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Hassle free exercise

Contents:Section one: Why be more active?
Section two: What does being more active mean?
Section three: Who can be more active?
Section four: What's stopping you?
Section five: How should I feel?
Section six: How do I fit it in and build it up?
Section seven: What can I do?
Section eight: What will it cost?
Section nine: What next?
Section ten: Which activities?
Section eleven: Useful contacts

Section six: How do I fit it in and build it up?

Small amounts of active time can add up over the day to create a healthy routine of 30 minutes or more of physical activity on most days of the week. A good way to build up this routine is to take 4–6 weeks to reach the target.

WEEK 1–2

The first stage would be to add 10–15 minutes of physical activity to your daily routines every other day over the next two weeks.

  • take the stairs instead of the lift or escalators, for example in the shops or at work.
  • take short walks to the shops from the bus or car park.
  • take a walking break at lunch time.
  • take the dog for an extra walk.

WEEK 3–4

During weeks 3–4 you could gradually add in more minutes of activity so that you had 20–25 minutes of active time over the course of most days.

  • Make your walks longer.
  • Get down to the gardening.
  • Go out on your bike.
  • Put on your dancing shoes.

WEEK 5–6

Finally, towards weeks 5–6, you should add some more minutes so that on most days you had a total of 30 minutes of activity.

  • Swim at the weekend.
  • Go for a game of bowls.
  • Take a long refreshing walk.
  • Keep up the stair climbing.
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