Hopefully many of you will be in a daily routine which involves exercise. If you are worried about the more sedentary lifestyle during lockdown you can look to burn off more calories with incidental workouts, in other words sneaking a number of mini workouts in your daily routine with little effort, therefore burning more calories overall.
A report in the British Journal of Sports Medicine brings some welcome news that moving about in the city (obviously we can’t do this at the moment), or even within your own home, offers a chance to squeeze in some exercise.
Increasing scientific evidence contradicts the long-held belief that workouts must last 20 to 30 minutes to be effective; shorter bursts of more intense activity have been shown to be beneficial on their own. Of course intensity will depend on each individuals fitness level.
The US government, meanwhile, updated there Physical Activity Guidelines in 2018 for the first time in 10 years, eliminating the requirement that physical activity has to last at least 10 minutes to be effective. Health officials now concede that any length of moderate to vigorous activity is beneficial. Simply by moving more, especially those who are older and less active, is the way forward. If you take the incredible 90 year old Captain Tom Moore walking round the garden was his intense workout, what an inspiration!
We all need to move and in many cases move quicker, in short bursts. Things such as running up the stairs rather than walk, gardening and cleaning the house quicker, if you go for a walk put some intensity to it, depending on your level of fitness. We can all move quicker and do more in our daily routines to raise our heart rates and therefore do a mini workout throughout the day.
As long as you are moving you will be burning more calories even if you are talking on your mobile phone, look to walk around the house or garden rather than just sitting. There have been some incredible feats of endurance during lockdown such as a man running a marathon on his 3 metre balcony, therefore if we adapt with exercise like we have with every other part of our lives we can burn many more calories everyday.
Being more mindful towards this will only help our fitness level and improve sedentary lifestyles through lockdown and beyond.