How little exercise can you get away with?

https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2026/07/03/how-little-exercise-can-you-get-away-with

by vinni2 • 17 days ago

60 114 17 days ago

One thing people out here periodically is how causation is hard to find. Someone who is dying may be not inclined to do anything 'cause they feel lousy all the time.

yoz-y3• 17 days ago

Median age of 61… 4.4 minutes of “vigorous” activity. Hard to interpret this as anything else that if you remain being able to be somehow active in your later years you will be better off.

I find all of the studies of “how little exercise” is needed sad. Instead we should be focusing on how to restructure modern lifestyle to allow everybody to achieve the minimum of cardiovascular and strength exercises.

XorNot2• 17 days ago

allow everybody to achieve the minimum of cardiovascular and strength exercises

Aren't you just asking the same question?

I certainly prefer sitting then doing exercise, I just also don't like the consequences of doing none.

ohrus• 17 days ago

I think what the poster was getting at is that finding a minimum is a negative way to view human health (what is the minimum amount of food a human needs to survive, what is the minimum I need to brush my teeth so they don't fall out of my head, etc.).

Restructuring society in healthy ways (shorter work weeks, bike lanes, green cities, etc.) will allow us to achieve whatever that minimum would have been (had we measured!) and more!

At least I think that's the distinction.

The only time I prefer to sit is after I have done a good deal of exercise. I don't mean that as a jab of any sort, just a differing perspective from someone who gets much more than a minimum of required exercise.

RugnirViking• 17 days ago

I'm confused. You're saddened by people researching the minimum exercise needed, but want society to aim to give people that minimum? How would society know what the minimum is?

lazyasciiart• 17 days ago

Presumably it’s a known amount approximately matching what they do.

yoz-y3• 16 days ago

We know the recommended minimum of 150 minutes of cardio exercise and two resistance strength training sessions per week. For many people this is unrealistic.

But this is not what the research for minimum is for. There are all those “20 minutes a week”, “7 minutes a day” programs to basically just avoid croaking from not moving at all.

RIMR• 17 days ago

Restructuring the modern lifestyle, allowing people more free time to focus on their health, is unprofitable.

Whereas minimizing the amount of free time people spend on their health, allowing people more time to labor or consume, is profitable.

RyanOD• 17 days ago

100% agree. The real battle isn't the actual exercise. It's initiating it in the face of endless distractions.

dheera• 17 days ago

It's not hard to restructure it at all.

1. Ban overworking. Make it a federal offense. Actually jail CEOs if their employees work >50 hours a week

2. These exercise tracking apps should pay people for the exercise they do. The money will come from health insurance. They pay $1 per mile you run or hike, they save $10 on your future hospitalization.

3. City sponsored exercise events and sports competitions open to everyone, not just athletes. Give tax deductions to those who participate and demonstrate attendance.

The solution is right here, above. Whether the politicians choose to listen, is not something I can influence. But I have given the solution.

Legend24403• 16 days ago

Your health insurance or employer may already offer a similar program. Mine does. I get up to $500 added to my HSA every year if I hit step count goals on their app.

That said, looking around my office, I don't think it's very effective. It's hard to get people to exercise and a few hundred bucks doesn't change that.

ynac• 17 days ago

Agreed. I've figured it out during the drier months in the NW of the States. Plenty of work in the woods, workshop, maintenance, and helping neighbors with the same. But winter and the rains I would inevitably put on 10 pounds and lose my super old guy muscles. My mildly successful campaign against the trend is long rain walks and Convict Conditioning workouts.

BurningFrog• 17 days ago

Completely restructuring society seems so simple to some people.

Gigachad2• 17 days ago

What needs to be done is relatively simple. Convincing society to fix what's broken is the hard part.

We need to restructure cities away from being driving focused.

yoz-y3• 16 days ago

It took us centuries to screw everything so I don’t claim any of this is simple. But we will need to start actually fixing stuff eventually, rather than adding patches.

