How many minutes of aerobic exercise is appropriate

For the vast majority of healthy adults, 30 to 60 minutes of low- to medium-intensity aerobic exercise is the best choice that takes into account effectiveness, safety, and sustainability. Of course, there is never a one-size-fits-all standard answer. The specific duration depends on your exercise foundation, training goals, and even physical condition adjustments that day.

Don’t think that this number is just a random number. I accompanied a friend to do an exercise capacity assessment before, and the rehabilitation therapist specifically mentioned that the human body generally needs to exercise continuously for 20 minutes before the proportion of fat energy supply will be significantly increased. If the core appeal of your exercise is to remove fat, and the single duration is less than 20 minutes, most of the energy consumed will be glycogen, and the fat loss efficiency will indeed be compromised.

However, the "10 minutes of effective aerobics" that has been very popular on the Internet in the past two years is really not an IQ tax, but an optimal solution in different scenarios. When I was flipping through sports journals last year, I saw a tracking study published by "Sports Medicine". As long as you can raise your heart rate to 64% to 76% of your maximum heart rate, even if you only do 10 minutes of moderate-to-high-intensity aerobics at a time, cumulatively, you can achieve the effect of improving cardiopulmonary function and reducing the risk of chronic diseases. It is especially suitable for office workers who cannot squeeze in the entire time every day. My colleague is practicing like this now. He gets off the subway two stops in advance every morning and walks briskly for 10 minutes. After lunch, he climbs the stairs for 10 minutes. After get off work, he walks another 10 minutes to the bus station, which is enough for 3 sections a day. During the physical examination this year, his cardiopulmonary function was much better than last year, and he also lost 4 pounds. It was much more effective than before when he applied for the annual pass and only went there 3 times.

If you have a good foundation in sports and want to prepare for long-distance events such as marathons and triathlons, then it’s okay to extend your aerobic time to 90 minutes or more, but the premise is that you must do a good job of warming up and nutritional supplements after the game, and don’t push yourself. I trained before running a half-marathon last year. The longest I ran was 1 hour and 40 minutes. I took protein powder and bananas immediately after the run. During that time, I basically lost no muscle mass and my condition was stable. If you don't need to compete, there is really no need to endure the long hours. Many people run for more than one and a half hours at a time in order to lose weight quickly. They lose not only fat but also muscle, which in turn lowers the basal metabolism. It becomes more difficult to lose weight in the later period, and the gain outweighs the gain.

There are also friends who are overweight, have old knee injuries, or have no basis for exercise at all, so don’t just stick to the “standard line” of 30 minutes. I once had a cousin who weighed 180 pounds. He heard someone say that running for 30 minutes a day can help him lose weight. After running for three days, he was admitted to the hospital due to effusion in his knees. Later, the rehabilitation doctor asked him to start training on the elliptical machine for 20 minutes each time. When he was tired, he would rest for 30 seconds and gradually increase the duration. In three months, he lost 20 pounds and his knees were not a problem at all.

In fact, choosing aerobic time is similar to brewing hand-brewed coffee. If the time is too short, the extraction will be insufficient and the flavor will be lost. If the time is too long, it will be overcooked and bitter. How long to brew depends on the beans you use and the concentration of coffee you want to drink. You don’t have to stick to other people’s standards. The time that is most suitable for you is that you feel comfortable after practicing and can persist for a long time.