Moving more without "exercising"

"I haven't got time" is the lie with the best disguise, because everyone's busy and nobody's going to argue with you. But on a Sunday, your phone will quietly tell you how many hours you spent looking at it that week. Have a look at that number before you say you haven't got time for a ten-minute walk. Then have a sit down, because it's a big number, and it includes forty minutes watching a man in Ohio restore a rusty axe.

Most of us have time. We've just given it away to things with an autoplay button. You don't need to find an hour. You need to steal back ten minutes, a few times a day, from the axe man.

Next: The most underrated exerciseBack to the contents

Walking gets no respect. Nobody posts a walk with a fire emoji. Nobody's ever been asked "what are you walking at the moment?" by a man in a vest. But it's free, you already know how to do it, you've been doing it since you were about one, and the only kit it needs is decent shoes. The NHS calls it one of the easiest ways to get more active. A brisk walk counts as moderate activity: about 3 miles an hour, fast enough that you can still talk but couldn't sing along to a song.¹

Steps matter too. A big analysis of 15 studies found that people who walked more each day had a lower risk of dying early. The benefit levelled off at around 6,000 to 8,000 steps a day for people over 60, and 8,000 to 10,000 for younger adults.² You don't need to hit that in week one. You need more than last week.

Next: Every minute countsBack to the contents

The UK Chief Medical Officers put it simply: some activity is better than none, and more is better still.³ The target for adults is 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, plus strength work on two days.⁴ You can build that out of small pieces. Ten minutes here. Five there.

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Ten minutes every waking hour. Sixteen waking hours. That's 160 minutes, in one day. More than the NHS asks for in a whole week.⁴ Nobody's asking you to do that. You'd have to walk out of meetings, weddings and possibly the birth of your own child. But it shows how small the changes can be and still make a big dent.

Next: Break up the sitBack to the contents

The guidelines also say to break up long spells of sitting with at least some light activity.³ A few minutes every hour is plenty. Some ideas:

• Walk about while you're on the phone. Pace like a detective who's nearly cracked it.
• Stand up every time the adverts come on, and stay up until the man selling car insurance has finished being an opera singer.
• Take the stairs. Every time. Lifts are for furniture, the injured, and people with a really good excuse. You haven't got one.
• Park at the far end of the car park. Your car could do with the walk.
• Walk to the shop, rather than driving to the shop to buy a protein bar.
• Push the pram, or carry the toddler who has decided legs are optional. Both count, and both are heavier than they look.
• Put the kettle on, then do sit-to-stands from a chair until it boils. Nobody needs to know. The kettle will keep your secret.

Next: Kit you don't needBack to the contents

Here's the full kit list for this chapter: shoes. Comfortable, supportive ones.¹ That's it. That's the list.

You don't need a smartwatch that buzzes at you like a disappointed wasp. You don't need matching leggings, a gym membership, a weighted vest, or a foam roller shaped like a medieval torture device. You don't need a water bottle that lights up and tells you you're a legend for drinking water, either. You were already drinking water. Nobody had to clap. If your phone counts steps, that's free and it's fine. Kit doesn't walk. You walk.

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