Do you really need to work out five days a week to stay fit? Emerging research shows that exercising only on weekends may be just as effective as spreading out your workouts throughout the week.
A 2024 study suggests that “weekend warriors”—those who cram their sweat sessions into one or two days—have similar body fat levels as those who exercise regularly throughout the week, as long as they meet the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity per week.1
The study, published in Obesity, analyzed abdominal and whole-body fat in nearly 9,700 adults aged 20 to 59 years. Researchers also took body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference into consideration.
The researchers categorized participants as inactive, weekend warriors, or regularly active based on data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) collected from 2011 to 2018.
They found that weekend warriors and regularly active participants both had lower abdominal fat and whole-body mass fat compared to the inactive group.
Previous research has found that any amount of exercise has beneficial health effects. “There’s nothing special about when that exercise happens. Doing it clustered in a couple of days together is not better or worse than doing it spread out throughout the week,” said Gregory Katz, MD, a cardiologist with NYU Langone Health, who was not involved in the study.
Choose What Makes Sense for Your Schedule
While researchers suggest that the recommended weekly exercise can be done in one or two days, intense workouts lasting over an hour may not be suitable for everyone. Age, fitness level, and past injuries all play a role in determining what’s safe when starting out.
“It’s important to start slow and gradually build up. You don’t want to go from being completely sedentary to suddenly spending three hours doing an exercise that can really hurt yourself,” said Peter T. Katzmarzyk, PhD, FTOS, associate executive director for Population and Public Health Sciences at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University.
Katzmarzyk emphasized that any amount of exercise is better than none. You don’t have to limit your workouts to weekends, and the 150-minute guideline shouldn’t feel overwhelming. The key is to move whenever you can.
“Being consistent is so much more important than doing what’s optimal,” Katzmarzyk said. “I look at the research on people who are ‘weekend warriors’ and [see] that’s what they do because it fits with their lifestyle, and they’re able to be consistent.”
Does the Type of Exercise Matter?
While any exercise has health benefits, Katzmarzyk recommends the majority of physical activity be aerobic, which includes walking, running, cycling, or swimming.
Aerobic exercise is typically associated with heart health benefits, he explained. Research shows that aerobic exercise can reverse or help prevent heart disease, as well as reduce inflammation and lower the risk of diabetes.2
These benefits can be seen in people who exercise only a few days a week. A 2017 study found that one or two workout sessions a week that amount to the recommended exercise time might be enough to reduce death risks.3
Adding strength training to your weekly routine is equally important as it can help maintain muscle mass as you age. It may also help lower blood pressure. Resistance training or weightlifting can count as strength training.
A variety of movement matters, said Michael Graham, PhD, a senior lecturer in sport and exercise science at Teesside University in Middlesbrough, England.
If you’re losing weight from aerobic exercise, you’ll need to strength train to prevent losing muscle mass too. Plus, changing things up can help keep boredom at bay and encourage motivation while targeting different muscle groups.
“For example, moving from a bodyweight squat to an overhead squat using a ball, dumbbell, or barbell challenges the core, shoulders, and back in new ways,” Graham said.
Experts emphasize that any amount or type of exercise is better than inactivity.
“Regular exercise certainly promotes weight maintenance over time, prevents weight gain, and is associated with a lower risk of developing a number of chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer,” Katzmarzyk said. “People who are regular exercisers tend to live longer and have a lower risk of dying at an early age. There’s really a great benefit to being active.”
What This Means For You
You don’t have to work out every day to stay fit. Research shows that fitting 150 minutes of exercise into just one or two days can offer similar health benefits as spreading workouts throughout the week. However, intense sessions may not be ideal for everyone, so it’s important to start gradually. Experts say the key is consistency and any movement is better than none.
Sources:
- Lei L, Li J, Wang W, et al. The associations of “weekend warrior” and regularly active physical activity with abdominal and general adiposity in US adults. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2024;32(4):822-833. doi:10.1002/oby.23986
- Patel H, Alkhawam H, Madanieh R, Shah N, Kosmas CE, Vittorio TJ. Aerobic vs anaerobic exercise training effects on the cardiovascular system. World J Cardiol. 2017;9(2):134-138. doi:10.4330/wjc.v9.i2.134
- O’Donovan G, Lee I, Hamer M, Stamatakis E. Association of “weekend warrior” and other leisure time physical activity patterns with risks for all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality. JAMA Intern Med. 2017;177(3):335–342. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.8014
Important Notice: This article was originally published at www.verywellhealth.com by Laura Hensley where all credits are due. Fact checked by Nick Blackmer
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