The 9-Word Ultimate Fitness Manifesto

n Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released new physical activity guidelines for the first time in ten years. They recommend that adults get at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week, which is unchanged from the last time guidelines were released, in 2008.

This amounts to just 22 minutes per day and can include, the report says, “any form of exercise or movement of the body that uses energy,” like “active chores” or “yard work.” The main change from last decade’s guidelines is that the new ones stress the dangers of extended periods of sitting. Even just a three-minute walk around the office is beneficial, and can count toward those 22 minutes per day, according to the report. 

My hunch is that most Outside readers already meet those numbers. (You can read more from a report on the guidelines in the Journal of the American Medical Association.) 

Or, if you want to save yourself the time, just follow this rule:

Move your body often, sometimes hard. Every bit counts.

This post first appeared in Brad’s “Do It Better” column at Outside Magazine.