Hi there team, I hope you are all well and kicking goals. 

I client came to me the other day with a question of how could they get more activity in to their day? For the purpose of burning more calories. Now, the obvious answer to this question is simple. Get out and about and start walking!! Get off the couch and take the dog for a walk, get on your bike and have a ride on the weekend, make it a habit. Don’t make excuses, show commitment and get out and do it!! This is a classic “Don’t think! Do!” answer (Thanks John Kennedy) but it got me thinking of ways we can all get more activity in to our day from a different “angle”. 

The “angle” is practical ways to get this activity in to your day.  A great topic of discussion, I would love any comments/ideas from you all. Let’s build a list! Here are some examples that I can think of.

• Walk/ride to and from school with your kids. Not only do you get some exercise done, but you are also setting a great example for your kids. And I am sure that the ankle biters will keep up a cracking pace.

• This is an easy one. At work, take the stairs instead of the elevator. And don’t just do it once a day, every time you come or go, get on the stairs burn some calories. If you work on the top floor of a sky scraper, hop off the elevator 5 floors from your stop and get climbing.

• If you catch the train to work, depart the train 1 stop before yours. This works particularly well if you work in the city where the stations are not too far away from each other. The same can be done if you drive to work, you can simply park your car a suitable distance from your work and you are guaranteed to get more calories burnt.

• Go for a walk on your lunch break, even if its 15 minutes. It will help you digest your lunch and lessen the effects of that post lunch sluggishness and get some endorphins going and help you fire for the remainder of your day.
• For those of you who are lucky to live close enough, ride or walk to and from work.
• Try some resistance training. Resistance training can be a great way to burn more energy throughout your day without even trying. Consistant resistance training can increase what is called your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the amount of energy that you burn throughout your day just doing what you do. With resistance training you can increase your lean muscle mass to create a significant boost to your BMR. So even when you are doing nothing you are doing something. 

So there are a few practical ideas how you can get more activity and calorie burning into your day, but lets be honest, these ideas will only work on someone who is willing to make the change, it is not about a short term fix, these are things that if you are serious about living a healthy life, will become part of your life!

I hope you find this useful and until the next Sunfit instalment, stay happy

Xavier Griffiths.