Ask the
Want to run further, lift heavier or nail your first pull-up? Each month, we put your questions to our team of the finest fitness brains to give you the tools you need to make good on your goals
Q Is 30 minutes of cardio enough?
Rebecca Robinson says: It depends what you mean by ‘enough’. Five 30-minute cardio sessions every week meets the UK government’s recommendation of 150 minutes of physical activity per week, but what’s your goal?
If you’re simply trying to lead a healthy, active lifestyle, 30 minutes of steady-state cardio (exercising at a continuous effort) five times a week has been proven to improve both cardiovascular and lung function, as well as lower blood pressure and build heart strength.
If you’re trying to gain muscle, increase your endurance or lose excess fat, on the other hand, you might need to consider increasing the duration or the intensity of your workouts.
An increase in intensity (which has been proven to help build strength and burn fat) might then affect how long your session needs to be. For instance, a 15-minute HIIT session or speed run can be just as beneficial as a 30-minute steady-state walk, because you’ll be working harder and will therefore trigger the same benefits in a shorter space of time. Conversely, if you’re working towards a marathon, you might need to do more than half an hour per session as race day nears and your training levels up.
Whatever duration or intensity of cardio you do, it’s critical you bookend it with a warm-up and cool-down – even if that means spending 10 minutes warming up, 10 minutes doing the cardio and then 10 minutes cooling down.
A warm-up will make your cardio more impactful by getting blood flowing to your heart, lungs, muscles and tendons – this will then get things primed and help avoid stiffness, which means your technique will be better and you’re less li
