American Council on Exercise by American Council on Exercise

ACE strongly supports two recent pieces of legislation (S. 1608 and H.R. 2891) introduced to the U.S. Congress. These bills call for the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans to be updated every 10 years to provide information and recommendations for use by the general public and federal health programs. If passed, these bills will fold efforts to develop physical-activity guidelines into existing work, thereby ensuring information and recommendations come out on a regular basis and reflect the most up-to-date research and data. These guidelines would serve exercise professionals and health coaches, physical educators, physicians and other individuals and other organizations that develop or deliver physical activity or exercise programs and interventions that are intended to improve the health or performance of participants. 

Guidelines such as these are important; they act as a common framework for multiple entities across the nation. Federal programs and on-the-ground organizations now have common language, statistics, and recommendations on the frequency, duration and types of physical activity necessary for a healthy active lifestyle across all ages and abilities. But before we get to this point, we first need to ensure regular reporting on physical activity recommendations occurs. This legislation is the first step.