How Much Exercise Do You Really Need?

While your Fitbit and modern fitness gurus may tell you that you should be exercising regularly, the amount needed may be more or less than you are currently doing. The truth is, determining how much you should exercise depends on your unique goals and what you hope to achieve from the process. In this article, we will give you some hints that will help you determine the appropriate amount of exercise you need as well as the type of exercise that will be most effective.

What Are Your Goals?

Ask yourself what you hope to achieve from working out before planning your goals. For instance, if you need to lose a few more pounds to hit your goal weight, you will likely want to invest more time into cardio to burn excess calories that are consumed during your diet. On the other hand, if you want to build muscle you will ultimately want to focus more on lifting to bulk up. It is wise, however, to ensure that you are getting a healthy mix of both cardio and weight training to ensure your fitness sessions are as well-rounded as possible.

Determining How Much Exercise You Need

While there is no pre-determined time of exercise that is best for everyone, knowing your caloric intake on a daily basis will help determine how much exercise you need to meet your goals. No matter what your current diet of choice may be, they typically all work under the assumption of one core premise. The amount of weight you will lose is dependent on calorie intake and the number of calories burned during exercise to offset that.

While the math may be lacking, most experts promote the idea that around 3,500 calories are the equivalent of 1 pound of fat. So, if you are following a standard 2000 calorie diet, you will need to create a deficit of around 500 calories each day to lose a single pound during the week. While the logic seems sound, this may not be true for all people since calorie requirements can vary from person to person. However, science shows that offsetting a certain amount of calories through exercise can be beneficial.

For an accurate assessment of how much exercise you need from a unique standpoint, determine the number of calories you need to lose your target amount of weight each week. To achieve this number, try to then create a high-intensity fitness plan that burns your target amount of calories throughout the week. By knowing these unique numbers and comparing them to your goals, you will be able to easily achieve your goals.