The Myth of Five Minutes' Exercise a Day

The Misconception of Minimal Exercise

We live in an increasingly polarised world – and I’m not talking about politics, I’m talking about exercise. There’s a fitness community obsessed with constant optimisation and hacks: how can you get from 50 press-ups to 100, from an eight-minute mile to seven minutes, or increase your deadlifts from body weight to double or triple body weight – ideally using just “one weird trick” or novel method no one has seen before.

The Problem with Recent Studies

Much of the gym and fitness influencer world is about the already fit and active trying to get marginally fitter. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can be meaningful to have objectives and targets. But on the other hand, there are constant stories about finding the minimum amount a person can do to be fit. In the past few years we’ve seen studies argue that it’s not 10,000 steps per day that you need, but actually that 7,000 is enough.

The Flawed Five-Minute Claim

Many of these are useful; with our busy lives, we should be aware if there’s an easier way to get the health benefits of exercise. But I have to draw the line at recent stories based on a Lancet study that say we can get by with just five minutes of exercise a day. It sounds too good to be true. And, in my opinion, it is.

The Real Requirements for Fitness

Let’s unpick what the authors did. They looked at two sources of information: individual data from seven large studies in the US, Norway and Sweden with roughly 40,000 participants, as well as UK Biobank data with 95,000 participants. They modelled the proportion of deaths averted by a five-minute increase in moderate activity, and they estimated that there would be a 6%-10% reduction in deaths among participants in the multicounty studies.

A More Balanced Approach

Plus, the focus on time increments ignores the type of movement we need. Our bodies need a triangle of types of movement, especially as the years go on: cardio, strength and flexibility. Each type brings something different to our health – and each (I would argue) is as important as the others.

The World Health Organization's Recommendations

The World Health Organization recommends – based on extensive evidence from systematic reviews, meta-analysis and prospective cohort studies – that adults get roughly 20-40 minutes of moderate activity a day (150-300 minutes a week). This amount was recommended because it has the most significant impact on all kinds of different health measurements, while remaining achievable for most people.

Conclusion

So, no, you don’t need to compete in the next Hyrox, or run 5K, or run at all. But also five minutes of exercise isn’t enough, per day, to stay healthy and fully fit into old age. The bar has come down to be accessible, but let’s not make the bar so low that it becomes meaningless.