Rethinking Fitness Beyond the Gym
Join the gym, run up a mountain, for spin classes. We are constantly encouraged to undertake intense and sweaty workouts to improve fitness.
But what if you lack the time or motivation for such activities?
Jo Blodgett offers a solution: incorporating brief activity "snacks" into your daily routine that require minimal effort.
Introducing Activity Snacks
Blodgett is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health at University College London. She has researched how short bursts of physical activity can positively impact health.
While high-intensity exercise—characterized by increased breathlessness and heart rate—is beneficial, it represents only part of the overall health picture, she explained on the BBC Radio Four podcast What's Up Doc?
Blodgett elaborates on how individuals can enhance fitness without needing special attire or a gym membership.
Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity (VILPA)
There are numerous ways to integrate "exercise snacks" into everyday life, according to Blodgett.
Officially termed "vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity" or "VILPA," this concept involves briefly elevating effort during routine tasks.
"It's about finding opportunities in your daily life that are going to push you a little bit more,"
she states.
Encouragingly, if you currently have low physical activity levels, adding just three or four short bursts of intense movement lasting one to two minutes each can significantly improve heart health and life expectancy.
Active Couch Potatoes and Sedentary Behavior
Even those who regularly attend gym sessions or play sports once a week should reconsider their overall activity levels.
Many people fall into the category Blodgett terms "active couch potatoes."
"Of course those activities are 'a good thing',"
she acknowledges,
"but they won't make up for sitting all day at work staring at a screen or spending the evening slouching on the couch."
She emphasizes that
"Thirty minutes in the gym is only a tiny part of it. What about the other 23-and-a-half hours?"
Research suggests minimizing prolonged sitting is optimal.
"Every 15, 30 minutes, can you stand up, shake around, sit back down?"
Blodgett advises.
Maintaining Gym Workouts While Increasing Daily Movement
This approach does not imply abandoning gym workouts.
There remains a hierarchy of activity intensity, with vigorous exercise that elevates heart rate providing the greatest fitness and health benefits, followed by moderate activities such as walking, Blodgett explains.
Current health guidelines often emphasize the amount of vigorous exercise to aim for.
Blodgett suggests reversing this perspective by focusing on reducing sedentary time.
Some countries, including Canada and Australia, have begun promoting this message. Assuming eight hours of sleep, at least half of waking hours—approximately eight hours—should involve movement.
Regarding how much movement is sufficient, Blodgett notes there is no definitive rule.
"The more you move the better."
