3.1 Frequency

Frequency refers to how often or how frequently someone should exercise. To improve aerobic fitness, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends an exercise frequency of three days per week of vigorous exercise or five days of moderate exercise for healthy adults (Garber et al., 2011). The terms ‘vigorous’ and ‘moderate’ will be defined in the next section.

A frequency of 3–5 days per week using a combination of moderate and vigorous exercise is also recommended. The frequency used should be tailored to the participant’s needs and goals (specificity principle). For example, people training for sport may need to exercise more frequently that the average person.