the best exercise is ........ not a lot

So they say as a minimum we should take 10,000 steps a day for our minds and bodies to stay fit and healthy. 

They also say - get off the sofa, set up your computer so that you stand rather than sit at work, cycle don't drive etc. 

And so we might assume the more exercise you do, the more healthy we'd be.  But no!

The latest research shows that if we burn more than 4000, and maybe as few as 2500, calories a week through exercise, then it's just as bad for us as if we did nothing at all.

Have a look at Mark Sisson's article here.

And those people who do an hour of aerobics or at the gym after sitting around all day at work, do themselves little good either. 

The key is to keep moving all day, every day.  Our lymphatic system of ducts and vessels, which runs our in-built healing and immune processes, relies totally on the movement of our muscles and bones to work.  It doesn't have a heart to pump the fluid around our bodies and so it just stagnates if we don't get moving.

It's been suggested that this is the reason why women tend to live longer than men - because they traditionally haven't had a role where they can sit and work.  Housework keeps us young and fit!

---

So the main thing to do is move about most of the time we're awake. And then after that, exercise is more about quality than quantity.

This article shows that people who exercised 30 minutes a day lost more weight than those who exercised for an hour. 

And it advocates just 20 minutes of exercise, of which only 4 minutes are at high intensity.  Doing this, two to three times a week, coupled with stretching, can help us lose more weight than aerobics five times a week.  

There are plans here for beginners through to advanced levels.  

I think the key to any exercise routine is to have fun doing it.  Find something we enjoy doing.  That way we stick at it.  

And the more we do it, the more we usually want to do it.  As long as we don't overdo it!

Now I've been sitting here for ages writing this. 

I'd better get moving....