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New Exercise Guidelines Catch People Flat-Footed ; Government Report Recommends Up to 90 Minutes Per Day

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 January 2005, 03:00 CST

Colorado Springs exercisers, whether elite athletes or mostly couch potatoes, have one word for the government's new guidelines on physical activity: discouraging.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, updated Wednesday after five years, say people trying to sustain weight loss need as much as 90 minutes a day of moderate exercise.

"No one does that kind of workout unless they are hard core," says Stephanie Kay Jones, an exercise physiologist and clinical research coordinator in Colorado Springs.

She does aerobics for about an hour three or four days a week but sometimes has trouble getting that much in.

"Our population is lazy and overweight, and this will certainly discourage them even more to believe it's not worth it. And those that hate exercise are just going to say no way," says Jones, who studied at the University of Colorado at Boulder with the late Ed Burke, who helped train such athletes as cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Jones suggests following the Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion for average exercisers and those with special conditions such as pregnancy. It calls for working out three times a week for 20 to 30 minutes, keeping your exertion level at about a "four" on a scale of zero to 10 (zero being no exertion and 10 being maximum exertion).

The new federal recommendations, which also include diet suggestions, say 30 minutes of exercise a day will help reduce the risk of chronic disease. Sixty minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity on most days, while not exceeding caloric intake requirements, is needed to prevent weight gain in adulthood.

But the report's notation that it takes 60 to 90 minutes to maintain weight loss has some people worried.

Even one of Colorado Springs' best-known runners, Matt Carpenter, was surprised by the report.

"That's a way lot of exercise for most people," says Carpenter, whose Pikes Peak Marathon record holds after 12 years.

His daily workout is limited to a half-hour of running for a couple of months of the year. He goes up to an hour for another month and an hour and a half for two months. He ratchets up to two hours for the rest of the season.

"I worry about such reports," Carpenter says. "We have an all-or- nothing society, and so people will think if they can't do 90 minutes, they won't do anything."

Fitness enthusiasts who get caught up in such numbers burn out or get hurt. "I would tell people not to worry so much about the clock, listen to their body and incorporate it into their regular life." For example, he runs around town doing errands, sometimes pushing his daughter in a baby jogger. "We sing songs, and I get exercise and good times with her, too."

Judy Nelson, a nutrition coordinator with the U.S. Olympic Committee, says Olympic athletes usually train about four to six hours a day. "But then that's their job, and they are motivated by a coach." She says 90 minutes is not too much to strive for.

Nelson works out at lunchtime, but she acknowledges that can be difficult for working people who use that time for errands.

So she suggests trying to fit in an additional 15 minutes of exercise here and there, using a parking spot that's farther away and taking the stairs instead of an elevator.

Weight Watchers member Cindy Johnson says it's almost all she can do to get to the gym for an hour of salsa dancing and water aerobics several times a week.

"Maybe I could fit another half-hour in once in a while, but I have a daughter. I mean, what about the rest of your life?"

Verna Drayer, a bookkeeper and fellow Weight Watcher, agrees. "That would mean getting up before dawn. Or coming home after a long day and exercising for an hour and a half, which means there goes your entire evening. No way."

She plans to stick to 45 minutes a day several days a week. She's maintained her weight for several years and become a "lifetime member" of Weight Watchers. During summer she walks, and in winter she belly dances and does Pilates to exercise tapes.

Miles Reese, an office worker, doesn't have a quarrel with the federal guidelines because he already is working out about an hour and a half a day. He gets to the gym at 5 a.m. "I started years ago when I was achy and have kept it up because I see the benefits," he says. "But it takes lots of discipline."

Others say 30 minutes is plenty. Enid Beitzel, a real estate agent, and Jan Rawson, a registered nurse, work out at Curves, a women's exercise center that provides a structured workout in 30 minutes.

"I think it's really stupid to discourage people with a report like that," Rawson says. "I used to work out at a regular gym, and what that meant was standing in line waiting to use machines for much of that time. So you'd have to spend, what, three hours to get in 90 minutes of true exercise?"

Beitzel says good diet and 30 minutes of exercise three times a week "has been more than enough exercise to keep off 25 pounds that I lost six years ago."

THE DETAILS

To see the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005, go to www.healthier us.gov/dietaryguidelines.

Source: Gazette, The; Colorado Springs, Colo.

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