Heart health
All-round cardio for a strong heart.Around 300 minutes a week — or 150 if it's vigorous — brings the full pay-off. Keep most of it easy-moderate, and sprinkle in a brisker day or two.
Your plan at a glance
300 min a week
Or ~150 vigorous minutes, or a mix of the two.
Active most days
Five or more days keeps the habit ticking over.
1–2 brisker days
A little vigorous work adds heart and fitness benefits.
Nudge it up slowly
Add minutes before intensity, a little at a time.
How hard should it feel?
Your breath is the simplest intensity meter there is — no heart-rate strap required. Match the effort to the session: easy for warm-ups and recovery, moderate for most of your minutes, and short vigorous bursts when you want to boost fitness.
What a week looks like
Most days active — say four moderate sessions plus one brisker or interval day.
Your sample session
The dose above stays the same whichever way you move. Pick your activity and grab a ready-made session to match.
The most accessible cardio there is. Walk briskly for moderate effort; add hills or short fast bursts to push harder. Kind on the joints and easy to keep up.
See the walking session →Efficient and easy to scale — jog gently for base fitness, or add fast intervals to spike it. Build up slowly and mix in walk breaks early on to stay injury-free.
See the running session →Low-impact and interval-friendly, indoors or out. Gentle on the knees, and hills or a turbo trainer make hard efforts easy to dial in exactly.
See the cycling session →Can't do it all? Do a little.
Even short bouts count — three brisk 10-minute walks add up to the same as one 30-minute session. The biggest step is simply starting; build from there.