EUGENIZATION.

Michele asks, “What do you consider the ideal amount of exercise per week?”

Good question. The inevitable follow-up riposte: “What are you looking to do?”

The problem: Ideal for one person’s purpose may not be ideal for another person’s. An ideal program for a 41 year old Olympic swimmer looks a lot different than an ideal program for a 62 year old recreational tennis player. Even if their goals are exactly the same, two individuals can have much different programs (say, Dara Torres and Katie Hoff).

So here’s the short answer - for most people to achieve what they’re looking to achieve (better-looking body, stronger bones and muscles, etc.), they would have to spend anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours per week of actual training time (not chatting, water breaks, lying on the floor gasping for air, etc.), and if pressed, I’d guess closer to 30 minutes, not 2 hours.

All in all, for the average trainee, in order to address all preexisting injuries, main muscle-joint functions, and sundries (tight hamstrings, upper cross syndrome, etc.), maybe an hour a week or so.

It’s important to note that the time spent isn’t important, it’s how that time is spent that’s important.

The literature doesn’t give us a clear cut answer here, so that’s my opinion based on my research and application. Lurking fitness professionals and enthusiasts, what are your thoughts? Post to comments.