Is it really true that if you compact all your workouts to only two days a week that this really won’t make much of a difference in your health and fitness?
When people do their structured exercise only on weekends, they are commonly referred to as weekend warriors.
A study from Massachusetts General Hospital shows that exercising in a weekend warrior pattern — doing most of yourr moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in only one or two days — can reduce the risk of many diseases just as effectively as spreading activity across the week.
This finding is significant for people with busy schedules who might not have time for daily workouts but still want to reap the health benefits of exercise.
How the Study Was Done
The study looked at data from 89,573 participants in the UK Biobank study, who wore wrist accelerometers to track their physical activity.
The researchers grouped participants into three categories based on their activity levels:
- Weekend warriors (those who completed 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity in one or two days)
- Regular exercisers (those who spread their activity throughout the week)
- Inactive individuals
The team then compared the incidence of 678 diseases across 16 categories, including heart disease, diabetes, mental health conditions and digestive issues.
The Results
The results showed that both weekend warriors and regular exercisers had a significantly lower risk of over 200 diseases compared to inactive individuals.
The most noticeable benefits were seen in reducing the risk of cardiometabolic conditions like hypertension and type 2 diabetes.
Weekend warriors had a 23% lower risk of hypertension and a 43% lower risk of diabetes, while those who exercised regularly had even greater reductions in risk (28% and 46%, respectively).
The study also found that the benefits of exercise were not limited to heart disease and diabetes.
The reduced risks extended to a range of other health issues, including mental health conditions and chronic kidney disease.
The researchers suggest that the total amount of exercise matters most when it comes to disease prevention, rather than the specific pattern of when that activity is done.
No time to exercise during the weekday?
©Lorra Garrick
Whether you can fit in a couple of intense workout sessions on the weekend or exercise regularly throughout the week, the key is to meet the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each week.
However, to reap those better results in disease reduction that came with the “regular” workouts, you can still add one or two exercise sessions during the weekdays, even if you feel short on time – and here’s why:
Even a quick 20-minute workout can be highly effective if done with intensity. Here are two examples:
Cardio Workout (High Intensity Interval Training – HIIT)
- Warmup: Two minutes of light jogging or brisk walking.
- Intervals (16 minutes): Alternate between 30 seconds of high intensity exercises (such as sprinting, jumping jacks or miscellaneous jumping such as lunge jumps or box jumps, fast box stepping) and 30 seconds of rest. Repeat for eight rounds.
- Cool down: Two minutes of slow walking or stretching.
This HIIT routine gets your heart rate up, improves cardiovascular fitness and burns a lot of calories in a short time.
Strength Training Workout
- Warmup: Two minutes of dynamic stretching or light cardio.
- Circuit (16 minutes): Perform the following exercises for 45 seconds each, followed by 15 seconds of rest. Repeat the circuit 2-3 times:
- Squats
- Pushups
- Lunges
- Plank hold
- Cool down: Two minutes of stretching.
This full-body strength workout targets multiple muscle groups, boosting strength and muscle endurance. It’s simple, equipment-free and can be done anywhere.
Both workouts are efficient and effective, proving that you can get a solid workout in just 20 minutes.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
.
