You know you should be moving more. You've probably known it for a while. But somewhere between a busy stretch at work, a holiday, an injury, or a season of life that simply took everything you had, the routine quietly disappeared — and now the thought of starting again feels heavier than the exercise itself.
I sat down with Ashleigh Mead, an accredited exercise physiologist, to talk about what exercise actually is, how much of it you genuinely need, and how to rebuild the habit without ending up injured in week two. What struck me most in our conversation was how much gentler the real answer is than the one most of us assume.
Exercise is medicine — but the dose matters
There's a phrase I love that Ashleigh and her colleagues use often: movement is medicine. It's a genuinely useful way to think about it, because medicine implies a dose. Too little and nothing changes. Too much, too soon, and you do harm.
This is the part of exercise that gets lost in fitness culture. An exercise physiologist completes a four-year university degree plus hundreds of hours of supervised clinical practice, and the specific thing they're trained to do is prescribe movement to treat, manage and prevent injury and chronic conditions. As Ashleigh put it, not all exercise is correct or safe for everyone. The skill is finding the right dose for the body in front of you.
That's different from general fitness coaching, which is usually aimed at an already-healthy population wanting to get fitter or stronger. Both have a place. But if you're managing diabetes, a metabolic condition, persistent pain or an ongoing injury, the dose question matters enormously — and it's worth having someone qualified answer it with you.
Exercise versus physical activity: the distinction that helps
Ashleigh drew a line I think is worth holding onto. Physical activity is any movement that uses energy — carrying groceries, taking the stairs, gardening, chasing a toddler around the house. Exercise is deliberate. You've planned it. You intend to raise your heart rate or load your muscles, and it happens for a set period of time.
Why does the distinction matter? Because people often tell me they're "on their feet all day" and conclude they're covered. Being active all day is genuinely good for you and absolutely counts for something. But it doesn't reliably deliver the specific adaptations — cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength — that planned exercise does.
The flip side is more encouraging: once you understand that exercise is simply intentional movement for a set time, a brisk twenty-minute walk you chose to take becomes real exercise. It doesn't require a gym, a program, or a particular outfit.
How much movement do you actually need?
Australia's physical activity guidelines, as Ashleigh outlined them, ask adults for roughly 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week — or about 75 minutes if you're training vigorously — plus two strengthening sessions. The strength component sits in addition to the aerobic minutes, and it was added relatively recently as the evidence for resistance training accumulated.
Ashleigh was honest that this can land as an intimidating number. Most of us manage one half of the equation and quietly skip the other. But break 150 minutes down and it's about 22 minutes a day, or three 50-minute walks a week. That's a walk with a friend, not a transformation project.
For the strength sessions, somewhere between 20 and 40 minutes is typical if you're working most major muscle groups — but if you're a beginner or managing a condition, it might start considerably shorter. Two strengthening sessions a week can legitimately mean some light bodyweight work. Heavy barbells are one option, not the entry fee.
What "moderate intensity" actually feels like
This is where I see people get it wrong in both directions — either coasting and wondering why nothing shifts, or flogging themselves and burning out.
Ashleigh offered a simple gauge. On a scale of one to ten, moderate is about a five or six. Picture walking with a friend: your heart rate is up, you're a little breathless, but you could comfortably hold a conversation. If you can't get a sentence out, you've moved into vigorous territory — which is fine, it just means your required minutes come down.
I like this test because it needs no device and no data. Your own breath tells you where you are.
The best time to exercise is the time you'll actually keep
I'm asked about timing constantly. Is morning better? Does evening training wreck your sleep?
There's real physiology around light exposure, circadian rhythm and energy levels, and plenty of people genuinely do feel better training in morning light. But Ashleigh's answer was refreshingly practical: do what works for you. If you're not a morning person and you force yourself out of bed at an unreasonable hour, you won't sustain it — and an exercise routine you abandon in three weeks delivers nothing.
She exercises in the evening herself, because it helps her unwind after work. The real principle is that sleep, movement, food and work all need to fit together as a structure you can actually live inside. Consistency beats optimisation every single time.
Restarting without getting injured
Here's Ashleigh's number one tip for anyone who's done nothing for a while, and I think it's close to perfect: go for a walk with a friend.
You get two things from one decision. It's social connection and it's physical activity, so you collect the mental health benefit alongside the physical one — and because someone is expecting you, you're far more likely to show up. Support is the most underrated variable in building any habit. Friends, family, a tracking app, a health professional in your corner: the more scaffolding you have, the more likely the routine survives contact with a busy week.
Then, once walking is established, you can reach out to an exercise physiologist to build toward more specific goals safely. Notice the order. Build the habit first, add the complexity second. Most injuries I see in people returning to exercise come from reversing that sequence — picking up where they left off six months ago rather than where their body is today.
No gym, no equipment, no problem
Ashleigh is a firm believer that there's an exercise for everyone, at every ability — and one thing recent years proved is how creative we can be. Online sessions, training at home, working out outdoors: the options multiplied.
People assume equipment is the barrier. It usually isn't. You can do a great deal with bodyweight alone, and a single resistance band or one dumbbell can be used for a surprising range of exercises. As Ashleigh said, people often think they have no options when in fact they have several — they just haven't been shown them.
That's the real argument for getting proper guidance early. It's far better value to spend an hour with someone who'll show you twenty exercises you can do with one band than to fit out a garage with equipment you'll stop using by March.
Key takeaways
- Aim for about 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week — or 75 minutes of vigorous activity — plus two strengthening sessions on top.
- Use the talk test: moderate intensity means you're breathing harder but can still hold a conversation.
- Train at the time of day you'll realistically sustain. Consistency matters more than the clock.
- If you've stopped entirely, start with a walk with a friend — you get movement, connection and accountability in one.
- Strength training doesn't require a gym. Bodyweight work, a resistance band or a single weight is a legitimate starting point.
- If you're managing an injury or chronic condition, get the dose prescribed rather than guessed.
What I take from this conversation is how well it fits the holistic approach I use with every client at me&my wellness. Exercise isn't a standalone project you bolt onto a stressed, under-slept, poorly-fuelled life. It sits alongside your nutrition, your sleep, your stress load and your relationships, and each one lifts or drags the others. A walk with a friend is a perfect illustration — it's movement, it's connection, it's time outdoors, and it's stress relief, all in one half-hour decision. The best health interventions are rarely the most complicated ones.
So start where your body actually is today, not where it was. Make it easy enough that you'll do it again tomorrow. And build the support around you that turns a good intention into a routine.
Want to go deeper on this? Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Anthony at meandmywellness.com.au