← Introduction to Dance-Fitness · Module 5 of 13 · 9 minutes
Less time, same benefit: moderate and vigorous exercise
Exercise guidelines are written in minutes per week, and they treat moderate and vigorous effort differently. That difference matters a great deal when your time is tight.
What the NHS and WHO recommend
| Source (adults) | Moderate | Or vigorous | Plus strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| NHS (19 to 64) | at least 150 minutes a week | 75 minutes a week | all major muscle groups, 2 or more days |
| WHO (2020, 18 to 64) | 150 to 300 minutes a week | 75 to 150 minutes a week | all major muscle groups, 2 or more days |
Sources: the NHS guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64, and the WHO 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour (see also the WHO fact sheet). Either intensity, or an equivalent mix of the two, meets the guideline.
The NHS says that 75 minutes of vigorous activity can give similar health benefits to 150 minutes of moderate activity. In other words, one minute of vigorous effort counts for about two minutes of moderate effort. The WHO also says that people who are not active enough have a 20% to 30% higher risk of death than people who are. Its ranges go up to 300 minutes of moderate or 150 minutes of vigorous activity for people who can do more.
Moderate and vigorous in plain words
The NHS uses the talk test from the last lesson. In moderate activity you can still talk but not sing. In vigorous activity you cannot say more than a few words without pausing for breath. The NHS lists dancing among its examples of moderate activity and aerobics among its vigorous ones, so how hard you dance decides which one you are doing.
What this means for your week
If a class holds you at a steady, vigorous effort, a few minutes of it go a long way. Two one-hour classes a week, with about 40 minutes of each spent working at a vigorous level, add up to 80 minutes, which already meets the NHS minimum. To reach the same target at a moderate level you would need at least 150 minutes. For the many people who simply cannot find more time, halving the minutes is a big difference.
Working adults and parents are time-poor
For many adults, time is the barrier. In a 2019 Sport England survey of 1,006 mothers of children under six, lack of time was the top reason for not exercising, 3 in 10 had less than an hour of free time a day, and only 17% said they put their own exercise first (reported by the Press Association). That survey was about mothers of young children and is a few years old, but it describes a pattern that many working parents and carers will recognise.
The cost of asking people to perform
If you ask a busy adult to take up dance-performing for their health, you are asking for more of the thing they have least of:
- More hours for the same benefit. Much of a rehearsal is standing, waiting and repeating a section, so only a fraction of the hours counts towards the weekly guideline.
- Time taken from a career. As the lesson “Performing or fitness?” shows, professional work pays far more than performing does, and evenings and weekends given to rehearsals are hours not spent building that career.
- Time taken from family. Those same hours could go on helping children with homework, or on activities that give them and their families more.
Performing is a good choice for people who love it. It is a poor fit as the default way to get fit.
Pungra’s view
Steady, vigorous dance-fitness, which is HISS, is the better choice for instructors to teach and for most people to take. It is also the better choice for working adults with caring responsibilities. It gives the guideline benefits in the fewest minutes, keeps the time cost to one hour, and still has the community and social benefits of a room full of people moving together.
Vigorous does not mean everyone at the same level. Everyone chooses their own effort, uses the talk test, and uses the easier and harder options an instructor offers. People who answer Yes to any pre-activity screening question should check with their doctor first, and anyone new to exercise should build up gradually.