KashifNY• 17 days ago

At least 30 minutes in a day, probably 3 days a week at minumum as the body requires it to maintain itself that is though if you want to live a happy and good life, but then over doing its isnt good as well, theres need to be a balance in everything

layman51• 17 days ago

Overdoing it is a real risk, I learned recently. If you work out too hard, you actually produce free radicals. The tricky thing is that some people can get used to higher heart rate so it doesn’t matter if they are working out hard consistently because they are used to it.

nradov4• 17 days ago

That's not how any of this works. Exercise causes some oxidative stress but this isn't a problem in practice. There is only a tiny fraction of committed athletes who over train to the point where it becomes detrimental; most people simply don't have the time or discipline to get anywhere close to that point.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2020.04.001

As for heart rate, going above threshold is never comfortable. But it's a good pain and you can get used to tolerating it for occasional high-intensity interval workouts. Over time this will decrease your resting heart rate and reduce the risk of a major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE).

switchbak• 17 days ago

You need to ramp up, of course. Given you're training at an appropriate rate, and you're doing sensible things - you should be fine. By sensible things I mean: short and intense weight training, intense cardio sessions, and not-too-long endurance sessions (eg: < 5h). More endurance is fine, but it can be very fatiguing, especially for the older athlete. If you ramp up to those over time, you needn't worry about "free radicals" (that's an oversimplification).

Recent research highlights a number of things, but what sticks out is that it's important to maintaining muscle mass because we lose a bunch as we get older, and loss of muscle is a leading morbidity factor.

XorNot2• 17 days ago

The level which means you keep doing it is the right level.

For me that's 20 minutes a day on a rowing machine plus some body weight strength exercises.

Which is about a YouTube video long and as a result I basically only watch YouTube content when I'm doing it (hey I'd like to watch this -> I should go start rowing) is a surprisingly good motivator.

swat535• 16 days ago

If you're going to exercise 3+ times a week, make sure to work on different parts of your body during each session or you risk injuring yourself.

For example if you are doing arm exercises Monday, don't do arm exercises again Tuesday, work another muscle groups like your legs.

I had to learn this the hard way when I was starting out..

gensym2• 17 days ago

What a weird question. The amount depends on what you hope to accomplish.

Want to be able to get on the floor and play with your grandkids? That's going to require a certain amount of mobility work.

Want to be able to hike up Mount Whitney? You'll need regular cardio.

I also hate the phrasing that exercise is something to "get away with". Most people who exercise regularly enjoy it. Moving your body is fun, especially once you get fit enough to do it without pain or immediate exhaustion.

orangecat• 17 days ago

Most people who exercise regularly enjoy it.

There's a huge selection effect here.

gensym2• 17 days ago

Gotta fuckin love hn, where you can't say the simplest thing without getting thrown into a well, actually.

I wasn't claiming to have run a damned study. Just making an observation. The thing is, people who don't enjoy exercising but start exercising anyway tend to find they enjoy it after a while. Saying people enjoy exercise is only slightly more controversial than saying "ice cream tastes good". There's a bit of activation energy required, but it's not a huge stretch to notice that something that is good for our bodies gives us pleasure.

kubelsmieci• 17 days ago

Most people who exercise regularly enjoy it.

And because the most people don't exercise, it's easy to conclude, that the most people don't enjoy it. One can even conclude reverse, that only people who enjoy exercising, are doing it.

marcosdumay• 17 days ago

I doubt it.

People have all kinds of self-defeating behavior, and those behaviors seem to be on the rise since smartphones became popular. It's likely that people enjoy it and won't do it anyway.

delis-thumbs-7e7• 17 days ago

How about you instead of trying to “get away with” as little exercise as possible you found a way to move your body that you genuinely enjoy? One should not optimise away sleep, nutrition and exercise. Yes we live in a ridiculous fitness and gym boom, but weight training might not actually be a good fit to most people. I love having to psych myself to lift big amounts of steel, I’m ok with bit of pain etc. - mostly people are not. There’s thousands of sports and ways to move out there. You don’t like running, well don’t. Go dancing, hiking, play a team sport, do tai-chi, yoga, goddammit change a hobby every two months, it doesn’t matter. Just do it and do it consistently every week.

