How much exercise does a teenager need?
On this page
An hour or more a day, most of it brisk or harder. The US guideline for ages 6 to 17 asks for vigorous activity on at least 3 days a week, plus muscle-strengthening and bone-strengthening activity on at least 3 days each, all inside that hour. Sports, running around and supervised lifting all count.
Parents tend to assume school sports or PE cover it, and teens who aren’t on a team assume exercise isn’t for them. Neither is a safe bet. The team that wrote the 2018 guideline estimated that about 80% of US adults and teens don’t get enough activity. An hour a day sounds like a lot, until you count the walk to school, the pickup game and the bike ride to a friend’s house.
What we’d do
Let the hour come from things they like, a sport, cycling, shooting hoops, dancing or skateboarding, and count the walking and biking that gets them places. Jumping and running cover the bone work. For lifting, start with a coach or a good school program, with body weight or light loads first.
For a teenager, an hour a day works more like brushing teeth than like a workout. It’s spread through the day, and nobody needs to time it.
What does the guideline ask for?
The 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, for ages 6 through 17:
| What | How much |
|---|---|
| Moderate to vigorous activity | 60 minutes or more every day |
| Vigorous activity, the kind where talking is hard | At least 3 days a week, as part of the hour |
| Muscle-strengthening activity | At least 3 days a week, as part of the hour |
| Bone-strengthening activity | At least 3 days a week, as part of the hour |
One activity can count for more than one row. ODPHP gives climbing on playground equipment, playing basketball and jumping rope as examples of activities that make muscles and bones strong. A game of basketball covers vigorous activity and bone work in one go, since running and jumping put load through the bones.
For teens, the guideline’s review found activity helps their thinking, bones, fitness and heart health, and lowers the risk of depression.
Is lifting safe for teenagers?
Yes, with coaching and sensible loads. The American Academy of Pediatrics updated its policy in 2020 and supports resistance training for teens, athletes and non-athletes alike, partly because young people’s muscular fitness has been falling. strength.guide covers how to start and why the old worry about stunted growth doesn’t hold, in is it safe for teenagers to lift weights?
Why the tools here start at 18
The tools on this site, from Your week to the session player and its safety questions, are built on the adult guideline of 150 minutes a week and two strength days. A teenager’s target is different, about 420 minutes a week, so the tools send anyone under 18 to this page instead.
4 sources
- US Department of Health and Human Services, Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition, executive summary, 2018odphp.health.gov
- US Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Top 10 things to know about the second edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americansodphp.health.gov
- Piercy KL and others, The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, JAMA, 2018europepmc.org
- Stricker PR and others, Resistance training for children and adolescents, American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement, Pediatrics, 2020europepmc.org