Q:What should the rotation/frequency be for cardio and weight training per week?
A:
Here are the current guidelines and some tricks to integrating them into your routine.
Cardio:
Current recommendation from the American College of Sports Medicine, adults should engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week.
This can be achieved by setting aside time do engage in 30-60 minute sessions or can be broken up into 10 or 15 minute sessions throughout the day.
Resistance Training / Weight Lifting:
For optimum strength and bone density, training the entire body 2-3 days per week is recommended.
Flexibility:
Stretches should be done 2-3 days per week, each held for 10-30 seconds, to improve flexibility.
Neuromotor Exercise:
Neuromotor exercise is considered exercise that improves functional fitness. These types of exercises challenge balance and coordination and are recommended 20-30 minutes per day or 2-3 days per week.
To look at it, this seems like a lot. When you break it down, these activities can easily be fit into a busy lifestyle with just a little bit of extra thought.
Brush your teeth standing on one foot
Standing exercises (squats, lunges) while making dinner.
Standing stretches while talking on the phone either at work or at home.
Tricep dips on the edge of your sink or bathtub while you wait for the shower to heat up
Stretches during TV commercials. Hold each stretch for the duration of each commercial.
Hop up your stairs instead of stepping (agility)
Heel raises while you are in the kitchen packing your lunch
If you can fit resistance training into small pieces throughout the day, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, then all you have left to do is cardio and stretching. Make small changes. They do matter.
Next week, I will break down what a recommended workout week would look like. For this week, try to integrate some of the small changes listed above.