What does it involve?

The beauty of everyday exercise is that, to some extent, it can be anything you want it to be. There is no bewildering fitness jargon, no need for tight-fitting Lycra and no prescriptive schedules. Anything that gets your muscles working, your joints moving and your heart pumping faster – from dog-walking to stair-climbing – can be considered everyday exercise. It should slip neatly into your lifestyle and, above all, it should work for you.

As little as half an hour of activity a day can enhance your wellbeing if you currently lead a sedentary lifestyle. Government guidelines suggest 30 minutes of everyday exercise five days a week is enough to prevent the risk of obesity and its related problems, such as heart disease and diabetes. To get fitter still, or to achieve considerable weight loss, will require a little more effort – around 45-60 minutes a day of everyday activity – but this can be accumulated over the course of 24 hours. If your aim is simply to feel (and look) better, then there is no need to do the kind of exercise that leaves you heaving for breath and sweating buckets. Although it is true that the more effort you make, the sooner you will see results, research has shown that regular moderate activity is just as effective at getting you in shape.

You’ll love this if …

You don’t like the monotony of the gym, or if you think you are simply too time-crunched to exercise. A huge advantage of everyday exercise is that you don’t need to set extra time aside to do it. You simply insert activity into those times in your daily routine when you might otherwise have remained inert. Run up the stairs instead of taking a lift, or power walk to the shops instead of taking the car or public transport. The important thing to remember is that every second you are active makes a positive difference to your health.

This isn’t for you if …

You are aiming for an all-over body transformation or athletic super-fitness. Everyday exercise will improve your physical fitness if you are starting from scratch, but if you want to progress further, it’s a good starting point from which to launch yourself on to more challenging things.

Motivate yourself by …

▶ Doing as many step-ups or calf raises as you can in the time it takes for the kettle to boil or your toast to pop up.

▶ Fidgeting: research has shown that lean people spend at least 150 more minutes a day moving their bodies in some way. Remind yourself that the slightest movement can make a difference.

▶ Doing mini-workouts during the adverts: every time the ads come on TV, perform 10 lunges, chair dips or wall press-ups.

▶ Relaxing your mind: walking and jogging form a substantial part of the everyday exercise plan and not just because of their ability to burn fat and boost fitness. Research has shown that brisk walking three times a week is more effective in reducing mild to moderate depression than drugs from the same family as Prozac.

▶ Writing things down: pin your main fitness goal up on a notice board or on the fridge. Detail all of your everyday exercise in a diary so that, on tougher days, you can look back and see how far you’ve come.

▶ Do things standing up: in the time it takes you to read this chapter you will have burned around 15 calories if sitting, fewer if you are lying down. Walking on the spot would multiply that by three.

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