Why 2 workouts a week delivers the same results as daily exercise – and how to make it work

Like eating your vegetables, wearing sunscreen or getting enough sleep, sticking to a regular exercise routine can often seem like another boring habit to add to the wishful-thinking list. We know we should be doing it, but we can’t quite get ourselves to commit.

Thankfully, new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has shown that less frequent exercise can be every bit as effective as daily workouts – with one important caveat.

Join Women’s Health for the ultimate night out in fitness: Fit Night Out, in partnership with Samsung. On Saturday 17th May, join us, presenter Kirsty Gallacher, TedX speaker Adrienne Adhami, and running influencer Savannah Sachdev for a night of workouts, inspirational panels, and a live DJ at 25th-floor gym, BXR London. Tickets available now.

Looking at stats from 93,000 people in a large UK biomedical database, the study found that exercising for just one to two days a week, often called a ‘weekend warrior’ approach, provided similar health benefits to spreading activity over more days. The exercise just had to count as moderate to vigorous and add up to 150 minutes, in line with recommendations from the World Health Organization.

Participants were tracked using wrist devices. Over eight years, three groups were compared: inactive individuals, people who exercised regularly during the week and people who worked out on just one or two days but still hit their 150 minutes.

Weekend warriors had a 32% lower risk of death from all causes, a 31% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 21% lower risk of cancer-related death.

By comparison, those who exercised more regularly had a 26% reduction in all-cause mortality, 24% reduction in cardiovascular deaths and 13% lowered cancer risk.

It’s how much total exercise you do that matters, not when you do it. ‘You don’t need to exercise every day to stay healthy. As long as you get 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week – whether packed into one to two days or spread out – you can significantly reduce your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, cancer or other causes,’ said study corresponding author Zhi-Hao Li, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Southern Medical University in Guangzhou.

Aim for:

• 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week. This should be movement that gets your heart rate and breathing up – it could look like a couple of 75-minute cycles on the weekend, a brisk walk or hike, some gardening, or even dancing on a night out.
• 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity that makes you breathe hard and fast, like a run, HIIT session, or a demanding strength workout.

Cut through the noise and get practical, expert advice, home workouts, easy nutrition and more direct to your inbox. Sign up to the WOMEN’S HEALTH NEWSLETTER