'Weekend warriors' see similar benefits as those who exercise during the week, study finds

For people who find they only have time to exercise on weekends, that may be enough to provide health benefits, according to a new study.

So-called "weekend warriors" who squeeze the recommended activity time into two days had the same similarly lower rates of heart attacks, stroke, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure as people who broke up their workouts throughout the week, according to the study, published Thursday in the medical journal Circulation.

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital studied the health data of nearly 90,000 people in the United Kingdom who wore an accelerometer -- a device that tracks motion -- for one week.

When compared to people who were inactive, those who exercised two days per week and those who exercised multiple days per week experienced similar health benefits, researchers found.

The study defined inactive as less than 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends that adults ages 18 and older do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity or "an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity."

The CDC also recommends that adults do two days of muscle-strengthening activity per week.

According to the study, following the recommended guidelines for physical activity -- whether it's over two or seven days -- is associated with a lower risk for more than 200 diseases.

Dr. Faizah Shareef, a member of the ABC News Medical Unit, contributed to this report.