And what best helps you in that is enjoying what you do, as well as doing it with a friend.

JohnMakin9• 17 days ago

Some people have disabilities or physical limitations.

AlienRobot2• 17 days ago

Do these people you mention read a comment on the internet saying people should exercise more and think that comment is referring to them?

moscoe• 17 days ago

All the more reason to be more active. Everyone struggles.

filoleg3• 17 days ago

For those people, any kind of a generalized take on "how much you can get away with in terms of fitness" wouldn't be helpful either. They will need a way more specific advice tailored to their individual needs and physical limitations.

It is pretty obvious the grandparent comment was just attempting to give a generalized advice, without claiming that it would comprehensively apply to every single niche condition out there (and it would be rather silly to expect it to).

delis-thumbs-7e7• 17 days ago

There’s even Paralympics in this world. People with disabilities do sports, although obviously it complicates things.

shaewest3• 17 days ago

And those limitations don't mean people can't exercise as a whole. As the list they provided explains, the goal is to find something you can do relatively consistently that gets you active. Walking even 5 minutes more than normal is an improvement for many, and you can even reach the level of sports like wheelchair rugby.

Legend24403• 17 days ago

If you are in this situation, you should see a physical therapist.

Exercise is even more important if you have a disability, because your muscles will atrophy from disuse and cause even greater disability.

E.g. if you stop moving your leg because you have a bad knee, you will now have a bad knee and a weak leg. If you go to PT and do exercises to strengthen the muscles around the knee, it can take load off the joint and improve function.

gherkinnn• 17 days ago

I do not understand this type of objection. What is the point of shooting down a reasonable recommendation (in this case exercise and having fun doing so) with a handwavy moral plight such as yours?

It truly is a bizarre spin on whataboutism.

jodrellblank4• 14 days ago

Nobody claimed otherwise.

ransom15382• 17 days ago

"but weight training might not actually be a good fit to most people. I"

People will eventually realize it causes cancer. Weight training literally generates inflammation.

daseiner12• 17 days ago

just raise interest rates to counteract, then

perhaps you meant inflammation

resistance training doesn't cause cancer though

guilhermeasper• 17 days ago

Can you provide studies/sources for your claims?

benoau• 17 days ago

I've read before that tall people get more cancer than short people, if it's relative to how many cells you have then an extra 30 kilograms of muscle might make a difference too!

shaewest3• 17 days ago

The studies I've seen point to a reduce risk & mortality of diseases inclusive of cancer, not sure what you've been reading from.

loeg4• 17 days ago

People will eventually realize it causes cancer. Weight training literally generates inflation.

Inflation? I don't think this comment could have better intentionally illustrated how ill-informed it is if you tried.

daseiner12• 17 days ago

walking, walking, walking, walking

having a well-rounded diet and getting an hour of walking in daily is like 90% of the way there for good health.

(actually, proper sleep is the #1 most important thing)

xnx• 17 days ago

And exercise helps sleep! It's an unbelievable virtuous cycle.

striking• 17 days ago

This might be good advice for people who haven't already had the rest of the living optimized out of their lives. But not everyone is so lucky...

Also, the article kind of agrees with what you're saying, even if you don't realize it. Any exercise, even if it's not organized like a weight lifting regimen might be, might be enough to keep you healthy. I think leaning into that could make exercise more genuinely enjoyable for many more people, instead of just an exercise in optimization.

strken2• 16 days ago

Have you ever heard of the motivational technique where, instead of telling themselves "I'm going for a run", people will say "I'm going to put my shoes on and see how I feel, no commitment and no pressure", and they end up nearly always going for a run anyway plus they do it more often and have more fun?

Also, have you read Dynomight's blog post[0] about how the biggest barrier to starting exercise isn't improving too slowly, it's overtraining and giving up?

This article could be seen as a way to do the minimum exercise possible. I think a better reading is that all exercise is good, you can spend five minutes on the exercise bike or do a few leg raises and push-ups, no pressure, it's still good for you, and maybe tomorrow you'll go for a run or make it to the gym.

