Exercise

[lastqueenofscotland]

I was reading an article this morning while zoning out of a zoom meeting, and it said 1 in 4 adults do less that half an hours exercise a week which shocked me.
I’m a club runner and my DP is very outdoorsy so runners and hill walkers tend to make up our friend group so maybe I’m slightly skewed! But would be interested to hear what people do in a week?

I do an online HIIT session most days: 20 to 30 mins. Plus the dreaded daily walk with DCs. I should probably do more, but I find this easy to stick to.

Depends what hours I work. If I do 7-3, I'll do a two hour walk before picking up DS. In the summer, I'm out walking 2/3 hours every other evening. It averages about 70-100k steps a week.

Oh, plus 15 mins of yoga every morning and a 30 min dog walk each lunch.

Run 7-10miles three times a week (or one 7mile and one 13mile+)
One HIIT class per week
Walk dog 2hours every evening.
10minutes of static arm weights every evening (my New Years resolution)

During lockdown not as much as the gyms are shut! But currently half an hour (3 miles running/walking) C25K Monday, Weds Friday morning, two long-ish (6-10miles) walks each weekend day, walk to the shops (1 mile each way) instead of driving at the weekend.

Tuesdays and Thursdays I don't do enough but try to do a walk after work (unless its cold or dark or wet or miserable or a combination of these!)

Really hoping that gyms open again soon so I get my muscle tone back.

You'll get all the excessive exercisers coming on here making everyone else feel like crap now

I think its actually a little worse than that - 37% of adults in the UK do no exercise at all

www.kantar.com/uki/inspiration/sport-leisure/37-per-cent-of-people-in-the-uk-never-exercise-or-play-sport/#:~:text=Just%2056.2%25%20of%20UK%20adults,lower%20rate%2C%20at%2055.6%25.

@Spiritandwarmth

You'll get all the excessive exercisers coming on here making everyone else feel like crap now

That is true

In winter in a week:

3 hours of walking
Half an hour of running
1 hour on turbo

In summer in a week:
3-4 hours walking
1 hour running
7-9 hours cycling

I do at least half an hour a day, but only since I've made it an absolute priority and other things fall by the wayside. So I can see how it is a struggle for people.

For me it's a mix of:
exercise bike
online pilates subscription
youtube workouts - tabata, hiit, circuits etc and fat burn walking workouts (which I actually love!)

Daily walk and RingFit on the nintendo switch which are a bonus which I don't count.

I have only “discovered” exercise relatively recently (late 30s onwards) so I can understand these figures.

In my 20s I was working very long hours and was slim naturally so didn’t seem necessary (there was a lot less focus on health back then), I walked as part of my commute and very occasionally went to the gym but that was it.

In my 30s I had small non sleeping children and a demanding job so really didn’t have time or energy for exercise (or anything else!)

I’ve only managed to get into exercise as I became a SAHM and the kids are older so I have more time and energy.

As well as the issue of available time, I think if you don’t get into the habit of regular exercise when you’re young it can be hard to develop it later, as you have a much steeper hill to climb in terms of fitness and muscle levels, and haven’t reached the point where exercise feels good. A lot of classes will be too hard and people can be embarrassed or disheartened. There are exceptions like couch25k which I think is brilliant but it can still be hard to get over the mental barrier.

I can literally not leave my house for 2 weeks and only move to use the loo, cook, or do whatever housework needs doing.

I'm better in the summer, to be fair.

I used to be the kind of person who was in the gym at 7.30 every morning for 30 mins cardio, 30 mins weights followed by an hour non stop lengths in the pool. No idea how I changed so much.

I try to hit 10k steps, do a dance workout on YouTube and a weight workout every day.

I'm fat though and I am MAKING myself do this and change my diet for the benefit of my family.

I'd happily lie in bed, be fed burgers and chips and hit 40 stone spending all day on the internet.

Pre baby I was in the gym 5 days a week. Post baby I got fat.
Post leaving my ex I started doing les Mills on Demand 6 days a week and I've so far got soooo much fitter plus losing weight.
I love exercise.. It really sets me up for my day.

