Why not become a weekend warrior too?
If you struggle to fit exercise into your busy weekdays, there’s good news. Research shows that squeezing the recommended amount of physical activity into the weekend can still provide significant health benefits.
A study of nearly 90,000 participants from the UK Biobank found that ‘weekend warriors’ — those who condensed a week’s worth of exercise into one or two days — had a lower risk of developing over 200 diseases compared to inactive individuals.
After tracking participants’ exercise habits and health outcomes for several years, scientists observed reduced risks across a wide range of conditions, from hypertension and diabetes to mood disorders and kidney disease.
The effectively concentrated bursts of exercise
Interestingly, the concentrated bursts of exercise common among weekend warriors appeared to be just as effective in lowering disease risk as spreading workouts throughout the week. This led researchers to believe that the total amount of physical activity might be more crucial than how frequently it occurs.
This can be empowering, as it suggests that when it comes to health benefits, the overall amount of physical activity is more important than how it’s distributed throughout the week. The key is to find a routine that works for you to meet that target.
The NHS recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week to maintain health, with even one or two sessions significantly reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke. As a general guideline, moderate exercise transitions to vigorous when it becomes difficult to speak in full sentences while exercising.
In a study published in Circulation, researchers analyzed the health records of 89,573 UK Biobank participants who wore wrist devices to track their activity over a week.
Those who achieved at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity were categorized as ‘regular exercisers’ if they spread out their activity, or ‘weekend warriors’ if they concentrated most of it into one or two days. Those who didn’t meet the 150-minute mark were considered inactive.
Weekend warriors show a reduced risk for medical conditions
In the years following the use of the exercise monitor, weekend warriors showed a reduced risk for 264 medical conditions compared to those classified as inactive, with regular exercisers experiencing similar benefits.
The most significant reductions were seen in cardiometabolic disorders. Compared to inactive individuals, the risk of hypertension was over 20% lower in both weekend warriors and regular exercisers, while the risk of diabetes dropped by more than 40%.
Similar results have been observed in previous research. In 2017, physical activity researcher Gary O’Donovan found that both weekend warriors and regular exercisers who met exercise guidelines were less likely to die from cancer or cardiovascular diseases compared to sedentary individuals. Another study in 2022 reinforced these findings.
A lingering question in observational studies like these is whether exercise itself prevents disease or if healthier people, who already have a lower risk of disease, tend to exercise more. Both factors likely play a role. In the latest study, researchers attempted to account for this by excluding participants who developed medical conditions within two years of monitoring their exercise habits.
Why not become a weekend warrior too conclusion
Further research is needed to determine if concentrated bouts of exercise could make it easier for people to meet physical activity goals. This approach might be more convenient for some and could improve adherence to public health recommendations.
Ultimately, these findings reaffirm that total exercise volume is the most important factor, regardless of how frequently it’s done throughout the week.
This is encouraging news for those aiming to meet the World Health Organization’s guidelines but only have a few days each week to do so. However, for individuals already meeting these guidelines, increasing the frequency of exercise could help boost their total activity and offer even greater health benefits.