[0] https://dynomight.net/2021/01/25/how-to-run-without-all-the-...

delis-thumbs-7e7• 16 days ago

Yes. I ran a half-marathon few years back when I used to box actively (didn’t compete, but sparred competitors). I woke up early 3 times a week to do 5km run no matter the weather. These days I just lift heavy weights. I think I know every motivational technique there is at this point.

What matters is that you move, consistently, every week, for years, for rest of your life. I’m kinda person who wants to just lay on bed and eat potato chips drinking beer. I used to start some regime or another, always getting bored after few month. Then I just found types of sports and exercises that worked for me and company they are fun to do with, and guess what, I need almost zero motivation to lift some several thousands of kg’s of iron every week.

Consistency, intensity, motivation. Best motivation is fun, especially fun with other people.

andai• 16 days ago

I have a deep, visceral revulsion to physical effort in all its forms, with three exceptions: riding a bicycle, swimming and climbing things.

Small doses of psychedelics invert this, and I find myself running and doing push-ups and enjoying it. I have no idea how that works.

tessellated• 16 days ago

I call it dancing.

dingaling2• 16 days ago

you found a way to move your body that you genuinely enjoy?

All physical exertion causes pain and discomfort, otherwise it isn't exertion. That's not ever going to be enjoyable. Tolerable, perhaps, given focus on the goal, but few people would be willing to tolerate it.

Maybe it's a surprise to you but most people's reaction to doing exercise is "when will this end?" rather than "yayy pain and breathlessness!"

mapotofu• 16 days ago

That’s why it helps to reframe the gym as training for life by making one stronger at tolerating discomfort. Showing up, consistently, even when you don’t want to, and battling through discomfort, are transferable skills throughout life and progressive training is exactly that.

edanm• 16 days ago

That's not ever going to be enjoyable. Tolerable, perhaps, given focus on the goal, but few people would be willing to tolerate it.

This is wrong in multiple ways.

For one thing, lots of people enjoy pain and discomfort caused by exercise. Some people even enjoy pain directly! There's ample evidence of this. You're painting with way too broad a brush given that there's enormous variance between people.

Secondly, there's clear evidence that many people do enjoy exercising, because gyms/parks/basketball courts/whateverl are often very busy. Are all these people just waiting for it to end? They're there voluntarily.

mrgoldenbrown• 16 days ago

Exertion does not actually imply discomfort for everyone (maybe it does for you , I'm not in your body). I would argue most people dancing in a club are doing it because it's fun, not painful. Same with kids splashing in a pool, or anyone playing DDR or beat saber, etc. People have voluntarily exercised throughout history. Certainly it was easier when I was younger, and the endorphins overpowered any pain. I have to be more deliberate now in my old age but there are still plenty of non painful ways to move my body.

delis-thumbs-7e7• 16 days ago

All physical exertion causes pain and discomfort, otherwise it isn't exertion.

This is just ridiculous. If this is actually true to ypu, please seek medical care immediately. You might not have long left.

pandaman• 16 days ago

All physical exertion causes pain and discomfort, otherwise it isn't exertion.

Not really, it causes pain and discomfort only when you have fucked up your body to the point where even a small amount of exertion is over the limit. Children seek physical exertion and will do it even against orders. A 6 y.o. is running around not because he is overcoming pain for the future health benefits, he is doing it because it's enjoyable for a body that has not degraded through decades of bad habits. People spend thousands a year on running shoes or bikes or tennis rackets and club membership are not doing that to enhance their pain and suffering either.

IAmBroom• 15 days ago

All physical exertion causes pain and discomfort,

Dance. Sex. Climbing things. Playing a sport you enjoy.

Demonstrably wrong.

Fire-Dragon-DoL2• 6 days ago

Because there are people that don't find it enjoyable.

I like windsurf a lot, but the cost and effort make me treat it like a "for fun, occasional activity".

I do not like going to the gym, but I go 3 times per week for weight lifting and 2 times a week for HIIT (incidentally, I kinda like punching the heavy bag for 30 minutes).

