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FITTING IN SOME FITNESS - Jeff Archer
Getting fit is not just about going to the gym five nights a week and torturing yourself, there are many more appealing ways of bringing exercise into your life, all of which have enormous benefits, not just for fitness and weight loss but also in terms of your motivation and effectiveness.
Our work at the Tonic is geared towards going into companies and helping staff introduce a more healthy regime into their daily working lives, though the tips and philosophies we use can just as easily be incorporated into any routine.
Integrate
One of the best ways to start is to look at your daily routine and think about how you can integrate exercise into it, for example if you travel to work by bus try getting off one stop earlier or if you travel by car, try parking further away from the office.
Simply adopting the attitude that every journey is a fitness burst – and not simply about getting from A to B in the shortest possible time will give you a great foundation to building a healthier more active lifestyle – walk at full speed, don’t cut corners, take the longer route, breathe deeply and check your posture, these are all small steps that can set you on the way.
To put some of this into context, a 15-minute walk every weekday can mean burning an extra 100 calories a day, or 500 calories a week. And if you think that 3,500 calories equates to a pound of body
Jeff Archer
Jeff is a director at The Tonic, a corporate fitness & wellness consultancy firm. He is a coach and presenter and has written two books, Teach Yourself Fitness and Teach Yourself Life Coaching. He specialises in realistic solutions to everyday problems and frustrations
Jeff also writes features and articles on coaching, health, fitness and training for national newspapers, magazines and websites. He has consulted for TV and radio projects.
Jeff has worked with Accenture, Tesco, Roche, Emap, BP, Lex, Cunningham Lindsey.
fat this means that, with a little effort each day, you could be burning off a pound every 7-weeks which is a great result.
Walk tall
Many people overlook how important breathing and posture are, not just to your wellbeing, but also you body’s fitness and efficiency. By checking these two things, not only are you managing stress and relaxing by increasing the flow of blood to your brain and around your body, you’ll also be ensuring that all exercise or activity you take part in is as effective as it can be. If you sit hunched up at a desk for hours and then go to the gym, chances are you might not be exercising the muscles you think you are and there is a far greater risk of injuring yourself.
Sitting and standing with good posture will guarantee that any exercise you take will be targeted and safe. Good posture means the body is well balanced and therefore less likely to get injured, it can also just help you limit the pressure and effects of real life; reducing back problems, headaches and eye strain.
Getting going
Getting started is often the hardest part of any exercise regime and the best thing is to take little steps and quickly, even if they are eating a piece of fruit or drinking a bottle of water. Another common problem people have is with staying on track with their regime, many of the people we talk to say they’re either 100% on track or 100% off it. We always recommend that you set out early on what constitutes being off track for you and then set yourself achievable goals for how much time you expect too spend off and on track – for example 80% on track 20% off.
Once you’re going, try doing exercise little and often, as this can make you feel like you are living actively and are in control of your fitness which is a great mindset to adopt. This gets you into a positive cycle around exercise, encouraging more positive thoughts and feeling about fitness, healthy eating and drinking, good sleep patterns, and helps you to stay focussed and balanced throughout life.
Every day works
Take a look around you and try to highlight activities that you can fit into your daily routine. For an extra boost try and make them social – it’s often easier and more appealing not to do exercise on your own – for example a lunchtime walk with some friends, or have a meeting on the move in the local park. This all adds up and keeps you active, which means if you do aim to go to the gym but you miss the odd session it doesn’t matter as you’re still living actively.
A simple set of rules to live by would be: start small, make the first step as quickly as possible and then set yourself achievable goals. Doing this can put a healthier lifestyle within everyone’s reach.
