How much exercise at home do I need to do?

Picture of 2 men playing basketball

So how long can you exercise at home? The Australian Exercise guidelines recommend 150 minutes of exercise per week. This sounds like a lot doesn’t it? Well what if I told you that 150 minutes is actually not that hard to achieve? You would tell me I was crazy! There is no way that you could find 150 minutes in your busy schedule!

A common misconception with these guidelines is that exercise means sweating it out in a gym or walking laps in your neighbourhood. While those activities suit some people just fine, it’s not for everyone.

Although 150 minutes of exercise seems hard to achieve every week, you will be surprised that it adds up! The time you spend walking about day to day tasks  you don’t need to do too much more. It can be just an extra 10 minutes, 3 times per week.

So what kind of exercise at home is beneficial?

Exercise can be as simple as cleaning house, mowing lawn or shopping! Even physical exertion while playing with pets, children or grandchildren is good exercise. In addition to these, playing sports with your work colleagues or friends are good bodyweight exercises.

In essence, the goal should be to reduce sedentary time daily. Or reduce the amount of time we sit throughout the day. Studies have shown that by decreasing the time spent sitting daily we reduce the risk of developing cancers, diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions. Not to mention the weight loss with less sitting.

In addition to getting more active by moving more, we should be also be doing weight or resistance training two days a week. These are simple bodyweight exercises like squats, lunges or push ups. This training leads to healthy bones and strength.

Who can help me with the right exercise at home?

Picture of a health professional guiding a man to do an exercise with a gym ball

If you suffer from a chronic condition like heart or lung disease , it’s best to see an Exercise Physiologist. They are university trained professionals who prescribe the best strengthening exercises for a particular injury. If you are more interested in weight loss and do not have any medical conditions, you can talk to a personal trainer or a strength coach. We work in close association with trainers at Snap fitness Browns Plains to help their members achieve their goals.