Walking is a great way to get your steps in! It is a low-impact exercise accessible to almost everyone, which helps strengthen the heart and potentially lowers stress hormones such as cortisol. However, to achieve optimal fitness, it’s important to combine walking with other activities.

Optimising your health and fitness is akin to how you would order your cai png.

Think of walking as the rice on your plate of cai png (rice with dishes); it’s a great base, but you should always mix it up with some meat, vegetables, or fish for a balanced meal.

So, you still need to include exercises that target your other muscle groups to ensure a well-rounded workout routine. In fact, a 150-300 MVPA (150-300 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity) is the weekly recommended standard by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Getting into the meat, vegetables, and fish of your workout menu

Think of MVPA as all the dishes behind the glass window at the cai png stall. Each dish represents a type of physical activity, fulfils a distinct function, and varies in intensity.

We compare these types of physical activity to your ability to talk afterward. This helps gauge how intense the activity is through a simple test called the talk test.

For starters, moderate activities are those that get your heart pumping slightly. You’ll notice your breathing getting a little heavier, but you can still maintain a chat with a friend, although singing might be quite a challenge. Think of brisk walking or a relaxed bike ride.

If you’re going to crank it up a notch, vigorous activities will get your heart racing and your lungs working hard. This time, talking feels unnatural as you’ll find yourself gasping in between short sentences. Such activities include jogging or a high-energy dance class.

If you have a fitness tracker or a smartwatch, you can even track your heart rate and compare it to your maximum heart rate (MHR) to gauge your activity level.

Ok, thanks for the health science lesson, but 300 minutes of MVPA sounds like a lot. How do I do that?

300 minutes may seem like a lot, so we’ve created a “zhe-ge/na-ge” (this or that) chart as a simple guide to help you get started. Do note that while light intensity activities can contribute to some form of physical activity, your 300 minutes should consist of moderate to vigorous intensity activities.

Heading out to buy groceries or food, instead of ordering them in, can be a way to get your workout on. Even cleaning the house is a workout on its own. Plus, you save money on delivery fees (ka-ching)!

But as much as you excel at being domestic queens and kings, you might want to consider dusting off that bicycle and riding along the Marina Bay area while admiring our beautiful nature and architecture. Alternatively, you could go out dancing with your friends.

With walking as your base, try out different ingredients to find your perfect plate of exercise cai png. You don’t always need to stick to the same menu.

What’s truly important is that you find something you enjoy and start there. Exercise isn’t always about pushing yourself to your limits.

A balanced cai png meal is ideal.

Whether it’s a 2-meat and 1-vegetable combo, or the fancy 1-meat, 1-vegetable and 1-fish meal, it’s important to keep in mind that this is a general guide to staying healthy. Consulting a professional is still the best way to determine your ideal workout routine because your age, health condition, and fitness levels can be different from the next person’s.

As a start, taking walking as your base, you can build your fitness any way you like, just like a plate of cai png.

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