It's widely believed that exercise reduces disease risk and helps promote a longer life. One longevity expert confirms that regular exercise is crucial for living a long, healthy life and has shared a weekly workout plan every woman should follow to maintain health and longevity.
Dr. Vonda Wright, a US longevity expert and orthopedic surgeon, shared insights on the podcast The Mel Robbins Podcast. She explained that aging doesn't have to mean becoming frail; instead, it means making wise choices about how we exercise. She went on to share a weekly workout plan that every woman should follow, incorporating three key types of training to build a long-lasting, healthy body.
Aim for at least three total hours (180 minutes) of walking per week. This can be broken down into four sessions, each lasting 45 minutes. Wright suggests listening to a podcast while walking. The pace should be brisk—not so fast that you're gasping for air, but not so slow that you could easily hold a relaxed conversation.
Once you've adapted to this amount of walking, she recommends incorporating intervals of faster walking, jogging, or running to elevate your heart rate. A sample interval: raise your heart rate to around 186 bpm for 30 seconds, then allow it to drop back to 130-140 bpm during 2-3 minutes of active recovery. Repeat this cycle four times.
Aim for at least two strength training sessions per week. The key is to lift a weight heavy enough that you can only complete 4-6 repetitions before reaching muscle fatigue.
Wright emphasizes that this is challenging and not achievable overnight. Beginners might need 6-9 months to learn proper techniques and gradually increase the difficulty. However, she notes that many women have successfully learned in their 60s—there's no age limit to strength training, and it's incredibly worthwhile.
As a functional goal, she suggests that every woman should aim to be able to do 11 standard (non-knee) push-ups, even starting from zero. She shares an example of students who began with a body fat percentage as high as 51% and couldn't hold a plank or run a lap around the track. After three months of twice-weekly strength training, they not only completed a 5km run-walk event but could also hold a plank for two minutes.
Wright advises using the time you already spend brushing your teeth each day as an opportunity to invest in your balance. Simple actions, like standing on one leg while brushing, help train your body's control systems and are crucial for preventing falls, an important consideration that becomes even more critical as we age.
