Why “Weekend Warriors” Might Be Healthier Than You Think

For some individuals, life is incredibly busy. The daily commute, long working hours, home life and other commitments often leave little time for people to look after their health – especially when it comes to exercising and being active.

Luckily, new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has suggested that being physically active for just one or two days per week – known as a “weekend warrior” – may provide comparable health and life-prolonging benefits compared to smaller doses of daily physical activity. The caveat? You must be achieving a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week.

Physical inactivity contributes to increased disease prevalence

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines physical activity as “any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure”. Physical activity refers to all movements, including during leisure time, for transport to get to and from places or as part of a person’s work or domestic activities. Importantly, both moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity improves health, which encompasses walking, cycling, running, sports, active recreation and play.

Recommendations from both the WHO and the American Heart Association state that adults should engage weekly in 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity to achieve health benefits. However, many individuals across the globe struggle to meet these guidelines, let alone commit to daily exercise.

A previous study found that 31% (1.8 billion) of the world’s adult population is not meeting the minimum physical activity guidelines, with this projected to rise to 35% in 2030. Another study shockingly highlighted that 81% of adolescents (individuals aged 11–17 years) were physically inactive. Across both studies, women and girls were less active than men and boys, with physical inactivity increasing as we age past the age of 60 years, which is detrimental to the progression of age-related muscle wasting.

Many different factors – such as wider social, cultural, environmental and economic determinants – can determine how active people are and the overall levels of physical activity in different population groups. But ultimately, physical inactivity and sedentary behavior increase the risk for noncommunicable diseases, placing a burden on healthcare systems.

To attempt to understand this in more detail, researchers examined health and physical activity data to explore how different physical activity patterns may affect the risk of dying from all causes, specifically cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Weekend warrior approach to physical activity reduces risk of death

The researchers reviewed physical activity data collected from wrist accelerometers of more than 93,000 people in a large biomedical database in the UK. Accelerometers are devices that measure movement and are usually more accurate than asking people subjectively about their activity levels.

The data was categorized into three groups: “active weekend warrior”, “active regular” and “inactive”. Participants in the weekend warrior group completed most of their exercise in one or two days, the active regular group spread their activity throughout the week and the inactive participants did not meet the recommended minimum physical activity guidelines.

Compared to the inactive group, both the weekend warrior and active regular groups had a lower risk of death from all causes, cardiovascular disease and cancer if they completed 150 minutes of physical activity per week. The results further highlighted no differences in the risk of death presented between the weekend warrior and active groups.

“You don’t need to exercise every day to stay healthy. As long as you get 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week – whether packed into 1–2 days or spread out – you can significantly reduce your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, cancer or other causes,” said study corresponding author Dr. Zhi-Hao Li, an epidemiologist in the School of Public Health at Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China.

“This message is encouraging news for busy people who struggle to fit in daily workouts but can manage a concentrated burst of activity on weekends or over a couple of days,” Li said. “The research provides reassuring evidence that even sporadic physical activity can have lasting health benefits, making it easier for people to prioritize their well-being amid busy schedules.”

Total volume of physical activity crucial for health benefits

While aligning with previous studies, this is the first study to analyze the relationship between accelerometer-measured physical activity and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The reduced risk of death in weekend warriors surprised the researchers, who thought spreading activity throughout the week, rather than condensing it to one or two days, would be more beneficial for improving health.

“This reinforces the idea that meeting the 150-minutes of physical activity per week guideline is key to longevity, regardless of the activity pattern,” Li said. “Any activity – whether structured exercise such as jogging or daily tasks such as gardening – can be included if the intensity is moderate to vigorous.”

The findings emphasize that the total volume of physical activity is crucial for health benefits, rather than how it is distributed across a week.

“Many people struggle to fit in daily exercise during the workweek; however, this research shows that even if you can only be active on the weekends, you can still gain meaningful health benefits,” stated Dr. Keith Diaz, the Florence Irving Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York and a member of the association’s Physical Activity Science Committee.

However, there is an important caveat to the weekend warrior approach. Trying to fit 150 minutes of exercise in just one or two days can be a lot on the body, especially if the body is not conditioned or equipped to handle this volume of activity.

“Some research suggests that weekend warriors have a slightly higher risk of musculoskeletal injuries compared to those who exercise more regularly,” Diaz said. “However, the benefits of exercising just on the weekend far outweigh the potential risks. If you are going to be a weekend warrior, make sure you do proper warm-ups and build up and progress to higher volumes of activity over time. This will help to reduce your risk of injuries.”

It is important to note some limitations of the study, including that only baseline physical activity levels were measured, participants lived in the UK and most participants were white, meaning the results may not apply to other populations. Future studies should be conducted to confirm these results in more diverse groups of people and with more consideration for contradictory factors (e.g., genetic predisposition or environmental exposures) that may influence physical activity and the outcomes.

Reference: Liao D, Li H, Chen H, et al. Association of accelerometer‐derived physical activity pattern with the risks of all‐cause, cardiovascular disease, and cancer death. J Am Heart Assoc. 2025. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.124.039225

This article is a rework of a press release issued by the American Heart Association. Material has been edited for length and content.