory models out there, how are we supposed to know what the best dose of exercise is for me to get and stay healthy for a lifetime?

As a child of the 70s and 80s, I grew up KNOWING that I needed at least an hour of sweaty cardio based group exercise class or intense Stairmaster time every single day. That's what Jane Fonda, Shape Magazine and every personal trainer I ever met and the gym told me. And since I adore group exercise class, and hour long cardio based step, slide, Jazzerizice and Zumba were what was offered, that is what I did. More than one a day lots and lots of days.

It was easy.

In those decades and all through most of the 90s I was single, didn't have kids, had jobs that made it easy to fit in a trip to the gym daily and had plenty of folks in my social circle who were on the same mission. Because we KNEW it was good for us.

Fast forward to 2017.

Between work, my wonderful family and my volunteer gigs, I'm lucky if I make time to brush my teeth, let alone get into gym clothes, drive to the gym, get my hour-long sweat on, get cleaned up and get back to life. Fortunately for me and all the other folks like me looking to get the exercise we need efficiently and effectively without having to carve out a mountain of time, exercise science has come a long way.

No offense, Jane Fonda, but here's why your hour a day everyday model may not be the best.

Calorie plateaus are real.
In a study published by Current Biology, researchers measured the total energy expenditure and physical activity of 322 adults. They found that while physical activity at low levels increased energy expenditure, higher activity levels caused a plateau. In other words, working out more did not increase calorie burn. Though we’re often told to move more to burn more, this study suggests that at a certain point, increasing your exercise level does not benefit you as much as moderate exercise. Being committed to your workout, even if it's short, is always the best bet.

There is such a thing as too much.
A meta-analysis published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings reviewed studies on running published since 2000 that included at least 500 runners and followed up with them for five years. Researchers were looking for the relationship between vigorous aerobic physical activity (running) and major health consequences (cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality). They found that “despite the known benefits of high levels of physical activity and exercise training, some evidence suggests that there may be a point of diminishing returns. In fact, there may be a threshold at which high doses of exercise training might detract from the remarkable health benefits of moderate exercise training or even induce cardiotoxicity.” Based on their findings, researchers recommended capping runs at 40 minutes a day for the benefit without the costs of running longer.


We’re not all marathon runners.

A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology followed 1,098 healthy joggers and 3,950 healthy non-joggers from 2001 to 2003. Researchers found that jogging 1 to 2.4 hours per week was associated with the lowest mortality. “Light and moderate joggers have lower mortality than sedentary non-joggers,” the study found, but “strenuous joggers have a mortality rate not statistically different from that of the sedentary group.” This again suggests that dramatically increasing the intensity of workouts, particularly runs, may not be as beneficial as we once assumed.

There's a lot of pressure out there these days to be something of a marathon runner. What's the point of working out if we can't post some pic of us crossing a finish line on social media, right? But again, as research shows, you don't have to be going the distance to reap the benefits. Do what you can, and pat yourself on the back for it. That's YOUR finish line.

You don’t have to kill yourself to see results.
“Full-body functional strength training can be super effective once or twice a week,” says sports medicine physician and Running Strong author Jordan Metzl, M.D., in an article for Greatist. Tamir Systems Fitness founder Noam Tamir concurs in the same article, saying, “I have clients who only strength train once or twice per week, and they still see some significant results in strength.” The “less is more” approach is gaining traction in the fitness community and for good reason: if more isn’t necessary for results, why do more?

Many people fear working out because they see adopting a full-blown routine as the only way to see results. That "all-in" pressure can feel too cumbersome to even know where to start. Sure, you should be consistent with exercise, and your health should always be a priority, but please don't feel like it's all or nothing. 

Doing a little something, anything, consistently, is a perfect place to start. 

So get started!