Table 3.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the World Health Organization recommended levels of physical activity for adults aged 18–64 years

	Aerobic activity
Total weekly duration	At least 150 minutes (2 hours, 30 minutes)		At least 75 minutes (1 hour, 15 minutes)
Duration per session	Variable, but at least 10 minutes		Variable, but at least 10 minutes
How many days each week?	Most days of the week		Most days of the week
Intensity each session	Moderate		Vigorous
	Activities that feel somewhat hard, but you can keep doing them for a while without getting tired*		Activities that make you feel like you are working really hard, almost at your maximum, and you cannot do these activities for very long without getting tired*
Type of activity	Any activity which achieves the above		Any activity which achieves the above
		AND
	Resistance Training Activity
Number of days per week	At least 2 days a week
Number of exercises each day	All major muscle groups
	If upper and lower body, then 8–10 exercises†
	If just upper body, then 4–5 exercises‡, with a focus on shoulder depressors and scapular stabilizers§
For each exercise	At least 1 set of 8–10 repetitions, using enough weight so that you can barely, but safely finish the final few repetitions

*Intensity description from SCIAction physical activity guidelines for adults with spinal cord injury (http://www.sciactioncanada.ca/guidelines/).

^†Total number of upper and lower body exercises from American College of Sports Medicine/American Heart Association physical activity recommendations.⁹⁹

^‡Total number of upper body exercises represents our suggestion and is not drawn from an authoritative source.

^§Recommendation to focus on shoulder depressors and scapular stabilizers from the Consortium for Spinal Cord Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline for Preservation of Upper Limb Function Following Spinal Cord Injury.¹⁰⁰