80% of women too unfit to be healthy?

[FlowerArranger]

I listened to Women's Hour while doing my workout today. In a segment on women in sport, one contributor stated that research shows that 80% of women are too unfit to be healthy.

I Googled and found a reference to a Canadian study from 2007 and CDC research from 2013:

A new (US) government study estimates that nearly 80 percent of adult Americans do not get the recommended amounts of exercise each week, potentially setting themselves up for years of health problems.

www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-80-percent-of-american-adults-dont-get-recommended-exercise/

I don't suppose British women do much better? If this is indeed true, it is is shocking.

I remember when my children were little and I was working full-time, there was little or no time to exercise in a formal way - though I'm sure all the running after them and running up and down stairs and housework and gardening kept me fit enough!

If this is you, you are excused......... but what about all the years before and after looking after children? Why don't women exercise enough to keep themselves healthy? Which the CDC defined as:

at least 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise each week or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, or a combination of both

Personally I (in my 60s) work out most days and I feel so much better for it.

YABU - I don't see the need to exercise regularly
YANBU - regular exercise is vital

Youth sport is part of the problem, it's completely focused on identifying elite sportspeople rather than developing a life long habit of regular exercise. Schools should be balancing this by providing opportunities for children of all abilities to participate in regular sporting activities AND allowing girls to access 'boys sport'. However there are still schools who don't offer girls the opportunity to e.g. play football FFS.

In addition the objectification of teenage girls bodies. Plus the teaching of sport being based on a male model. Teenage girls develop in a different way (less linear) to teenage boys and go through stages where they lose a lot of strength and so become discouraged and give up sport.

Finally how many threads are there on here when men prioritise their leisure and exercise (e.g. the MN favourite completely identifying hobby of cycling) while their wives are left with the DC all weekend?

This is a good chat as I'm overweight at the moment due to being unwell since Nov with bugs and other ailments that have floored me.

But once I'm well again, I'm going to get back to doing a joe wicks workout every morning at 7 while my kids eat bfast. I then walk them 20 mins to school. I also did the food plan (not a diet!).

Last time I did that for 8 weeks I lost a stone and lost 3.5 inches on each thigh alone and 6 inches from my tummy. I couldn't believe the impact the exercise had on the inches.

I'm 50.

Oh yes how fucking hilarious. Yes I watched a whole load of telly today. I also folded laundry during it ,did the online food shop and whatever other crap needed sorting , tidied up the living room and reread some work emails because my brain was spinning when I first read them.

But mainly, I just needed to stop my brain from spinning. I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted and all touched out from dealing with kids in crisis that either cry daily in my arms and need me to help them feel safe or scream,kick and swear at me. I'm exhausted physically from chasing them around and my back and feet are killing me when I get home. I need that time just to be able to stand upright again to then look after DD, make dinner ,do dishes and whatever else. Honestly it's all a laugh a minute.

That's my average day btw .

Yes I'm fat,yes I'm unfit and all the other negatives. Atm, my priority is to be ok enough to get up tomorrow and do it all over again .

@TooSmallForTheMembrane nope, I hate it. It’s too cold/wet/windy/dark for much of the year. I don’t have time in the morning and can’t think of anything I’d less like today (except maybe go to a gym 😉) once the kids are in bed. I’m a fair weather dog Walker if I happen to get a break WFH during the day and at weekends with the family.

I used to exercise daily before having children. Unfortunately I don't anymore. I do work almost full time and have 3 children including a 2 year old but I also now have a health condition which means I can only do limited amounts of exercise. So there could be reasons why women don't exercise but probably a lot of it is people just can't be bothered.

Incidentally I prefer joe wicks to the gym. He's very motivational and I have him on my ipad while I exercise. It's fun and he's great and it's far quicker and cheaper than flogging to the gym where I tend to faff. And my kids see me doing this which is good.

I do but I don't have DC. The only reason I can do it is the NHS now give me a medication that works - I'm allergic to exercise and have to take a biologic injection to be able to exercise
Probably do 3/4 x 30/45 min spin classes a week then about 90 mins weights/stretching/yoga

I just cba and don't enjoy it.

I find if I don't do exercise I don't have enough energy to do everything that comes with being a working parent. It's a win win

I decided this year to prioritise myself a bit more as over the last year the weight has crept on and doing less exercise - though walk a lot on school runs and dog walking. I am doing couch to 5k and trying to do 10 - 20 mins other exercise most days and cut out all the rubbish food. Am feeling so much better, sleeping most nights where was repeatedly waking up, my skin is better and just generally having more energy. My house however seems to have paid the price for my increased activity. Interestingly my husband seems to find hours for running, stretching, planning runs with very little impact on the house.

Think women generally just do it all and its another thing to fit in between working, housework, cooking, shopping, sorting the children out, walking the dog.........

I might go on strike from housework and just do more exercise!

I remember thread on this and it was something like 7 min a day of vigorous activity to keep some level of fitness from NHS website. Apparently most people here do not have 7 minutes a day

I bet they have more than 7 minutes to sit in front of the television though.

