Weekend warrior exercise patterns benefit health as effectively as exercising daily People who got all their recommended physical activity in one or two days had similar benefits as daily exercisers Both groups had a lower risk of more than 200 different diseases THURSDAY, Sept. 26, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- There’s good news for folks who struggle to fit regular exercise into their busy workweek. “Weekend warrior” workouts are just as beneficial as daily exercise to a person’s overall health, a new study says.
People who get all their weekly recommended exercise in one or two days are about as healthy as those who spread their workouts more evenly throughout the week, researchers reported Sept. 26 in the journal Circulation . Both groups had a similarly lower risk of developing more than 200 possible diseases across 16 categories, ranging from heart and digestive conditions to mental health and brain illnesses, researchers found.
“Because there appears to be similar benefits for weekend warrior versus regular activity, it may be the total volume of activity, rather than the pattern, that matters most,” said co-senior researcher Dr. Shaan Khurshid , a cardiologist with the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Cardiac Arrhythmias. Guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each week, researchers said in background notes.
But how a person gets those minutes each week has remained an open question. Is it better to perf.