Vigorous Exercise May Increase Life Expentancy
A study involving 204,000 adults aged 45 and older were examined for six years. The study compared those who did regular vigorous exercise to those who did moderate activities. Those who dedicated 30% of their exercise to vigorous activity dropped their risk of death by 13%. This suggests that regular vigorous activity can have long term benefits. The Benefit After a vigorous workout, you can burn calories up to 14 hours after your workout. Just completing 45 minutes of vigorous exercise can help a person continue to burn calories even after the workout has been completed.
How long and how often should you do vigorous exercise? According to that American College of Sports Medicine, 75-100 minutes/week are ideal for vigorous exercise. While 150-300 minutes/week of moderate exercise is recommended.
Heart Rate Recommendations What is considered vigorous exercise? Vigorous exercise can be defined as having a hear rate between 70-85% of your maximum heart rate. At this heart rate, heavy breathing will occur and talking will be limited to only a few words before needing a breath. Examples of Vigorous Exercise
Bicycling- more than 10 mph
Jumping Rope
Jumping Jacks
Circuit Weight Training
Running
References: Gebel K, Ding, D, et al. Effect of moderate to vigorous physical activity on all-cause mortality in middle-aged and older australians. JAMA.2015. http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2212268. Accessed April 8, 2015. American College of Sports Medice. Vigorous exercise burns calories for 14 hours after exercise. ACSM.2011; 43(9): 1643-1648. American College of Sports Medicine. The basics of personal training for seniors. January 2014. Accessed April 8, 2015. CDC. General physical activities defined by level of intensity. http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/physical/pdf/PA_Intensity_table_2_1.pdf. Accessed April 8, 2015.