Either way, I'd rather play videogames (I am very passionate indie gamer) or play board games.

All of this to say: no, don't give this advice, it doesn't work for everybody.

What worked for me is tricking my brain into thinking it's part of work. I cannot skip it, it's important, it's work for my body.

I do like all the rewards it brings,but I have to fight against my will every time.

I am 3 years in and I haven't skipped a single session, so I'd say I figured it out.

delichon• 17 days ago

My dentist told me I don't have to floss all of my teeth, just the ones I want to keep. You don't have to exercise all of your muscles either.

algoth1• 17 days ago

It may sound crazy, but a properly installed pull up bar on your room doorway is a fun way to apply Pavel Tsatsouline ‘grease the groove’ principle. And it’s both easy and fun. You can do pull ups, and train your abdomen several times a day without getting psychological resistance (from google overview: "Grease the Groove" (GtG) is a strength training method popularized by fitness expert Pavel Tsatsouline. It involves performing a specific exercise frequently throughout the day using only 40–60% of your maximum reps. By avoiding muscle failure and staying fresh, your nervous system efficiently adapts to the movement.")

jborichevskiy• 17 days ago

I'm moving to a new place and my office will have an exposed I-beam and I'm stoked. The healthiest points of my life seem to correlate with industrial architecture that I can hang on directly or with rings!

crooked-v• 17 days ago

Way back, working for the 2010 Census, I had an ex-Navy coworker who did something like that: whenever he was bored in the office, he would do a couple of push-ups before looking for new work to do.

elictronic• 17 days ago

Less than 5% of the population can do a pull-up. I can after having climbed for a bit and worked towards doing it, but you might be surprised to learn how few this would actually benefit.

hnav• 17 days ago

if it's sturdy/you're light then doing eccentrics (jump up, come down unassisted) is a good way of working up to full pull ups.

shaewest3• 17 days ago

This is where calisthenics comes into play. You can quite easily increase and decrease the leverage on the muscle to workup to the 'main exercise' and even past it. IE, for pull ups, you can hang under a table and do a 'horizontal' pull, you can 'cheat' up the movement (jumping), you can use resistance bands, etc. This is the same for almost every muscle group.

hightrix• 17 days ago

A few friends and I did this during Covid. We'd do 10 pushups at the top of the hour all day long. Each effort was pretty easy, but overall we'd end up doing 100ish pushups a day. After a while we'd increase the number per set a bit.

It was a fun way to bond and share in exercise therapy.

stevenalowe• 17 days ago

zero, duh.

small_model• 17 days ago

I live on 3rd floor with no elevator so I usually have to walk up these twice a day, this along with walking and hanging from a door frame is just enough to keep alive.

Joel_Mckay• 17 days ago

Folks should be getting out for a brisk >20 minute/1mile/2km early/late walk everyday when its cool outside, and if you have a dog it is 2 to 3 times a day with shorter <10min sessions if you value the carpets.

Many that complain about neck or back problems are almost always suffering from stress/burnout, RSI, and or a sedentary lifestyle. Take it slow at first to avoid injuring yourself, and head home if you feel out of breath each journey. And remember to stay hydrated with normal clean water.

Getting outside regularly will help most folks live better longer lives. Have a wonderful day. =3

__mharrison__• 17 days ago

Find something you enjoy doing, then "hack" it to make you participate more.

For example, I play a lot of ultimate in the summer. I play with a lunchtime pickup group, so there is a forcing function to play. I like to bike, and helping coach my daughter's high school mountain bike team ensures I get a lot more miles than I would otherwise. In the winter, I have friends that I ski with. I also enjoy exercising on my own, but some activities are better as a group.

When I worked in an office, I played a lot of ultimate (lunchtime pickup), but also would do walks with colleagues. Great way to combine debugging, learning, and exercise.

sublinear4• 17 days ago

Lift weights. Do it multiple times a day and chase that pump. Do it for stress relief. Do it to help you fall asleep. Do it to wake up.

