Tips for getting active
By Marina Saif
Physical activity is any bodily movement requiring energy, this is not just restrictive to only the gym or intentional workouts, it is any activity that gets you moving, these include walking to the shops or cleaning your room.
Exercise is activity that requires physical effort to maintain or improve' one’s health or fitness, these include:
Aerobic: working the cardiac (heart) muscles, example: running, cycling, swimming or brisk walking
Anaerobic: working specific muscle groups, these are usually shorter duration; higher intensity workouts such as jumping, sprinting or heavy weightlifting.
It is recommended that we participate in at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week (this amounts to around 30mins a day on at least 5 days of the week) and strength exercises on two or more days a week which works all major muscles (legs, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms). However, more is always going to be more beneficial for one’s health
No gym? No problem
Other ways to keep moving:
Walking instead of driving to short distances
Walk up/ down escalators instead on standing on them and just letting them move you
Get off a bus/ train stop early and walk rest of the journey
Walking - for leisure, it has many benefits to one’s physical and mental health
Housework: cooking, cleaning, gardening
Walk around/ get moving during the commercial/ and whilst watching TV
YouTube HIIT workouts
Google some resistance exercises you can do at home
NHS website provides some examples of exercises you can do
Overall, a combination of both physical activity and good nutrition will positively impact our physical and mental health and overall well-being! They are like a married couple, and cannot be separated, both are essential to our health, and one cannot compensate for the other. We cannot out train a bad diet in the gym, and we cannot feed ourselves the benefits that activity has on our entire health. Even more of a reason to ensure we make some health goals for the new year!
