Are you a Weekend Warrior???
I think its fair to say that the majority of young-working Americans fall into the “Weekend Warrior” category. Typically in Bed at 10:30pm Monday through Thursday and then Friday 4pm hits…
All routine, structure and daily habits are put on pause and random acts of weekend vibes ensue. Not a bad thing at all. Well, the folks over at Harvard Health have a little different definition of the “Weekend Warrior”, one that I’ve never really explored (I have explored my above definition quite a bit).
HH– What do you think of when you hear the term “weekend warrior”? Maybe it’s a person who exercises intensely on the weekend but is otherwise sedentary. I tend to think of an overweight, middle-aged guy resolving for the 100th time to get in shape. But because he only has time to work out over the weekend, that’s when he does it — or overdoes it.
Can you consistently be too busy to get a workout in? That’s a discussion for another time, but as I wrap my head around this (not-so) new concept of a “Weekend Warrior” I begin to see it. There are a lot of middle aged men and women who I’ll see at the gym exclusively on Saturday or Sunday, and looking into some statistics you can see only about half of existing gym members visited 100 times or more during the year. If an individual went to the gym 2 days a week for each of the years 52 weeks then they would be in the 100+ club (104 to be exact). These mid-aged “Weekend Warriors” seems to be more of the majority than previously imagined. So can two days a week get the job done? One would argue that any workout is better then none, right?
Compared to less active adults, weekend warriors had a 30% lower risk of death from any cause, a 40% lower risk of death due to cardiovascular disease, and an 18% lower risk of death due to cancer. While regular exercisers had lower death rates than weekend warriors, the differences were quite small.
OK, I see you Weekend Warriors!
(Note that much of the data in the above study was self reported and didn’t take environmental factors and diet into consideration)
Either way, the above highlights that doing something is MUCH better then doing nothing. Weekend Warriors Grind On! An interesting study would be to compare the exact opposite. Someone who is disciplined during the week (healthy eating and daily workouts) and live the Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll lifestyle of the weekend. From the data that’s out there, all binge drinking points to some very serious and often overlooked effects:
2013 study that claims that binge drinking “dramatically amplifies” your risk of developing liver disease, which in turn damages the kidneys and heart. Speaking of the heart, those who binge drink are 72 percent more likely to experience a heart attack than those who don’t, according to a 2015 study performed at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
And we’re all too familiar with trying to get a good nights sleep on Sunday after one of these weekends. If you not here’s a live look:
In my not-so professional opinion I would have to side with being a Weekend “Workout” Warrior over the latter. But be careful, overdoing it in an effort to “make up” for the past week can be a recipe for injury and doctor appointments. Listen to your body and STRETCH before and after activity, from someone who has held the “most inflexible man” in the world title, it DOES make a difference. One Word: Yoga
Many things can be achieved by a simple time reprioritization, the wasted hours in a day to simple frivolous activities can be a real eye opener. Spend a day tracking where you spend your time and watch the social media, internet browsing and TV hours add up. Short term, time is predictable. Each day you know exactly what your getting, you have a clock in your pocket 24/7, every second you hit a new age milestone, use them wisely. Your only a Weekend “Workout” Warrior if your choose to be one.
