Only one in five adult Americans meets government guidelines for weekly aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported May 2.
Federal guidelines recommend that adults get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, such as walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, such as jogging, every week. They also advise adults to train major muscle groups, using weights or other forms of resistance, twice weekly. To see if these guidelines were being met, questions regarding exercise habits were added to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in 2011.
Kristan Hutchison (Property of National Science Foundation)/ (Antarctic Photo Library via Wikimedia Commons)
A recent CDC report showed that only one in five American adults get 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity weekly and properly train major muscle groups twice a week.
Of more than 400,000 BRFSS respondents, just more than half (52%) reported that they met guidelines for aerobic activity, while under a third (29%) said they met guidelines for muscle-strengthening activity. One-fifth (20%) were classified as meeting both the aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines (MMWR 2013;62:326-30).
Women were less likely to meet the guidelines than men, with only 18% reporting compliance, compared with 23% of men. Whites and blacks reported similar habits, with about 21% meeting guidelines; Hispanics had somewhat lower compliance at 18%, and other races 23%.
Younger adults were more likely to meet fitness guidelines, with 31% of 18-to-24-year-olds compliant, compared with only 16% of people aged 65 years and older.
The CDC noted a few limitations to its findings. Data from the survey were self-reported, "and might be overestimated because of social-desirability bias, recall limitations, or other factors."
Only half of those called responded, and the survey was not designed to capture aerobic or muscle-strengthening activities that are a component of job duties.