Physical inactivity is one of the major risk factors for people to become overweight or obese. To achieve a substantial health benefit, adults should do at least 150 min of moderate or 75 min of high intensity aerobic activity per week and additionally they should do muscle strengthening exercises. This recommendation represents the lower limit and not the optimum. To loose body weight a significantly higher level of physical activity is required. Exercise programs can play an important part to reach the required level of health-enhancing physical activity. The Austrian pilot projects "Aktiv Bewegt" and "GEHE-Adipositas" showed that obese adults were interested in structured exercise programs and that they were also willing to use them. Clear defined quality criteria, the differentiation from conventional programs for already active and fit people and a recommendation from a doctor or other health professionals were important motivation reasons.
Keywords: Community based exercise programme; Health enhancing physical activity; Physical activity recommendation.