HOW MUCH SHOULD I EXERCISE? ACSM GUIDELINES EXPLAINED FOR REAL LIFE

By Coach Adam | Hendersonville, Tennessee

A question I often hear—and one you might be thinking right now—is simple on the surface, but surprisingly hard to answer:

How much exercise is actually enough?

Enough to feel better in your body. Enough to lose fat. Enough to improve your health. Enough to stop wondering whether what you’re doing is working.

This question usually shows up indirectly. Someone mentions being frustrated with their results. When we zoom out and look at the full week, a familiar pattern often appears: solid effort during one or two structured workouts, and very little purposeful movement outside of them.

That’s not laziness. And it’s not a lack of commitment. It’s usually a gap in expectations—and in understanding what’s actually required to get the result you want.

This blog post is for anyone asking:

“How much should I exercise?”

Let’s use the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) guidelines—the gold standard—to answer that question in a way that’s practical, realistic, and sustainable.

What the ACSM Actually Recommends (and Why It Matters)

The ACSM doesn’t deal in extremes. No detoxes. No 6-week shred plans. Just evidence-based recommendations tied to real outcomes.

The baseline guidelines for adults

According to ACSM and the U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines:

• 150–300 minutes per week of moderate‑intensity aerobic activity
  or
• 75–150 minutes per week of vigorous‑intensity aerobic activity
• Strength training at least 2 days per week, covering all major muscle groups

These recommendations are supported by decades of research showing reduced risk of:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Type 2 diabetes
• All-cause mortality
• Loss of muscle mass with aging

In fact, individuals meeting the 150-minute minimum have a 31% lower risk of all-cause mortality than inactive adults.

That’s the floor—not the ceiling.

Two Hours a Week Isn’t Wrong—but It’s Incomplete

Here’s where I want to be candid.

If you train with me for two or three hours per week, I’m thrilled you’re here. Truly. But I haven’t always done a great job communicating this truth clearly:

Those sessions alone are not enough to get the results you want.

Two hours per week accounts for just over 1% of your total weekly time.

Now let’s connect that to fat loss.

Research consistently shows that exercise volume matters:

• Individuals who perform>250 minutes per week of moderate activity experience significantly greater fat loss than those who do less.
• Resistance training preserves lean mass during fat loss, but daily movement drives total energy expenditure.

So when someone tells me they don’t look, feel, or perform the way they’d like—and they haven’t trained or moved with any real purpose in four or five days—that’s not a mystery. That’s feedback.

“Enough Is Enough”… When It’s Enough to Get Your Result

This is the line I keep coming back to:

Enough is enough… when it’s enough to produce the result you want.

Not when it’s convenient. Not when it feels productive. When it works.

A realistic target for most people

For fat loss, health, and feeling better in your body, a practical target often looks like this:

• 2–3 days/week of strength training (your coached sessions count here)
• 3–5 additional days of low‑to‑moderate activity
  • Walking
  • Cycling
  • Light cardio
  • Mobility-based movement

That usually puts someone in the 200–300+ minutes-per-week range—right where outcomes improve.

And no, this doesn’t mean crushing workouts every day.

It means moving often enough that your body doesn’t feel like it’s been parked for days at a time.

Why This Matters for Real People Living Real Lives

Here’s what I see every day as a coach.

People with full calendars. Jobs that demand a lot. Families, stress, and limited margins for error.

They show up for training—and they expect that hour or two to carry the whole load.

That’s understandable. But it’s also where frustration creeps in.

This is where good personal training matters most—not just in what happens during a session, but in helping you understand what needs to happen between sessions.

My responsibility isn’t just to coach the workout in front of you. It’s to help you connect the dots:

• Why you feel stiff after days without movement
• Why fat loss stalls despite “working out”
• Why consistency outside the gym matters more than intensity inside it

When you understand why the guidelines exist, they stop feeling like rules and start feeling like tools.

And tools—used well—are what lead to sustainable results.

Doing enough, often enough, for long enough.

The Takeaway

If you’re asking, “How much should I exercise?”, here’s the honest answer:

• The ACSM gives us the science
• Your goals determine the target
• Your results tell us whether it’s enough

And if you’re training two or three hours per week and wondering why progress feels slow, why you don’t feel or move the way you’d like, or why results feel inconsistent, the answer probably isn’t more intensity.

It’s more total movement.

That’s not judgment. That’s information.

And information—used well—is power.

Be strong, and do the work!