CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Are you a weekend warrior, or do you spread your work out throughout the week?
It's laid out by the US Department of Health and Human Services, that the physical activity guidelines for Americans state adults should get 150 minutes of physical activity per week and two days of muscle strength training. But we know life can be, well, hard. So many people try cramming their fitness goals into a weekend.
But is it good for you?
OUR SOURCES
WHAT WE FOUND
This study shows people who are physically active, whether it's on the weekends only or spread out throughout the week have lower mortality rates than inactive people. As long as the two groups tested were getting the same amount of moderate physical activity per week, there wasn't a big difference in all-cause or cause-specific mortality.
"It's not necessarily bad if you do it back to back, it's just you need to make sure that you are not working the same muscle group hard over and over because your muscles need recovery time," Michos said.
Both Michos and Smith agree that as long as you're getting your exercise in, you will have a better outcome than not. However, spreading it out gives you more time to recover, hence a better workout later in the week.
"Twice a week doing it back to back, you are probably going to be tired," Smith said. "If that is what you do, if that is your routine, I think splitting it up so you do get that recovery time is going to be the most beneficial."
So get your exercise in any way you can, but it could be more beneficial to spread out your workouts.
Contact Meghan Bragg at mbragg@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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