Current exercise guidelines recommend that adults engage in at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity weekly to promote cardiovascular health. However, finding the time to exercise often presents challenges, with many people squeezing in a couple of weekend workouts – often called the “weekend warrior” pattern. A recent study found that people whose physical activity occurred over one or two days had similar cardiovascular disease risks as those with more evenly distributed activity.

Researchers analyzed the accelerometer-based physical activity patterns of nearly 90,000 adults enrolled in the UK Biobank study. They categorized the participants according to three activity patterns: inactive (fewer than 150 minutes), active weekend warrior (150 minutes or more, mostly over one or two days), and active regular (150 minutes or more, spread throughout the week).

They found that both activity patterns – weekend warrior vs. regular – had comparable effects on cardiovascular disease risk, reducing the risk of atrial fibrillation (22 percent vs. 19 percent), heart attack (27 percent vs. 35 percent), heart failure (38 percent vs. 36 percent), and stroke (21 percent vs. 17 percent).

These findings suggest that engaging in aerobic physical activity, either regularly throughout the week or in a more condensed pattern during the weekends, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. Aerobic exercise strengthens the heart muscle, lowers blood pressure, and reduces inflammation, promoting improved cardiovascular health. Learn how even resistance training can be aerobic in this clip featuring Dr. Martin Gibala.

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