Your flavor of vigorous physical activity may vary (e.g., weightlifting, running), but the dosage is what matters most.
Physical activity recommendations commonly prescribe either:
- 150 minutes of MODERATE VIGOROUS physical activity (MVPA), or
- 75 minutes of VIGOROUS physical activity (VPA)
By definition, higher heart rates yield VPA and not MVPA. In this unique study, Ahmadi et al. (2022) found an interesting relationship between the dosage (i.e., how many minutes) and risk for all-cause mortality and cancer.
Surprisingly, the optimal benefit for VPA was lower (40-60 minutes per week) than the common recommendation (75 minutes per week).
If you are monitoring your exercise minutes – and are pushing your intensity – know that the minimum threshold for the max benefit is only 60 minutes per week.
Check out this awesome infographic embedded in the research article:
How much VPA is enough?
Push yourself 15 minutes 3 to 5 days per week and you reap the most benefit.
Reference:
Matthew N Ahmadi, Philip J Clare, Peter T Katzmarzyk, Borja del Pozo Cruz, I-Min Lee, Emmanuel Stamatakis, Vigorous physical activity, incident heart disease, and cancer: how little is enough?, European Heart Journal, 2022;, ehac572, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehac572
