Name: Weekend warriors.
Age: The term “weekend warrior” probably came out of the US, where, after the second world war, national guard reservists were seen as having it easy compared with regular soldiers on active duty.
Dad’s Army? That kind of thing. These days, though, it generally refers to people who sit at a desk all week and only do any serious exercise at the weekend.
But again, pejorative? Mildly. It hasn’t been seen as a badge to wear with honour. Guess what, though …
I give up. It’s actually OK!
What is? To be a weekend warrior.
Says who? Says Dr Shaan Khurshid, MPH (master of public health), a research fellow in cardiology at Massachusetts general hospital (MGH).
And he knows because … Because he is the lead author of a new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which looked at data collected from 89,573 British adults who were studied over five years. “Our analysis represents the largest study to address the question,” said Khurshid.
OK, a proper study. Go on then. So, 42% of participants, who wore devices to record their physical activity, met NHS guidelines for exercise (150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week), but did at least half of it in one or two days.
Weekend warriors, in other words? Exactly. Another 24% were regular exercisers, spreading it throughout the week, while the last 34% were inactive.
Don’t be the 34%, right? They get sick? Well, they’re more likely to. Compared with those in the non-active group, heart attacks were 27% lower for weekend warriors.
And for regular exercisers? 35% lower.
Isn’t that better? Yes, but not massively. And the stroke risk was similarly lower in weekend warriors and regular exercisers.
I’m not great with numbers. Give it to me in words, please. Here are some from Patrick Ellinor, the acting chief of cardiology at the Corrigan Minehan heart centre at MGH: “Our findings suggest that interventions to increase physical activity, even when concentrated within a day or two each week, may improve cardiovascular outcomes.”
Meaning … If you’re someone who crams all their exercise into the weekend, you should feel reassured, not worried.
I’m a weekend worrier, though; what about that? Don’t – be happy.
And Achilles! Eh?
A weakened warrior! Oh, I see. Not good. Paris got him, remember, in the heel.
Do say: “I’m doing a marathon this weekend – it’ll be a nice change from the office …”
Don’t say: “… by which I mean marathon drinking session, of course.”
