quoll

Get yourself a Fitbit, a good audiobook and walk! Also make stretching part of your daily routine (my option, though I do also lift weights). Never underestimate the fitness value of a good walk - I now regularly walk 5 miles for a coffee, gets my 10k steps out of the way (I walk faster when I'm with Jack Reacher!)

My DH commuter cycles but he also has a set of kettlebells and his kettlebell work out takes him less than 10 mins a day (start small and work your way up)

In my couch potato hey day I seriously doubted all those gym junkies that said you get an exercise high but actually I think they're right but you do have to schedule it into your day and make it a priority. Good luck! It's do-able!

Beoz

Yeah I have a fitbit. Its telling me I'm doing about 10000 steps a day and 6-7k's. I have no idea if thats good or not. Don't particularly like walking for the hell of it. Might as well go cycling.

Dreamy

I know with my Garmin that you can join a step challenge, which has random people who are allegedly doing around the same number of steps as you and there's a weekly leaderboard.

If you're remotely competitive, that can be one way to increase your steps. (I became way too obsessed with that so had to stop, lol) I'm presuming here that Fitbit has something similar.

The most important thing though, is to find something, anything, that you enjoy doing and then do that.

Kim67

One of my daughters went to a ballet extension class down your way this week - the ballet teacher is a tall, lean man called Vim! Have you been moonlighting as a ballet teacher?

DeadVim

Believe me, that is not a sight the world needs to see.

Struggling to average 12,000 steps this year, must stride out later ...

cresta57

Now we know where you got the pink tu tu for the charity cricket match from. Don't worry your secret is safe with us

Beoz

Oddly I did something a bit weird this morning. Put the baby in the pram and went for a walk / run. Mrs Beoz loved the hour to herself. I enjoyed an hour with the baby. Might have found some incentive.

DeadVim

Good to know it isn't shared with the entire world.

Fark me how long have I been posting here?

commonwealth

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/0...-workout/?_r=0

"The Scientific 7-Minute Workout"

OzTennis

The diagrams don't include checking your phone, guzzling from a designer bottle of water, checking your heart rate monitor and looking at yourself in the mirror during the 7 minutes; nor does it include going onto BE to ask others how to exercise!!

I'm being cynical of course but after a lifetime in sport I find the modern generation's hi-tech/minimal time approach to trying to find instant fitness in as short a period of time amusing.

Golf memberships and tennis memberships for example are plummeting because people won't devote the time they used to - a round of golf or a tennis match takes too much time is the feedback I get (but in the past it didn't take too long??)

Children will come to tennis lessons but will they practice or play matches - no; they have so many other things they touch the tip of the iceberg on. Research in tennis for example has shown that the time on coaching to time on practice and matchplay ratio should be 1:7 (7 hrs practice/competition per 1 hr coaching) Kids and parents these days will come along for some coaching and they do no practice giving a 1:0 ratio.

It comes a no surprise though because just as younger (and increasingly more older) people want instant fame they want instant success at anything and if they can't get it they move onto something else.

Can of worms, discuss.

Hebe

CrossFit but shop around as there are some terrible trainers. Group training which is cardio and strength. I can deadlift 100kg, squat 60, snatch 35 and still run half marathons in under 2 hours (just!!). You go at your own pace. If you try to heavy too fast, you will get injured.

Ps. I'm old!

Beoz

I was speaking with someone on the weekend who was trying to convince me that leg squats were some of the best all round training you can do for core strength, and pretty easy to do when time is of the essence. I have no idea whether this idea stacks up.

renth

Good for older blokes to - it unleashes testosterone and growth hormone. I do barbell squats at least twice a week,

Beoz

He was saying that he would run and cycle and barely loose any weight, then so as he started squatting, the stomach fat fell off him.

renth

I would say that all the big compound lifts would do this, the squat, deadlift, bench press etc... They use lots of muscle groups including core.

I've been going pretty hard in the gym for the last 4 months, not lost any weight though but lost some fat and my strength, whilst nothing to write home about is significantly better and improving fast.

Weights 3 times a week plus 5k run every other day. Can't stop eating though, I'm always hungry!