Weekend Warrior Exercise: What a Study of 89,573 Adults Found

If your weekdays are full, you might do most of your exercise at the weekend and wonder if it counts. A 2024 UK Biobank study of 89,573 adults who wore an activity tracker for a week found that people who did at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity, with half or more of it on 1 or 2 days, had lower risks of many diseases than inactive people. Their risks were similar to people who spread their activity across the week, even though that group did more minutes in total.

Researchers call the first pattern weekend warrior, although the 1 or 2 days did not have to fall at the weekend. This guide covers what the studies found, what they do not show, and how to make a concentrated week work safely. All the studies are observational, so they show links, not proof of cause and effect.

What the 2024 study tested

Shinwan Kany and colleagues used data from 89,573 UK Biobank participants, average age 62 and 56% women, who wore a wrist activity tracker for one week between 2013 and 2015. Moderate to vigorous activity means movement that raises your heart rate and makes you breathe faster and feel warmer, such as brisk walking or cycling. The tracker counted walking, jogging, cycling and similar activities, so a weekend warrior here was someone who moved a lot on 1 or 2 days, not necessarily someone who played intense sport. People were grouped as inactive if they did less than 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity that week, as weekend warriors if they reached 150 minutes with half or more of it on 1 or 2 days, and as regular if they reached 150 minutes spread more evenly. About 42% were weekend warriors, 24% regular and 34% inactive.

The team then looked at 678 conditions in medical records over the following years, adjusting for factors such as age, sex, smoking, alcohol, diet and deprivation, and correcting for testing so many conditions. The weekend warrior group had a lower risk for 264 conditions and the regular group for 205. The weekend warrior group was almost twice the size of the regular group, which makes links easier to detect, so the higher count does not mean the pattern is better. A few conditions went the other way: 3 for weekend warriors and 4 for the regular group were linked with higher risk, mainly muscle, ligament and other injuries and skin conditions. When the two active groups were compared directly, no condition showed a significant difference.

Where the links were strongest

The strongest links were with heart and metabolic conditions. Compared with inactive people, weekend warriors had a 23% lower risk of high blood pressure, a 43% lower risk of diabetes, a 45% lower risk of obesity and a 43% lower risk of sleep apnoea (when breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep). The regular group had similar reductions. These are relative figures, after allowing for age, smoking and other factors. They do not mean 43 in every 100 people avoided diabetes, and they do not prove exercise caused the difference. A 2023 JAMA paper led by Shaan Khurshid, using the same 89,573 participants, found similarly lower risks of atrial fibrillation (an irregular heart rhythm), heart attack, heart failure and stroke for both patterns.

What other studies found on death risk

A 2022 study in JAMA Internal Medicine by Mauricio dos Santos and colleagues followed 350,978 US adults, average age 41, who reported their own activity, for a median of 10.4 years. Compared with inactive people, regularly active people had a 15% lower risk of death. For weekend warriors the figure was 8% lower, but that result was not statistically significant. When the two active groups were compared at the same total activity, their death rates were similar.

A 2025 study in the Journal of the American Heart Association by Rui Ren and colleagues used tracker data from 89,488 UK Biobank adults and 6,198 US adults. Both activity patterns, at 150 minutes a week or more, were linked with similarly lower risks of death from any cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer. The UK half of this study drew on largely the same UK Biobank participants.

What the research does not show

These are observational studies, and the authors of the 2024 study state that their results cannot show cause and effect. Activity was measured over a single week, and people might have moved differently because they knew they were being tracked. The UK Biobank group was older and made up of volunteers, with only 5.4% of those invited taking part, and the 2024 authors note that because it is mostly White, the results may not apply to other ethnic groups. The 2022 US study relied on people reporting their own activity. Weekend warriors in the 2024 study did a median of 288 minutes a week, well above 150, so the findings do not show what happens if you do the bare minimum in one session.

The NHS still advises adults to spread exercise evenly over between 4 and 5 days a week, or every day, and to reduce time spent sitting. It also notes that exercise just once or twice a week can reduce the risk of heart disease or stroke. If you are 65 or over, the NHS advises activities that improve strength, balance and flexibility on at least 2 days a week, and vigorous activity only if you are already active. In our view, the research suggests that a concentrated week is linked with much lower disease risk than an inactive one. It does not show that daily movement does not matter.

How to make a concentrated week work

The NHS advises speaking to your GP (general practitioner) first if you have not exercised for some time, or if you have medical conditions or concerns. In our view, if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, diabetes, joint problems or a recent injury, or you get chest pain or unusual breathlessness when active, speak to your GP before doing longer or harder sessions, and if you are in a cardiac rehabilitation programme, follow your team's plan. Warm up before longer sessions, and do not jump straight into intense sport after a week of sitting. If you get chest pain, severe breathlessness or feel faint, stop at once and call 999. The steps below are ours, built on the NHS guidelines.

Frequently asked questions

The bottom line

In 89,573 UK adults, people who did at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity in a week, with most of it on 1 or 2 days, had lower risks of many diseases than inactive people, and their risks were similar to people who spread their activity out. Studies of death risk point the same way, though in a US study using self-reported activity the weekend warrior result was not statistically significant. All the studies are observational. In our view, if your weekdays are full, a concentrated weekend of activity is worth doing, built up gradually, alongside the NHS advice to move more and sit less on other days.

Related reading

• •Hard cycling and anti-cancer signals
• •Visceral fat and exercise
• •Short bursts of daily movement
• •Strength training benefits

Sources

• •Kany S, Al-Alusi MA, Rämö JT, et al. Associations of weekend warrior physical activity with incident disease and cardiometabolic health. Circulation 2024;150(16):1236-1247. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39324186
• •Khurshid S, Al-Alusi MA, Churchill TW, Guseh JS, Ellinor PT. Accelerometer-derived weekend warrior physical activity and incident cardiovascular disease. JAMA 2023;330(3):247-252. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37462704
• •Dos Santos M, Ferrari G, Lee DH, et al. Association of the weekend warrior and other leisure-time physical activity patterns with all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a nationwide cohort study. JAMA Internal Medicine 2022;182(8):840-848. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35788615
• •Ren R, Wang W, Liu Q, et al. Dual cohort insights into accelerometer-derived weekend warrior physical activity and its impact on mortality. Journal of the American Heart Association 2025;14(11):e039852. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40417791
• •NHS. Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64. Last reviewed 22 May 2024. nhs.uk
• •NHS. Physical activity guidelines for older adults. Last reviewed 15 August 2024. nhs.uk