How Much Exercise Do I Need to Do?
Physical Activity Guidelines
When we ask “How much exercise do I need to do?” the question often comes loaded with guilt, pressure, and all-or-nothing thinking.
But the truth is, the answer depends on your goals, your current fitness level, and your life circumstances, but there are clear, research-backed guidelines to help you figure out where to start.
For general health, the World Health Organization and most national guidelines recommend:
150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity,
or
75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity,
plus
2 muscle-strengthening sessions per week.
That works out to about 30 minutes, five days a week, or shorter, more intense sessions if that suits you better. Strength training can be bodyweight-based (like squats, lunges, or push-ups), use resistance bands, or involve free weights.
These recommendations are aimed at maintaining basic health, supporting heart function, mobility, mood, and metabolic function. They are not about weight loss, athletic performance, or beach-body goals. They're about keeping your body well enough to do the things you care about for as long as possible.
But here's the catch:
These are minimums, not targets that must be hit perfectly every week. And what counts as moderate or vigorous intensity depends on your own body.
What Counts as Exercise?
When most people hear the words “physical activity,” they immediately picture structured exercise: gym workouts, fitness classes, or early-morning runs. It’s no wonder that so many of us feel like we’re not doing enough. If you're not showing up in Lycra, sweating through a class, or logging steps on a fitness app, it might feel like your movement doesn’t count.
But that’s not true.
The official physical activity guidelines from organisations like the World Health Organization and UK Chief Medical Officers don’t just refer to exercise, they refer to physical activity, which is a much broader, more inclusive category.
Physical activity is any movement that uses energy. That includes everything from walking to the shops to dancing in your kitchen to carrying heavy groceries upstairs. It’s the umbrella term that covers both structured and unstructured movement.
Exercise, on the other hand, is a subcategory of physical activity. It’s structured, planned, and done with a specific purpose, like improving fitness, strength, or endurance. Think gym workouts, yoga classes, running, or lifting weights.
Here’s the key point: all exercise is physical activity, but not all physical activity has to be exercise to benefit your body.
This distinction matters, especially if you’re busy, struggling to find time to workout, or are simply not the “gym type.” If you think movement only counts when it’s part of a workout plan, it’s easy to feel like you’re failing before you begin.
But research shows that incidental movement, the kind you build into your everyday life, can have major health benefits, especially when it’s consistent.
You can improve your cardiovascular health, reduce your risk of chronic illness, and support mental wellbeing by moving more throughout the day, even if you never step foot in a fitness class.
How to Integrate More Physical Activity Into Your Day
Every day, we make dozens of small decisions about whether to move or stay still, take the stairs or the lift, walk over or send the email, stand or sit through a meeting. On their own, these moments feel insignificant. But repeated through the day, and over time, they become habits, often automatic ones.
And one of the biggest “habit machines” in your life? Your workday.
Most of us spend the majority of our week at work, whether that’s at a desk, on calls, commuting, or sitting in meetings. That makes the workday not just a source of sedentary behaviour, but also an opportunity to incorporate movement in small, consistent ways.
Because you’re already following a structured rhythm, tasks, meetings, lunch breaks, transitions, it becomes easier to weave movement into that rhythm without disrupting it.
By taking a deliberate approach to movement you can easy reach and exceed the recommended 150 minutes of moderate activity each week.
The key? Start choosing movement over sitting, five minutes at a time.
You don’t need to overhaul your day, just find the opportunities where sitting has become default, and intentionally replace it with movement.
Instead of standing still on the escalator, walk up
Instead of emailing your colleague, walk over to speak to them
Instead of sitting through your phone call, take it walking
Instead of scrolling at lunch, take a brisk walk around the block
Instead of slumping at your desk between meetings, do a set of squats or desk push-offs
Instead of sitting for a whole hour, stand and stretch for five minutes on the hour
Each of these choices takes little effort in isolation. But over the course of a workday,
That single decision to move for five minutes every hour, repeated daily, will shift how you feel in your body, and maybe how you think about exercise entirely.
The Active Break Method
Here’s one of the simplest ways to build physical activity into your routine.
When you are at work, set a timer, calendar alert, or visual cue to remind you to take a 5-minute active break once every hour to move.
You might:
Walk up and down a flight of stairs
Do a quick set of squats, lunges, or heel raises
March in place or around your home or office
Stretch your neck, shoulders, and spine while focusing on your breath
Use a resistance band for a short upper-body routine
If you add just six 5 minutes active breaks to your workday, one every hour, that adds up to 30 minutes of physical activity per day. Over the course of a week? That’s 150 minutes, enough to meet the minimum recommended guidelines for health.
And if some of those breaks include bodyweight or resistance-based movements, you're also working towards your strength training targets.
The Active Break Method works because it’s rooted in science, but designed for real life. You can adapt it to your schedule, your space, and your energy.
It’s ideal for:
Busy professionals with long workdays
People returning to fitness after a break
Anyone who struggles with motivation, time, or gym-based routines
You choose the activities you enjoy, are able to do, fit in with your day. This is a physical activity plan that fits your life, that you can start today and stick with for the long-term.
Beyond the physical benefits, Active Breaks have a powerful impact on how you feel and function throughout the day. Just a few minutes of movement each hour can significantly improve mental focus and boost your energy.
They can also help reduce tension, improve posture, and ease the musculoskeletal discomfort that often builds up from prolonged sitting. Perhaps most importantly, these short breaks act as mini stress resets, helping you recover, refocus, and stay grounded no matter how busy the day becomes.
Ready to Start today?
Try one 5-minute every hour Active Break today and see how you feel.
Need ideas? Explore the Active Break Challenges, a practical, no-pressure collection of short movement prompts designed to fit into your 9–5. Whether it’s walking the stairs, stretching at your desk, or doing a few squats between meetings, each challenge helps you build fitness, focus, and momentum, five minutes at a time.
Make wellness part of your workday, check out the Active Break Challenges now.
Ready to be more active?
Start the Active Break course, a self-paced, science-backed programme designed to help you move more, sit less, and feel better at work.
You’ll learn the tools, strategies, and mindset shifts needed to build lasting habits in just 5 minutes at a time.
Perfect if: you want to a quick way to start making a change today.