I think it’s a habit like any other. As a child growing up I didn’t realise that I came from an active family until I left home and met lots of different people. It was just part of my childhood that we walked a lot and everyone did a sport. My kids are growing up the same but then other people make throw away comments like how can you do all that exercise etc. Well we walk to the shop/school, cycle to work etc. You build it into your daily life and it makes me feel good. We still watch TV, read books, do art etc just always do at least 30mins exercise every day. My teen does 11hrs gym training a week she absolutely loves it, her choice we are just the taxi drivers...plus 2 other sports for fun.

I'm quite naturally lazy, but have a very active DH, and he's wept me along over the last 20-something years! Now if I don't do anything, I start to feel sluggish, and my mood is really affected.

Pre-lockdown would do a circuits class weekly, a yoga class weekly, see PT fortnightly, plus other stuff as diary allowed - walk before work or on lunch hour, evening or weekend walk with friends, maybe some running, some weights at home, I can barely remember.

During lockdown, I've continued with at least a weekly yoga class, have seen PT fortnightly when lockdowns allowed it, did C25k in the summer with DS, but we've not been great at keeping up the running, I've got a free subscription to Peloton, so do a spin class at least weekly, walk a lot.

I've got an Apple Watch, and trying to meet my daily goals helps nudge me into moving, as does various monthly goals etc. But I'm definitely more sedentary while working at home.

I'm 30, I run 2 times a week, do a hiit workout once and walk the other days. I do a lot of hill walking in the summer to.

I was just thinking about this this morning while running. My mum never exercised when I was young. She'd walk the dog 2/3 days a week but that was it. Shes 60 now and does no exercise. My friends mums were similar when I was young, they just didnt whereas all my friends with young children do exercise.

The amount varies, some go to the gym 3 times a week, some run, some to classes and some walk. Of my immediate friendship group of 6 only 1 exercise

My young adult DS does very little exercise. He's never liked sport, although we encouraged him to try lots of different activities as a child/teenager. He did like swimming and indoor climbing and did those once a week. Since he went to Uni though he has become very lazy. Don't think he even gets out of bed some days (except to use the bathroom and get food). He's been back home since before Christmas. DH and I do quite a lot of exercise. We've got a spin bike and rower and do a fair amount of walking, so we've been encouraging DS to join us on walks and do the occasional bit of exercise on the equipment. He's done walks from 5 - 13 miles with us without any problem but is clearly less fit when it comes to cardio type exercise. I know that as soon as he returns to Uni all exercise will stop again - but it's his life.

You're going to get a bias from people who do exercise regularly.

Normally I run regularly up to HM distance, but the lack of races, mud, weather and general busyness of routes has really put me off in recent months. My motivation has just crumpled.

General barriers include:
Time, especially factoring travel, changing,showering
Knowing where to start for a beginner
Injuries/ health issues
Space
Cost. Even something "free" like running needs decent shoes, bra and an outfit... add in different clothing for different weathers.

Incidental moving can be surpringly useful. I really miss the brisk bursts from my short school run and the difference in movement really shows on my tracker.
Walking is brilliant... but it does need to be done at a pace that raises heart and breathing rate for an exercise benefit, and a lot of people mooch very slowly and overestinate the benefits.

At the moment I'm doing a 30 min weights/cardio Youtube on average 6 times a week.

In more ordinary times pre-covid I'd do this around 3 times a week but also walk much more than I am currently (now working from home).

My sister does no exercise whatsoever, she never has. She works full-time and is on her feet all day. My mum never did any regular exercise until she was 60 and joined a gym.

@RunningFromInsanity

Run 7-10miles three times a week (or one 7mile and one 13mile+) One HIIT class per week Walk dog 2hours every evening. 10minutes of static arm weights every evening (my New Years resolution)

2 hours dog walking? In some ways I'm jealous - yes I like dogs - but also I think on bad weather days, that must be tough.

In winter I do some kind of workout an hour 4 days a week. In summer I will do a brisk 3 mile walk on top of that about 3 days a week. Summer makes me hyper though.