Podcast - How To Structure Your Weekly Exercise Routine
Do you ever feel confused or overwhelmed regarding exercise and the best types for you at your current stage in life?
You already know that exercise is important, but maybe you’ve struggled to find the right path or to stay consistent in your routine so that you can look and feel your best in your physical body.
If so, today’s blog/audio is for you.
Now, before I get into this – here’s a stat from the Australian department of health: “Only 4 in 10 Australians over the age of 65 meet the physical activity guidelines”. And what’s crazy is, these guidelines are NOT for any kind of optimum performance, the guidelines are based on the bare minimum physical activity just for baseline good health and to help avoid disease. But what if you want to look and feel great and be physically capable even as you age?
To begin with, there are at least 5 fundamental reasons to prioritise exercise in your weekly wellness routine, particularly in your middle and later stages of life. Meaning, if you don’t prioritise the right types of exercise, you will drastically increase your risk of these problems as you age:
Loss of Muscle Mass - You naturally lose muscle mass you age if you do nothing to stop it (in fact some studies suggest 3kg of lean muscle every decade from the age of 30 if you do nothing or the wrong types of exercise) – and of course, this leaves you very susceptible to such issues as slow metabolism, easy weight gain, fatigue and low sex drive
Reduced Co-ordination and Balance – as you age your joints loss their flexibility and suppleness…meaning your ability to remain agile and perform everyday simple tasks starts to decline. It also greatly increases your risk of falls and injuries – you may even know of people who were in their later stages of life, who were seemingly in good health, but a simple fall was the catalyst for their rapid decline;
Loss of Stamina & Cardiovascular Health – not exercising greatly increases your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and just your overall physical capability and performance
Bone density begins to decline – bone health decline begins from the age of 40 and accelerates from the age of 50. Bone density loss means you are more prone to fractures and bone diseases such as osteoporosis (which can be avoided with the right exercise)
Mental health – Your mind and body are inextricably linked and this link is exacerbated with age. i.e. A healthy body = healthy mind and vice versa. And exercise is one of the most potent medicines when it comes to creating mind-body balance. In fact, this becomes even more important when people retire or exit their working prime, no longer raising a family etc. because their sense of purpose gets tested.
So I’m sure you’d agree these are all very important reasons to prioritise physical movement and exercise in your weekly wellness routine. And even if you are exercising regularly, I want you to consider if your routine is still right for you, or if it needs some form of tweaking or optimisation for your body and your current stage of life.
Here’s what I know – this area of health and wellness, diet, nutrition, exercise can be very complex with a lot of information out there – a lot of conflicting opinions – so it is very important to filter and simplify so that the practice of wellness is sustainable for you.
I’ve discovered that when things are simple they are sustainable. And what stops people in any challenging area is complexity. Complexity is the reason why most people fail or don’t even start to begin with. They are stuck and confused and when they don’t get the results, they give up rather than look for the right answers. And this definitely applies to exercise.
For things to be simple, you first need CLARITY. With clarity, you get confidence and conviction that it’s right and that you can do it…and this is what allows you to stay consistent.
Now for me at 51 years old, foundationally not much has changed in terms of my weekly allocation to exercise. However, I am constantly evolving and making modifications based on my age, my current goals and how my body is feeling day-to-day. So nothing is 100% set in stone with any of this. The idea is to have clarity and a basic plan that you can work with and make small adjustments to as needed, but still the overall structure is the key.
You also need reasons - a clear WHY for doing it, because this is what keeps you on track even on those days when you don’t feel like exercising. And in line with having this clarity and the reasons to pursue a weekly exercise routine, the first thing to realise is that exercise is arguably the #1 driver of energy and overall health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally.
That’s not to say that diet and nutrition doesn’t play a role – of course it does…but if you were to pin-point ONE element that has the potential to make the most difference in someone’s life it would be exercise over the long haul.
In fact, I’m currently reading a book called OUTLIVE – “The science and art of longevity” - by renowned longevity & health performance expert, Dr. Peter Attia. And in this book (and in all of the many big time podcasts that Peter has been on), he constantly states that “exercise is the #1 longevity drug that exists”.
So it’s a very important topic that you and I need to get right – particularly when we enter our middle years and as we age.
Also, when Dr. Attia refers to longevity, he is not just talking about ”Life Span” (NUMBER of years), he is talking about “Health Span” (QUALITY of years). And all of the research points to exercise – and more specifically the “right” type of exercise – being the number one driver of health span, vitality and quality of years.
So in terms of your weekly structure, I want you to think in terms of two levels to exercise:
Foundations
Optimisations
What I mean by that is you want to make sure your doing the right types of exercise foundationally as a priority FIRST, that will help you maintain healthy body function and avoid disease. A great example here of course is a baseline exercise like WALKING and Stretching.
Second, we have Optimisations. And this is more about basic physical performance such as:
Maintaining your mobility and strength
Having a healthy body composition (being in good shape i.e. muscle/weight ratio)
Being functional i.e. being able to perform everyday tasks as you age with ease, lifting things over head, taking items off a shelf, gardening, moving a piece of furniture, being able to say “yes” to adventures that require an element of physical fitness...and so on.
And what are some examples of optimisations in terms of exercise?
Weight Training
Functional Circuit Training (cardio and weights)
Resistance Bands
Calisthenics
Pilates or
Mixed Modality Training (like I do 3 times per week) that incorporates primal movement, cardio and weights.