It's not all about cardio. Your muscles are such a significant part of your metabolism and far too many people avoid strength training. A ton of problems that arise while aging are ultimately hormonal. Even your skin improves. Cardiovascular health begins here. People are literally running before they can walk.

That's the realistic answer for most people under 65 trying to make it to at least 80 with a decent quality of life.

loeg4• 17 days ago

Lift weights, but like 30-60 minutes 3x a week is plenty. You definitely don't have to do it multiple times a day if that would be inconvenient.

sublinear4• 16 days ago

Yeah I agree, but considering this is HN, there's a large audience of people who want a serious answer despite it being a somewhat silly question. I already know these comments will be absolutely polluted with conjecture that isn't practical.

If someone works from home and doesn't have kids and hates going outside, this is it. If you can at least get into the habit of lifting weights, you're doing better than most.

I'm going to be the one that says it: people avoid cardio because they instantly feel like crap. Why? They lack the strength. Your legs are considered a "second heart" for a reason. When you get your strength up, you feel amazing. That run will no longer feel like a chore.

jq-r• 16 days ago

As a person who started lifting weights in my young age of 40 something, and doing it for a bit over 2 years consistently, I'll add that your muscles absolutely fucking love it. Seeing something which is a round skin and bone turn into angular muscle and tendon mass is intoxicating and a great morale booster. I just wish I have started earlier which probably would have saved me for going to two ugly spine surgeries.

dingaling2• 16 days ago

far too many people avoid strength training.

Yes, because it hurts.

Lifting weights is sore and exhausting. You're never going to persuade rhe plurality of people to improve their physical condition by enduring pain, it needs to be engaging and appealing.

sublinear4• 16 days ago

I'll respond anyway, but please don't do this here.

Unless you have an injury or disability, there's always a weight you can lift that doesn't hurt for a decent amount of reps.

You already lift your own weight all the time. You can always add more and keep going at your own pace from there. The whole point of strength training is to be comfortable lifting increasing amounts of weight over time.

For all the reasons I already listed in other comments, it's the simplest and fastest known way to not feeling like shit all the time. This is a form of exercise that can be done effectively with minimal sweating indoors. It doesn't get any simpler than this. Consider that all forms of exercise involve weight. If even this "hurts", you might have an injury you weren't aware of.

unparagoned2• 14 days ago

I think the key thing is to make people aware of the consequences of their choices. If people are completely aware of how much they are fucking up their life fine, that’s on them. Many people don’t realise just how much of a big impact it has. Is not just physical health. For mental health nothing beats exercise.

annzabelle• 17 days ago

I love to run, and even in winter, in the dark, in the rain, I will get home from work at 6pm, eat a small dinner, and head out for a 40-60 minute jog or interval session a few days a week. I do a aerial circus class once a week, too.

I am single and have no children or care giving obligations yet. I bet that when I (hopefully) have small children one day, it will be much harder for me to fit in 3-4 hours a week of running, especially when sleeping enough to feel rested. It would be nice to know what I can do to keep up my health during that phase of life.

nradov4• 16 days ago

Buy a jogging stroller. You'll have to accept some loss of sleep though, that's just the way it goes.

Eric_WVGG• 16 days ago

I’ll tell you an easy way to get away with absolutely no exercise: design your life in such a way that moving around is a normal part of it.

Live in a "fifteen minute city." Work someplace that’s either a thirty minute walk or thirty minute bike ride from home. Carry your groceries.

If you get your minimal daily requirement of exercise by just living your normal life, any additional exercise you do is bonus, icing on your cake.

nradov4• 16 days ago

That's a reasonable start for some people but it lacks the resistance training necessary to prevent sarcopenia later in life. Some people get that as part of their job but most of us need to do at least some weight training. Carrying groceries isn't nearly enough.

bitshiftfaced• 16 days ago

I looked into the return on investment of exercise in terms of hours spent exercising and expected hours of waking life you gain. In short, it's a good investment, especially if you do vigorous exercise (both cardio and resistance training). It's an even better time investment if you can do it at home and cut out the commute time to the gym. You don't actually need more than maybe a couple hundred dollars worth of equipment.

How little exercise can you get away with?

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