Unleashing The Weekend Warrior in You

If you are one of the thousands, maybe millions of typical 9-to-5 desk jockeys found around the world then I’m sure you are lacking one of the most important resources in the fight for better fitness and health - time. As with most people, I’m sure you’re stuck with responsibilities that hardly allow you to find the time to do the exercise you need to keep you fit and fresh for the daily grind.

With this dilemma in mind, the concept of the weekend warrior was born. These are your typical people, who attend to their myriad of adult responsibilities during the week - be it work, travel commitments and family obligations, but still find enough time to squeeze in enough exercise and intense physical activities during their precious weekends.

Most often these weekend warriors spend their Saturdays and Sundays playing team sports like basketball, football, and softball. More solitary warriors may prefer jogging, trail walking or swimming. The more adventurous warriors may opt for rock climbing, surfing and even mountain biking.

Why Become A Weekend Warrior In the First Place? First things first, we have to establish that the weekend warrior lifestyle is not the best way to shed pounds and meet your goal of a fitter, healthier you. It simply isn’t. However, any exercise or physical activity is certainly better than laying back on the couch at home, snacking on chips while watching cable TV reruns. It’s a simple fact - any exercise is better than no exercise at all. In fact, a Harvard University study could lend a little more credence to this fact.

A recent Harvard University study of 8,421 men aged between 50 to 70 years old found that healthy men who burned an extra 1,000 calories per week even in only one or two bouts of actvity were 60% less likely to die during the 10-year period that the study was being conducted, as compared to their less active peers.

The caveat however is that the findings only applied to men with a healthy weight and low risk of heart disease. The study’s lead author, Dr. I-Min Lee of the Harvard Medical School, says that overnight weekend warriors had a greater risk of dying from a heart attack.

“We still believe that at least 30 minutes of moderate- intensity exercise most days of the week is best, but for healthy men, some exercise is better than nothing,” he adds.

Benefits of Being A Weekend Warrior Adopting a weekend warrior lifestyle does provide immediate benefits to anyone wishing to pursue such. Tim Church, Director of Preventive Medicine Research at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge and co-author of the book Move Yourself, notes that among some of the benefits of working out include improved blood sugar control, improved sleep and reduced stress.

Other benefits include reduced blood pressure, lower risk of heart attacks and stroke, reduced risk of certain types of cancer, and even weight control.

Again, there is a caveat for weekend warriors. “The best thing is doing something spread out across the week, and in the middle doing something just on the weekends,” recommends Church.

The Path of the Weekend Warrior On your journey to better fitness and health, the path of the weekend warrior may be the most viable road to take. What is important is that as you venture on with these activities, always remember to seek safety first: always ask your doctor’s advice before trying out new and strenuous activities. Also, always remember to have fun with what you are doing. Remember: the road to fitness and health should always be paved in safety and fun!

CONTENT SOURCES:

Health and Fitness Advice by FitFarms Editorial Team

Image Credit: Prevention.com