Coach potato fitness guide
SITTING is the new smoking, we have been warned, with health risks shooting up the more you sit down.
Long periods of inactivity contributed to 70,000 deaths in the UK in 2016 due to obesity, cardiovascular disease, increased blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
This has scary implications for us on lockdown.
But a surprising study has found regular four-second blasts of exertion throughout the day could be the answer.
We spoke to European champion powerlifter,
Rhys Charlesworth, founder of specifixtraining.com and author Big
Secret of Fat Loss, for his top tips.
Take a hike sprints, push ups and skips as you can. Each active cycle should last 30 seconds and focus on one exercise, followed by 30 seconds of active rest, walking between your markers so you keep your heart rate up but give muscles a break.
Use a phone timer to alert you to intervals. Reverse your sitting Sitting for long periods has a bad effect on muscle groups by tightening some, like your hip muscles, while weakening others, such as your core. Try doing as many squats as you can in 30 seconds.
All you have to do is sit down on your chair and stand up without using your hands.
Mobilising your body this way can reduce lower back pain, strengthen your muscles and stretch out others.
Housework workout
Gardening is great for burning calories. Commit to mowing the lawn once a week if you have a garden. Or indoors, hoovering is a top alternative.
Use your stairs
If you physically can, take stairs two at a time. This stretches your stride and burns more calories. It soon adds up.
If you live in a block of flats, use the stairs instead of the lift.
Netflix and thrill
Most of us are love a telly binge. Instead of fast-forwarding the ads, or scrolling on your phone, get up and do something.
You can use each three-minute break to do a burst of washing up, run up and down the stairs, get the hoover out, take a walk around the garden or stretch.
Or when the show moves to the next episode, hit pause and get active for five minutes.
TV gym
In front of the telly, use bottles of water or tinned food for weight training. Focus on time rather than repetitions. Set a timer for three minutes and do as many bicep curls as possible.
Or do mini-workouts while watching TV using the timer idea. Try marching on the spot.
Away from the gogglebox, do a four-minute workout just before dinner.