Is daily aerobic healthy?

Question

My brother told me to take every 3rd day off from working out in order to give my muscles time to heal. But I think he may be thinking of people who lift weights. I'm running 1 hour daily. Isn't that ok? Should I still take a day off? I thought daily aerobic excersise was good for you.

Answer 1

The MINIMUM requirements for any benefit from aerobic exercise are:

1. A minimum of 20 mins/day (30 - 60 mins recommended).
2. A minimum of 3 days per week (4 - 5 days preferred).
3. A minimum of 50% heart rate increase toward your maximum heart rate (60 - 80% recommended).

Firstly, running for an hour per day is excellent (make sure your shoes are well cushioned). 7 days per week might be overdoing it a bit. If memory serves me, my dad runs week days and rests on weekends. You could take 1 day off during the week and 1 day off on weekends.

Secondly, to figure out your target heart rate, subtract your age from 220. That will give your maximum heart rate. Eg.: I am 32, so 220 - 32 = 188. 188 bpm is my absolute maximum heart rate. Next relax and take your resting pulse rate. Mine is about 75 (I'm not as active as you or my dad). Your resting pulse will be 0% and your absolute max will be 100%. When running, you want your pulse to be at about 70% (in my example, that would be about 154 bpm: 188 - 75 = 113. 113 * 70% = 79. 79 (70%) + 75 (resting rate) = 154 (target rate).).

Buy a pulse/heart rate monitor or learn to take your pulse on the side of your neck. If you take your pulse manually, try to learn to take it while running, or pause only briefly (to prevent your pulse from falling too much while taking it). Take your pulse for 10 seconds and multiply it by 6 to figure out if you are at your target rate or not (or divide your target rate by 6 ahead of time to know instantly if your 10 sec. pulse is okay or not).

Thirdly, you also need resistance exercises (eg.: weight lifting). Resistance exercise builds muscle, connective tissue, and bone density together. The increase in bone density is especially important for women. Later in life, when women hit menopause, their rate of loss of bone calcium becomes faster. Maintaining a resistance exercise routine helps to prevent Osteoporosis and fractures. An early start is ideal, but a late start is still better than none.

Resistance exercise must be done a minimum of 2 days per week, but 3 - 4 days per week is recommended. You MUST rest your muscles 1 day between workouts.

Fourthly, don't forget a balanced diet.

Answer 2

You are right. There is nothing wrong with doing aerobics everyday. People that are trying to build muscle, first break down muscle tissue & have to take time off to rebuild. Keep running, although mow, studies have shown that some weight lifting is good for women. It help to keep them strong against osteoporosous later.

Answer 3

Daily aerobics are healthy but I think running is such a hard sport - why not walk every other day. I have a girlfriend who runs 10K's and she never runs two days in a row. She said its too hard on her body

Answer 4

Your brother is right! Your muscles need to rest and heal. Probably alternate days if you are doing aerobics, like hi-lo etc. But if you are doing stretching exercise like Yoga, you can do every day.

Answer 5

Yes, you should take a day off. Evening with running you are using your legs and all the muscles in your legs. You should take one day off a week completely and maybe every third day just take it easier and just walk or go for a shorter amount of time.

Answer 6

Daily exercise is good for you. Don't let him tell you different.