What Do 150 Minutes of Exercise a Week Actually Look Like?

It looks like 30 minutes of brisk walking on five days, or about 75 minutes of running or other hard exercise, plus muscle-strengthening work on at least two days. That's the starting point of the World Health Organization's 2020 guidelines, which ask adults for 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity a week. You can mix the two, and short bouts count.

The short answer: 30 minutes on 5 days, plus 2 strength days

The WHO's 2020 guidelines ask adults aged 18 to 64 for:¹

• 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity a week, such as brisk walking, or
• 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, such as running, or
• an equivalent mix of the two, spread through the week, and
• muscle-strengthening activity on 2 or more days a week, at moderate or greater intensity, working all the major muscle groups.

So 150 minutes is the low end of a range, not a ceiling. Spread over a full week, it's about 21 minutes a day. Over five days, it's 30.

What exactly do the WHO guidelines say?

The guidelines were written by an expert group convened by the WHO and published by Bull and colleagues in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2020.¹ The group reviewed evidence linking activity to outcomes such as death from any cause, heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, mental health and sleep. The main adult recommendations are rated "strong," based on moderate-certainty evidence.

A few details matter in practice:

• Some is better than none. If you're below the target, any activity brings benefits. Start small and build up how often, how hard and how long you go.
• Bouts of any length count. The 2010 guidelines counted activity only in bouts of at least 10 minutes. The 2020 version dropped that rule.
• It doesn't have to be a workout. Activity at work, at home and while getting around, such as walking or cycling to places, counts toward the total.
• More can add benefits. Going past 300 moderate or 150 vigorous minutes may bring extra benefits. This is a weaker, "conditional" recommendation, and the gains tend to taper off at higher amounts.
• Sit less. Adults should limit time spent sitting. Replacing it with activity of any intensity, even light, has benefits, and people who sit a lot are encouraged to go beyond the minimum.
• Adults 65 and older get the same targets, plus varied activity that emphasizes balance and strength on 3 or more days a week to help prevent falls.
• During pregnancy and after birth, women without medical reasons to avoid exercise are advised to do at least 150 moderate minutes a week, with both aerobic and strengthening activity.

These are public health guidelines for the general population. They aren't training plans for athletes, and the authors say so.

What counts as moderate vs vigorous exercise?

The WHO defines intensity in two ways.¹ On an absolute scale, moderate activity uses 3 to just under 6 times the energy you use sitting at rest (3 to 6 METs), and vigorous activity uses 6 times or more. On a personal effort scale from 0 to 10, moderate is usually a 5 or 6 and vigorous a 7 or 8.

The quickest check is the talk test from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). During moderate activity you can talk but not sing. During vigorous activity you can't say more than a few words without pausing for a breath.²

Because the effort scale is relative to your own fitness, the same activity can be moderate for one person and vigorous for another. Go by how hard it feels and the talk test, not just the name of the activity.

How do moderate and vigorous minutes add up?

The WHO's two ranges line up two to one: 75 vigorous minutes sit alongside 150 moderate minutes, and 150 vigorous minutes alongside 300 moderate.¹ So a simple way to count a mixed week is to count each vigorous minute as two moderate minutes. That's our arithmetic from the guideline's ranges, not a separate rule the WHO spells out.

For example, 90 minutes of brisk walking plus 30 minutes of running works out to 90 + 60 = 150 moderate-equivalent minutes.

Four example weeks that reach 150 minutes

These are examples we built to show how the guidelines can fit different lives. They aren't plans tested in a study. Each one meets the aerobic target and includes at least two strength days.

A few things to notice:

• The runner needs the least time. Because vigorous minutes count double, 85 minutes of running clears the target. If your runs are easy enough to chat in full sentences, count them as moderate instead.
• The lifter still needs some cardio. The guidelines treat muscle-strengthening as its own recommendation, on top of the aerobic minutes, so we count lifting only as strength work. If you're worried cardio will cut into your gains, see Does cardio kill your gains?
• The busy parent leans on short bouts. Ten minutes at a time is fine under the 2020 guidelines.¹
• Strength sessions should be hard enough to count. The WHO asks for moderate or greater intensity.¹ The CDC spells out the major muscle groups to cover: legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms.³ As a rule of thumb, the last few reps of each set should feel hard.

Does weightlifting count toward the 150 minutes?

Not as the guidelines are written. The WHO lists muscle-strengthening as a separate recommendation that adds health benefits on top of aerobic activity.¹ The CDC puts it the same way: 150 moderate minutes a week and, in addition, at least 2 days of muscle-strengthening activity.³

The WHO group also found no evidence that larger amounts of strength training bring further health benefits beyond the recommendation.¹ If your goal is to get stronger or build muscle, more may still help, but that's a training question rather than a health guideline. For a starting program, see your first 12 weeks of lifting.

Can you do all 150 minutes on the weekend?

The guidelines say "throughout the week," but packing your activity into one or two days still looks worthwhile. A 2017 analysis by O'Donovan and colleagues followed 63,591 adults aged 40 and older from household health surveys in England and Scotland.⁴ Compared with people who reported no moderate or vigorous activity:

• "weekend warriors," who reached the target in one or two sessions a week, had about 30% lower risk of death from any cause;
• people who reached it over three or more sessions had about 35% lower risk;
• people who fell short of the target but were active once or twice a week had about 34% lower risk.

Its limits: activity was self-reported, and this is an observational study, so it shows a link, not cause and effect. It looked only at risk of death, not at fitness or strength, and it included only people 40 and over.

So if your weekdays are packed, a long Saturday walk and a Sunday bike ride still count. Build up to longer sessions gradually rather than jumping straight in.

What if you're nowhere near 150 minutes?

Start where you are. The WHO is clear that some activity is better than none, and that people below the target should begin with small amounts and build up over time.¹ In the survey analysis above, even people who were active only once or twice a week, short of the target, had a lower risk of death than inactive people.⁴

1. Find your starting point. Note how many brisk minutes you get in a normal week.
2. Add 10-minute brisk walks. They count under the 2020 guidelines.
3. Add two short strength sessions a week, even 15 minutes of bodyweight work.
4. Add a little more each week until you reach 150 minutes, then aim toward 300 if you have the time.

Walking more is the easiest way in. See Do you really need 10,000 steps a day? for how many steps are worth aiming for. If you'd rather build up to running, Rep Labs has running plans that start at couch-to-5K, paced off your fitness, with GPS and a voice coach. Our guide to going from zero to 30 minutes of running covers the first weeks.