Yes, I have the time, I just don't want to. Any exercise I do is sporadic, not routine. I might one day fancy a swim, and then not go again for months, or fancy an ice skate and go once a week for a month and then not do it again, or take to doing yoga for a day and then forget about it again. I just don't have the mothvation or strictness to push myself to do it

I just dislike exercise! I don't enjoy it. I really enjoy sitting in front of the fire reading, so when I should or could be bouncing around to an exercise video I sit and read instead. Meh. I can't blame kids or work or anything, I've always been this way.

I do like fresh air though and I really enjoy walking, so that's something. I do yoga once a week and wild swimming a few times a week (90 secs in the river this time of year). None of it is particularly aerobic, and I know I must do better.... But equally I forgive myself my failings, as we all should!

People seem to want/need to put movement into a box labelled "exercise", while refusing to walk places.

DP's ex wife called their DS on Sunday morning to demand he drove her into town where she'd left her car the night before. It didn't seem to occur to her that it was less than a mile and she could walk.

I used to workout at the gym 4-5x per week before my second child came along now I’m 30 with a 13 and 4 year old running a business, dh works away and literally never work out anymore . Although me and kids have started walking in the evenings but I’m always knackered, I think when you don’t work out you get used to not working out, I miss it tbh.

@TemporaryNaming there are adult netball leagues just like there are for football. Have a look locally, there’s bound to be one.

You are right op.
I intend to make some changes this year!

I do think this is a valid question. There’s a lot of I don’t have h to e time for things we should all be doing, life long learning (helps protect the brain and exercise.

but I think this is complex, people are spending more time away from physicality, it’s easy to dissociate. Mental health issues, low self esteem etc all lead to people not thinking about or feeling the desire Uk look after their bodies.

we need to start viewing our bodies as amazing places that we inhabit and deserve to be looked after but it’s not easy when society gives women the message their body is there for men and earning money is more important than self care

For all those who are "too tired, too short of time, too fat, too out of shape, etc" to exercise...

Have a look at Lucy Wyndham Reed on YouTube. She is perfect for you. Very calm and gentle, and most of her workouts are very short 7-10 minutes) and not at all challenging.

And yet these short sessions do work, and you gradually build up strength to maybe try something a bit more challenging.

Just doing one of her workouts most days and maybe walk a bit more, and occasionally take the stairs instead of the lift, will go a long way to improving your fitness.

As people have pointed out on this thread, there are a lot of barriers, especially for mums. I mean, just look at the threads featuring men who get to go out on their bike rides/Sunday league etc every week when they become dads and the mums who get no opportunity of the sort.

I grew up in a very low physical-activity household, but I started exercising in my mid-20s and have mostly kept it up; in large part as I have a chronic joint condition that means I could easily get a a bit decrepit quite young if I don't, and also means it's helpful to try to not to be overweight and not make the condition worse. I have to say, I'm seeing the difference between my parents, and my (older) inlaws who have always exercised a lot - they have a lot more energy than my parents, albeit my mum doesn't really count as she has a chronic illness. She was very fit before she was ill; and there's quite a lot of chronic illness about that prevent people from exercising, so we mustn't leap to judgement about people who don't.

I exercise for health reasons but don’t enjoy it and would rather be on the sofa in my pjs. I work full time, have 3 dc and and doing my masters part time. So I’m not lazy, just never caught the exercise bug. I run 5k twice a week and do weight training once a week. That’s 35 minutes per run and an hour in the gym so 2hrs 5mins a week. I walk the dog weekends but probably not enough.

THIS!!!

The problem is sitting outside our houses- cars.

Some people living in the middle of nowhere, some people are disabled.

Most could walk or cycle a lot more than they do.

@FlowerArranger you do realise you’re not taking on board what a lot of people are saying. Just try XYZ… what about ABC.

it’s almost evangelical

some people just don’t want to, no you tube video no matter how short or ‘gentle’ will change that. If it’s really that gentle the I’m sure it’s not going to benefit me any more than a bit of housework or whatever

Being and staying fit is one of my top priorities in life. If I couldn't do a 20 mile walk, climb a mountain or go cycling all day something would be wrong.

And yes, I am grateful that this is the case.

I cannot imagine being unfit or unhealthy through choice.

I think being active is most important but not necessarily formal exercise. If we are active in our day by doing physical activity/ work/ walking to and from places etc and cleaning etc then I think that’s what is important. I think of my GM who lived to 88 without any ‘exercise’ but she had 6 children, worked hard and walked everyday. She rarely drank alcohol or went out for dinner etc.

I think a lot of busy parents are probably pretty active and not sedentary people.

But there also seems to be something where some parents sacrifice their own fitness for their children, long after the children actually need so much attention. And once people are married/partnered up, there sometimes seems to be less interest. As if all the gym memberships and park runs were just to snag a mate.

We look at health and fitness from a very visual perspective, judging people on their weight not their fitness levels and assuming thin people are fit. We need to focus on what’s going on inside. We are living longer but are healthy, active years haven’t really changed.