Sweat 16

You've heard of a Sweet 16 - Why not a Sweat 16?!

The guidelines for the importance and amount of physical activity we should strive for in a day have changed drastically since I was earning my Kinesiology degree at Penn State. The current guidelines from the CDC are for adults to participate in at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise (i.e. brisk walking) per week and use resistance exercises at least 2 days per week that focuses on all major muscle groups (i.e. chest, back, arms, shoulders, abs, buttocks, and thighs).

These guidelines are much improved from where they started, but I believe that focusing on an amount of time per week can lead to problems. I can go to the gym and work out for 75 minutes 2 days per week. That gives me the minimum exercise requirement for the CDC, but do you think that is healthy? The answer is no. 

Throughout my undergraduate career, I would work out 3-4 days per week in the gym for 60-90 minutes. The problem was, my exercises were completely inefficient. I would rest and talk a lot between sets, but rationalize to myself that since I was in the gym for over an hour, that I must have put in a good workout. I wasn't working out efficiently and I wasn't getting the most out of my time.

This led me to the principle of the Sweat 16. In our world today, where schedules are packed more than ever, efficiency is key in achieving the amount of activity that our bodies crave. The bottom line is that our bodies were created to move and yet we have created a society in which the majority of us sit at a desk in front of a computer for more than half our waking hours. I am going to introduce a little radical thought here: sitting is to the spine what smoking to the lungs. How about that to encourage us to get off our butts?

So what is Sweat 16? It is simply participating in some activity that allows you to continuously sweat for 16 minutes a day during EVERY day of the week. Now of course that is a minimum to get you started, but if you set that as a goal to schedule into your day, every day, then you will be well on your way to achieving a healthy and active life. 

But Dr. Dan, only 16 minutes of sweat a day is less than the exercise requirement of the CDC... Of course it is! But here's the deal: how long does it actually take you to reach the stage where you have built up a good sweat? It takes at least five or ten minutes for the average person depending on the environmental conditions (i.e. air condition vs. humidity). Adding in the "warm up to sweat time" makes puts your weekly minutes at about 175!

The CDC has laid down an excellent baseline, but the intensity levels are not clearly defined and can differ greatly from person to person. A "brisk walk" for a pregnant or an elderly individual may be a moderate to high activity, but that same brisk walk for the average healthy person would hardly get their heart rate up. The advantage of the Sweat 16 principle is that you are basing your exercise levels completely upon your individual ability. And, once your strength and endurance begin to improve (and of course they will because you are designed to adapt!), you will have to increase your activity intensity to reach that same level of sweating.

Six Ways to Ensure your Sweat 16:

1.       Add a hill, incline, or steps.

2.       Add weights or resistance bands.

3.       Increase repetitions.

4.       Increase your speed.

5.       Change the plane of your body (low to high and high to low).

6.       Decrease rest time between sets. Ideally you should choose a series of movements that do not require a rest for the duration of the activity.

It is important to remember that if you have not engaged in any physical activity and you wish to begin an exercise program, you should consult a health care professional.

Always empowering,

Dr. Dan

Dr. Dan Turo is the owner and chiropractor of Turo Family Chiropractic located in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, PA. Find more information at his website. Follow him on facebook and twitter.