So the choice is yours based on your age, your goals and your current level of fitness. I’m great believer that there is never a one-size-fits-all approach to anything – which is why you need to be intuitive in terms of what your body needs. But I’m also a great believer that too many people make excuses based on their age to avoid doing basic forms of strength and resistance training and there is a tremendous cost to their physical (and even mental health) as they age.
Foundationally, if you do no other forms of exercise, the best research shows that for robust health and longevity, you should be aiming for 10,000 steps per day of moderate to brisk walking – which is a form of Zone 2 cardiovascular exercise. Brisk walking/Zone 2 exercise means you are functioning at around 60-70% of your maximum heart rate at a steady, sustainable pace but at a level where you could still carry on a conversation.
The average brisk walker can achieve around 130 steps per minute on fairly level terrain, which means to achieve 10,000 steps per day, you would need to walk for 75 minutes. However, keep in mind that there are intentional dedicated exercise walking steps and incidental steps that can also contribute to this overall daily target.
Myself personally, I prefer to only track my intentional walking steps rather than include or pay too much attention to my incidental steps, because the reality is I don’t do a lot of steps during the day at work etc.
To track your steps, you can use an Apple Watch, Fit Bit or an APP like STRAVA (which is what I use).
Now, if WALKING is the only form of exercise you choose to do or are able to do, then 10,000 is your optimum target number of daily steps. However, that is not to say that you won’t still get great benefits from doing a 30, 45 or 60 minute walk – but it gives you a target to shoot for. In fact, Harvard Medical school recently put out a study that found that as little as 2,700 steps daily – which would be a brisk 20 minute walk - can significantly improve health and life span.
So, if you’re already aware of this data or you’re already achieving 10,000 steps per day or the bare minimum that feels right for you, then this will simply be confirmation that you’re on the right track with your walking. When it comes to walking, I personally prefer to walk outdoors and first thing in the morning. You choose what works for you, but definitely there are so many wonderful benefits to your mind and body health when you walk outdoors first thing in the morning.
Now, if you want to OPTIMISE your exercise routine for optimum health and performance benefits, then you need to add to your Zone 2 walking, some strength and stability training…as well as a very small amount of VO2 Max (maximum oxygen output high intensity cardiovascular exercise, say 1 to 2 sessions 30-45 mins per week).
Now, this doesn’t need to be daunting. With basic structure and scheduling it’s easy to get this right and to see fantastic results in your physical body in a relatively short space of time.
A basic structure for optimum weekly exercise that Dr. Peter Attia espouses is what he refers to as the 4 fitness pillars:
Stability
Strength
Aerobic Efficiency (Zone 2 cardio) and
Anaerobic Performance (VO2 max).
With an ideal breakdown or approximate ratio of time dedicated to each pillar each week being the following:
Stability 10% – basic functional balancing movements, core plank, single leg raise etc.
Strength 40% - Strength exercise with either body resistance, machine weights or free weights
Zone 2 Cardio (Aerobic Efficiency) 40% – such brisk walking, cycling, swimming etc.
Vo2 Max (Anaerobic Performance) 10% – Running, stationery bike, rowing, HIIT, lap swimming maximum output.
So, if you have 45 minutes per day to dedicate to your exercise routine = 5 ¼ hours per week
Stability = 30 minutes
Strength = 2 hours
Zone 2 = 2 hours
VO2 Max = 30-45 minutes
To get this well rounded exercise performance routine done, an example of a weekly schedule could look like this:
Monday 5 mins Stability, 40 mins Strength
Tuesday 5 mins Stability, 40 mins Walking (Zone 2 Cardio)
Wednesday 5 mins Stability, 40 mins Strength
Thursday 5 mins Stability, 40 mins Walking (Zone 2 Cardio)
Friday 5 mins Stability, 40 mins Strength
Saturday 5 mins Stability, 40 mins Waling (Zone 2 Cardio)
This is a simple, yet effective routine that you can easily adapt to your age, goals and level of fitness.
When it comes to the VO2 Max allocation, you could do the full 30-45 minutes on a Sunday if you’re at a good level of fitness (e.g. run, hill hike, high intensity interval workout, circuit class, stationery bike, rower etc). OR you could tag on 10-15 minutes of VO2 to 3 of your walking or strength days. The choice is yours.
Again, this is a structure if what you’re currently doing is not working for you or if you want to optimise your physical health and performance as you age. It’s ideal if you want to prolong your quality of life both physically and mentally. But if it’s not for you, some form of daily exercise is better than none.
Also, can you scale this up or down? Absolutely.
But the key is structure and just dialling it into a weekly schedule. Anything that creates friction in your mind, take it out. What I mean by that is, if the idea of going to lift weights at the gym freaks you out, then don’t do it. Get yourself a couple of sets of dumbbells or resistance bands and a yoga matt, and do your strength sessions at home.
There are some great Apps like MY FITNESS PAL which is FREE for the basic service – great for all levels and has some fantastic simple, dumbbell only workouts or I use PELOTON which is a paid service which is more like a virtual trainer with coaches – which I use for most of my cardio, stability and strength training alongside my walking and XC mountain biking.
Remember, don’t short-change your health span and life span by avoiding the right types of exercise. Start with walking as a base line if that’s all you can manage, but aim for 10,000 steps as a daily goal.
If you want to optimise your physical performance, mobility, flexibility and strength – and all of the life benefits that this will bring you as you age, then start with a blank page and restructure your weekly exercise routine following the 4 pillar format (Stability, Strength, Zone 2 & VO2 Max). Stick with it and you will see the difference in how you look and feel and you’ll drastically prolong the quality of your life.
Thank you for reading and I hope you got value from today’s blog. Until next time, stay strong and live well!
ZT.
