How Much Should You Exercise to Live a Longer Life?

Keeping constant workout routine is important for many reasons. There is no way around it if we want to be in good shape, lose weight, build muscle, get stronger and faster. But there's another very important reason – constant exercising lets us to live a longer life.

Every time I see an older person running, hiking, lifting weights or happily playing with their grandchildren, I'm thinking: That's exactly what I want to be like when I'm old! Getting old may actually be really fun. Read Carissa's fun thoughts about it!

Sure, there are may factors that determine the length of our lives, but exercising is definitely one of them. But exactly how long and how much should we workout to improve our health and longevity?

The US governmental recommendation suggests adults to get 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week. That should be enough to build and maintain health and fitness. Moderate exercise is something that rises your heart beat a bit but still allows you to talk to your friend or workout partner without any problem. For example, walking or light jogging usually qualifies as moderate exercise.  

But what if you want to improve your life expectancy? A recent study helps you to dose your workouts!

The Study Tells Us the Following:

1. People who don't exercise at all are at the highest risk of early death. But that's what you probably knew already. 

2. People who exercised a little, but still less than 150 minutes a week, lowered their risk of premature death by 20 percent. 20 percent – that's one fifth, and that's a big thing. 

3. People that completed 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise had 31 percent less risk of dying compared with those who never exercised.

4. The ones who tripled the recommended amount of exercising lived 39 percent longer lives than the ones who never exercised. That means, they worked out 450 minutes a week, a little more than an hour every day. 

However, there is no need to exercise any longer than that because as the results showed, the longevity didn't improve any more from that. 

What About Intensity? 

If you are wondering if just walking is enough or should you also incorporate some high intensity training to your regimen to improve your longevity, here's the answer: Vigorous exercise helps to improve longevity.

Your workout is vigorous when you are not able to easily talk to your friend or workout partner, you are breaking sweat and you feel that burn in your muscles. 

The study shows that it's beneficial to spend up to 30 percent of your weekly exercise in strenuous activities. Those who did, gained 13 percent reductions in early mortality. 

Let's Do Some Math:

If you meet the minimum governmental requirements and workout moderately, say, walking, 150 minutes a week (30 minutes every day), kick it up a notch and get in 45 minutes of vigorous work every week. 

It means that out of your 30-minute daily workout, 9 minutes should make you work hard and break sweat. 

Here's one example of how to incorporate some strenuous work into your moderate workouts: If you are beginner, walk 7 minutes, run 3 minutes, and do so for three times. 

If you are used to jogging, jog for 7 minutes and pick up the speed for 3 minutes. Keep doing so for three times. 

If you are more advanced and exercise 450 minutes a week (65 minute every day), make sure you break sweat 135 minutes per week.

That means, from your 65-minute daily exercise 19.5 minutes should leave you huffing and puffing! Throw in some sprints to your steady-state cardio session, do couple of sets of kettlebell swings or other kettlebell exercises or jump rope exercises. 

Check out my Workouts page for more ways to get your heart rate up and and add some strenuous work into your routine!

Before you go out to do your workout, tell me, because I'm curious –

What's your main reason for exercising?

Do you exercise to live longer?