Amount of exercise more important than intensity

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Mild exercise, if you take enough of it, can benefit you as much as more vigorous activity.
The advantages of exercise are well known but there is still some debate over how much activity and at what level gives the most benefit. A team at Duke University now reports upon a study of different exercise training regimes in a group of 133 sedentary overweight individuals.

They carried out one of four combinations: high amount and intensity, high amount and low intensity, low amount and high intensity, and low amount and low intensity. All improved their fitness - with the best gains in the high amount and intensity group. But the researchers concluded that it was really the amount, rather than the intensity, of the exercise that mattered most. What was also significant was that even among those who didn't lose weight, cardiovascular fitness improved. So people shouldn't stop exercising if they don't lose pounds. What you should aim for is walking for 12 miles a week, say the researchers - based on this study. This translates into 125 to 200 minutes of walking or its equivalent.

Source
Chest October 2005