For those who have a demanding job and family life, finding time to work out during the week can be really challenging. It has been highly debated amongst health experts, that working out extra hard and long on the weekends, to make up for the lost time during the week could boost your chances of injury and mortality.
But in 2022, a new study was published by JAMA and it found that doing the recommended amount of physical activity in two days instead of spread over a week can give you the same health benefits.
The researchers studied 350,978 adults and divided them into groups according to how many minutes a week they worked out and how vigorous their activities were. Those who were active one or two days per week were put in a separate group.
The study found that people who engaged in regular physical activity both during the week or just on the weekends had a lower rate of mortality than those who were totally inactive. There also wasn’t a significant difference between those who spread out their workouts and those who fit them into two days a week for the same amount of time.
The “weekend warrior” physical activity pattern is actually more convenient for many people who want to achieve the recommended levels of physical activity. So if you have a really busy schedule during the week and can only make time for exercising or other sports activities over the weekend, be assured that you will still get the same health benefits and it is better than not going at all.
