Activity Levels & Exercise

If your goal is to lose fat / weight then combining improved nutrition with increased activity levels is a super effective way to maximise your results, who doesn’t want that!  

After you have made the decision to change and exercise more the hardest part is starting because going from 0 to 1 is daunting, you aren’t sure where to start, what you should do and how much you should do.  So, let’s break it down

The key point to any training program is that it needs to be specific to your goal.  No matter what your goal is, your program should reflect it.  But you should consider a combination of the follow -

Resistance training
Resistance training can be lifting weights, banded workouts, kettlebells basically any workout that you do the workout against a form of resistance.  This is a great way to increase your strength and change your body composition (how your body looks) along with increasing your confidence.  Now, when you are setting up your training program to suit your goals you will need to consider your rep ranges, deciding the range that best suits your goals.

HIIT workouts
High Intensity Interval training is generally a 20 minute (dish) workout that involves short bursts of max efforts followed by a rest period, something like 30 seconds work with 30 seconds rest.  The fast increase in your heart heart and moving is a great way to effectively “burn” calories in a short period of time, they can be body weight workouts that you can fit into your day and the added plus is that you can do them at home.

Daily Activity

1. Walking is free, low impact and most of us can do it from our house door, so start with walking daily.  My top tip would be to find a podcast on something you’d like to know more about or if you like true crime I can’t recommend the Redhanded enough.  Brilliant podcast and the host are great story tellers!  Make it a social event by walking with a friend, this can take your mind off the walk plus you can have a great catch up. Your walk should be brisk aiming to go about 3-4 mph (5-6.5kph), I’m sure I heard somewhere that death walks at 3mph…. There is also some “research” around slower walkers being 2.5 times more at risk of getting COVID although I don’t know how they would be able to prove those results… maybe it has to do with you walk faster if you are fitter? Who know’s but definitely walk at a brisk pace on your walk as it will get your heart rate up and that will help you use more energy.
2. Set yourself a step goal, so we have all heard that 10k is good but honestly if you track your steps and you get 3,000 aim for 5,000 and then increase your step goal each week to increase your activity levels gradually.  You can increase your steps by walking to the shop, walk to work or go for a lunch time walk, I’d do this especially if you are working from home as you can easily go 8 hours without moving more than 15 steps to the kitchen to turn the kettle on and back.
3. Try out the gym and take the free induction, you will automatically feel more confident in the gym if you know how to use the machines and where everything is.  If you do head to the gym you can also go with a friend who is start out too or ask a friend who you know is a gym goer, anyone who goes to the gym know what it’s like to be starting out and will be 100% supportive and probably flattered that you have asked them to show you the ropes!
4. Alternatively try out an activity, class or sport that you use to enjoy or even something you like the look of.  Going to something you enjoy will give you motivation to keep going and the community spirit will keep you wanting to go each week.  The social aspect of a group activity is a massive influencing factor for a lot of people.  Think about cross fit, how everyone comes together to support each other and most people want to see other people do well and will give you encouragement.

The main thing is just to consistently move more and to move each day so hit your daily step goal as many days as you can, fit a workout in where you can and improve your food choices you will be able to onto a winner.

Check out the video on Activity levels and exercise

https://youtu.be/YNygcDkbh2s