Fitness Beyond The Gym - How To Incorporate Movement Into Your Life.
The truth is, the modern world's biggest fitness challenge isn't a lack of intense gym workouts; it's simply a lack of overall movement. On average, people spend a staggering 6.5 to 9.5 hours a day sitting down – whether watching TV, working on computers, or scrolling on their phones.
The fitness industry has often pushed the narrative that if you're short on time, you should be doing 15-minute high-intensity interval circuits. But let's be real – you can't undo nine hours of sitting with 15 minutes of intense exercise.
Another common myth is the 10,000-step-a-day target. This equates to about five miles and takes around an hour and 40 minutes of constant walking. For many, this is an incredibly high bar, leading to discouragement and inaction. Interestingly, the 10,000-step idea originated in a 1965 Japanese marketing campaign, not in scientific research. Recent studies (such as the 2020 JAMA Internal Medicine study) show that mortality rates progressively improve before levelling off at around 7,500 steps per day, with little additional benefit beyond that.
This lack of movement is a relatively modern issue. Before World War II, jobs were far more labour-intensive, requiring significantly more daily movement. Post-WWII, technological advances led to more sedentary lifestyles, a trend that accelerated with computers in the 70s and 90s, and even more so with the internet. There's a clear parallel between this increase in sedentary behaviour and the obesity epidemic that became more pronounced around the 90s and early 2000s. While lack of movement isn't the sole cause of obesity, it certainly plays a significant role.
Movement and Metabolism: Understanding Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)
Movement and metabolism are intrinsically linked. Metabolism, often a buzzword in the fitness industry, is simply the sum of all the energy your body uses for daily chemical reactions. A better term is Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), which has four main components:
Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) / Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): This is the largest portion, accounting for about 70% of your daily energy use. It's the energy your organs, tissues, muscles, and brain use just to keep you alive at rest.
Thermic Effect of Feeding (TEF): Approximately 10% of your daily energy is used to break down food. The more you eat, the more energy it takes.
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT): This accounts for about 15% of your TDEE and includes all movement outside of structured exercise – walking around, fidgeting, even hand gestures. This accumulates throughout the day.
Physical Activity: This is the smallest component, accounting for about 5% of your TDEE. This includes your gym workouts, runs, and other planned exercises.
It's clear that focusing on NEAT is incredibly smart because it accumulates over the course of the day. Even a five-minute walk during your lunch break, if done consistently, adds up to a significant amount over a week. The fitness industry often overemphasises intense workouts, but these are not the biggest drivers of your metabolic rate.
As a strength and conditioning coach, I advocate for strength training and cardio. However, the most important thing is for people to find a way to be in an active routine they enjoy and can stick to. We're not winning the battle of getting people more active by criticising their choices.
Recently, a popular podcaster claimed that walking isn't a form of exercise. This couldn't be further from the truth! Walking has a low barrier to entry, it's free, and most of us can do it. Observational research on athletes even suggests that those who are more active outside of their sport tend to have more favourable body compositions.
How to Incorporate More Movement into Your Life
Many people face real barriers to increasing physical activity, and solutions aren't always one-size-fits-all. Here are some headline ideas:
Active Transportation: Park further away from your office, cycle to work or the train station, or walk instead of driving. Even doing this 2-3 times a week makes a difference.
Movement Breaks at Work: Use your lunch break for a five or ten-minute walk. Instead of pondering at your desk or browsing the internet, get up and move.
Active Household Chores: Incorporate movement into your daily chores. It's a simple way to be more active, especially if you're otherwise sedentary.
Active Socialising: Activities such as cycling, paddleboarding, yoga holidays, and fitness retreats are becoming increasingly popular. These are great ways to be active while spending time with friends.
It's easy to focus on what you can't do, but try to flip that mindset and focus on what you can do, no matter how small it seems. This accumulation of movement is key.
Fitness tech, while not always accurate in estimating calorie expenditure, can be a powerful motivator to increase your awareness of your activity levels. If it encourages you to move more, it serves a valuable purpose.
Finally, it's essential to acknowledge that for some, the advice to "move more" isn't applicable. There's a population of people who are already training four times a week, running, doing barre or spin classes, and hitting over 10,000 steps a day, and they are struggling. Energy in the human body is finite, and constant use can deplete the reserves needed for recovery. For these individuals, moving a little less might actually be smarter, and they might also need to eat a little more.
To wrap up, moving is incredibly important. Try to incorporate it into your day by picking activities you enjoy and can stick with year-round. As an industry, we need to get better at encouraging activity without criticism, because for most people, the specific type of exercise doesn't matter as much as simply being active.
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