too skint to get fit?
by Lou Stewart
too skint to get fit? | facilities for free | everyday tips - you won't even know you're exercising | help and info
everyday tips – you won't even know you're exercising
Now this is pretty basic stuff really, but it's amazing how a few easy changes to your day will help you on your way to fitness. Try walking to work or getting off your bus or train one stop earlier. When you are walking, step up the pace a little. Increase that all-important heart rate and make the drab business of getting around town a productive aerobic activity. Even doing housework for 40 minutes can count as your thrice-weekly exercise recommended by so many experts. Scrubbing floors, vacuuming or vigorously cleaning windows can burn as many calories as a trip to the gym, and you'll be left with a gleaming house instead of festering pile of sweaty gym clothes. The effects of modern lifestyles on our fitness were highlighted by a recent survey conducted by Prima journalist, Ruth Tierney, which compared the lifestyles of women today and in the 1950's. Tierney found that ladies today eat an average of 2,178 calories a day and can expect their lifestyle to burn off 556. In contrast, the average figure in 1952 was 1,818 calories consumed in a day while 1,512 were burned off. That's three times as many calories burned just by walking to the shops, scrubbing floors and making beds.
Let's put that in perspective…
1 hour's childcare (177 cal) = 30 minutes hiking
1 hour's housework (207 cal) = 19 minutes rock climbing
1 hour's cooking (148 cal) = 13 minutes running at 7mph
1 hour's dancing (354 cal) = 60 minutes tennis
1 hour's moving boxes upstairs (531 cal) = 67 minutes swimming
Based on research published in The Official Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, for the number of calories burned by a 60kg woman doing everyday activities. Add 20% for a man weighing 75kg.
get up and go…
Fitness and funds can seem like inseparable bedfellows. Not only do most gym memberships start at around £50 per month, but the more fanatical can easily spend another £150 just on the latest lycra gear, tasty trainers and designer yoga mats. But with such a wealth of resources and information available virtually for free, and a few minor lifestyle changes just begging to be made, who really has an excuse to linger on with lethargy? Take some advice from a famous sports brand's slogan – just do it!
(September 2003, resources updated January 2005)
