When I think of the term “weekend warriors,” I immediately imagine two groups of people gathering in a large field on a Saturday morning. Somebody blows a horn or whistle, and everyone begins to throw rocks, stones and arrows at each other.
Then, when Sunday evening rolls around, the group that has the most people still standing is declared the winning team. The crowd roars…
Or not.
We can probably blame this image on too much TV when I was a kid. But it has nothing to do with what being a weekend warrior means in today’s world.
The term was originally coined in the 1930’s by Army reserve soldiers who only trained on weekends.
In more recent years, it refers to people who pack all of their physical activity into one or two days a week instead of spreading it out over the week.
And there is something to be said for that… (no rocks, stones or arrows are involved).
Here’s What 2 Days a Week Can Do for You!
It turns out that people who condense most of their physical activity into one or two days a week can gain the same health benefits as those who exercise every day of the week.
In a new study published in last months’ issue of Circulation, it didn’t matter whether people spent 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity in a few days or over a week. Either way, the risk of developing more than 200 health conditions dropped over the next six years.
At the top of the list are some of the cardiometabolic factors that affect your risk of heart disease and metabolic disorders…
- More than a 20% lower chance of high blood pressure
- Around a 40% reduction in the risks of diabetes and sleep apnea
- Approximately a 50% decrease in the chances of obesity
A similar study reports that weekend warriors have a similar reduction in the risk developing cognitive decline when compared to people who exercise on a daily basis.
And back in 2022 we learned that people who get all of their exercise in one or two days a week lower their risk of premature death just as much as people who get the same amount of exercise over the course of a week.
This includes death due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and other potentially fatal health conditions.
So if you can squeeze in 75 minutes (1.25 hours) of moderate to vigorous intensity exercise on Saturday, and another 75 minutes on Sunday (or whatever days’ work best for you), you will still get the same benefits as someone who participates in physical activity seven days a week.
I recommend a combination of aerobic and strength training. And there is nothing that says you have to get all 75 minutes of activity completed in the same session.
For example, you can get your Saturday started with 35 to 40 minutes of aerobic activity, then spend the same amount of time performing your strength training in the afternoon. Then, just do the same thing on Sunday.
But the good news doesn’t stop there. There are more health benefits that you can pack into your weekend, without any effort at all!
Catching Up on Your Sleep During Weekends Cuts Heart Risk
You can be a weekend warrior all day long. But before you do that, catch up on your sleep!
You see, it’s not uncommon for some people to build up a “sleep debt” during the week. Basically, it’s the amount of sleep you actually get versus the amount of sleep you really need.
If you’re getting less than seven hours of solid sleep a night, the health consequences are very similar to not getting enough exercise… high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and so on.
Well guess what?
It turns out that those who compensate for that debt by getting the most extra sleep on weekends have a 20% lower risk of heart disease.
This actually creates a wonderful balance for weekend warriors – a perfect symmetry!
The extra physical activity over a period of one or two days will push your body so that you’re nice and tired by the end of the day. And the extra sleep will give your body the added stamina you need to tackle those physical activities with gusto.
As a special bonus, you don’t even need to feel “guilty” about sleeping in!
SOURCES:
Kany S, Al-Alusi MA, Rämö JT, Pirruccello JP, Churchill TW, Lubitz SA, Maddah M, Guseh JS, Ellinor PT, Khurshid S. Associations of “Weekend Warrior” Physical Activity With Incident Disease and Cardiometabolic Health. Circulation. 2024 Oct 15;150(16):1236-1247.
O’Donovan G, Petermann-Rocha F, Ferrari G, et alAssociations of the ‘weekend warrior’ physical activity pattern with mild dementia: findings from the Mexico City Prospective. British Journal of Sports Medicine. Published Online First: 29 October 2024.
Dos Santos M, Ferrari G, Lee DH, Rey-López JP, Aune D, Liao B, Huang W, Nie J, Wang Y, Giovannucci E, Rezende LFM. Association of the “Weekend Warrior” and Other Leisure-time Physical Activity Patterns With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Nationwide Cohort Study. JAMA Intern Med. 2022 Aug 1;182(8):840-848.
Catching up on sleep on weekends may lower heart disease risk by up to 20%. European Society of Cardiology. Press Release Aug 2024.
