The Physical Activity Guidelines: An Explanation

 

What are the Physical Activity Guidelines? These are guidelines designed to maintain or create healthy Americans through physical activity. They are a great way to manage being healthy! The guidelines are meant to help people maintain a good level of physical activity in order to be considered healthy. It is a great place to start for unhealthy people on the road to becoming healthy. The Physical Activity Guidelines includes moderate activity, resistance training, and vigorous activity. 

Physical Activity Guidelines 

Moderate Activity	Resistance Training	Vigorous Activity
150 Minutes per week   30 Minutes for 5 days  21 Minutes for 7 days  Heart Rate 100-120 Bpm	2 Times per week Target large muscles 1-3 sets of 12 to 15 reps Do on non-consecutive days	75 per week  15 Minutes for 5 days  Heart Rate 120-160 Bpm

Children 3 years or older need to play 60 minutes per day 

Moderate activity is the easiest portion of the guidelines. There are more moderate activities that you can do than to other portions within the guidelines. For moderate activity the intensity you should be doing is between 10 and 67 percent of what you can physically do. Things you could do for moderate activity is go on a walk, a jog, a hike, ride a bike, or some sport like golf.  

The resistance training portion of the guidelines requires you to do any variety of a workout. A gym is the best place to conduct resistance training. The guidelines suggest hitting large muscles when you plan on doing resistance training. Examples of resistance training to hit large muscles are arms, legs, back, shoulders, and chest. You would do these workouts by targeting only one major muscle group. Another workout you can do is a push and pull, which targets two main muscle groups. The best workouts to do to target these large muscles for resistance training is Olympic lifts which target multiple muscle groups at a time. Examples of Olympic lifts are squats, bench, and deadlifts. 

Vigorous activity is the most demanding portion of the physical activity guidelines. The intensity that is required to perform vigorous activity is 80 percent to your max ability. These activities require high levels of energy in a short period of time. Things that you can do for vigorous activity are 1-rep max workouts, which require you to use most if not all your energy to perform. Another activity you can perform, which are quite popular, are sprints. 

These activities are the minimum that an adult needs to do in the United States to be considered healthy physically. Majority of people can do more than what is required and are recommended to do so especially if they are trying to become healthy. I recommend attempting the physical activity guidelines to follow when starting a physical health journey. The guidelines are not created in a way that it difficult to achieve, as a person could use a few minutes of each day a couple of times a day in order to be physically healthy.