Hello. This is 6 Minute English from
BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.
And I’m Sam. Did you make any New Year’s
resolutions this year, Neil? They’re promises
that you make to yourself to do something
positive in the coming year… And now that
we’re into February, it’s getting harder
to keep those promises!
Yes, the same promises I make every year,
Sam – to exercise more and get fit. But
I’m too lazy to go running on cold winter
mornings - I’d rather stay in bed!
Are you feeling out of shape after
Christmas, like Neil? Maybe you want to
be more active but can’t find the time?
If so, this programme is for you!
Yes, in this lazy person’s guide to
exercise, we’ll be asking: what is the least
amount of exercise someone can get away
with doing whilst still staying healthy?
And, of course, we’ll be learning some
useful new vocabulary as well.
Of course, any exercise is better than
none. ‘Structured exercise’ - activities like
going to a fitness class, or swimming are
great. But if that’s not possible, we’ll be
hearing about small changes you can
make that will help as well.
Which is good news because fewer and
fewer of us of doing what the UK
government recommends - thirty minutes
of moderate exercise a day. In fact, the
government recently downgraded its
recommendations because so few Brits
were following it. So, Sam, according to
new government advice, what is the
minimum number of steps we should walk
every day to stay healthy? Is it:
a) five thousand steps?
b) ten thousand steps? or,
c) twenty thousand steps?
I’ll say a) five thousand steps per day.
OK, Sam. We’ll find out the answer at the
end of the programme. Someone else
who’s interested in how little exercise he
can do is BBC reporter, James Gallagher.
Here’s James speaking with sports
physiologist, Dr Zoe Saynor, after Zoe had
been monitoring James’s fitness while running
on a treadmill for BBC Radio 4
programme, Inside Science.
… I also know you do regularly try
and do structured exercise.
Just to be clear, my structured exercise
training is going for a swim once a week.
Generally, that's fantastic! I guess my
question to you would be, how hard
do you push yourself when
you go swimming?
Not as hard as the treadmill.
I think the big thing if we come back
to this question of what is the least
I can do? There's clear evidence that if
you want to do shorter exercise
sessions, they need to be
of a higher intensity, right?
So there's a trade-off.
Zoe says that if you don’t have much
time to exercise it’s okay to do shorter
sessions, as long as you push yourself –
try harder and put more effort into what
you’re doing. If you can swim a length in
forty seconds, push yourself
to swim it in thirty-five.
That means exercising harder of course,
but for a shorter time. In other words,
there’s a trade-off – you accept the
disadvantages of something in order
to get the benefit it brings.
Another problem for many people is that
their job is sedentary – it involves little
exercise or physical activity. Zoe thinks
it’s important that office workers who
sit down all day also find time to exercise.
Here she shares her tips with BBC Radio 4
programme, Inside Health.
Especially people who have office jobs are
sat down all day, we then look at some
of the easy wins. So, active travel, and
even if that's parking a little bit further
away. One of the exciting areas in the
literature that's coming out at the
moment, is actually walking faster.
So, if you have no time to suddenly
do 10,000 steps a day, can we get
you to do 5,000 steps faster? Will we
see an improvement on your health?
Yes, we will see an improvement on
your health, especially over a longer
period of time. The big focus around short,
sharp exercise sessions is you
get more bang for your buck.
Zoe’s suggestions for active travel,
things like walking from the car, and
using the stairs instead of the lift,
are easy wins - tasks that are both easy
to accomplish and bring benefits.
Easy wins, like short but intensive
bursts of exercise, increase fitness and
give you more bang for your buck,
and idiom which means that you get
better results for the same amount of
effort you put in. That’s something
everyone can appreciate – even you, Neil.
Well, I’ll definitely try to walk more,
but remember, Sam, the
body needs rest too!
And speaking of walking, isn’t it time
to reveal the answer to your question:
how many steps does the UK
government recommend we should
walk a day? I guessed it was five
thousand… So, was I right?
You were close, Sam, but in fact
the correct answer is ten thousand
steps a day, although as Zoe mentioned,
walking fewer steps faster has
benefits too. OK, let’s recap the
vocabulary we’ve learned from our
lazy guide to exercise, starting with
New Year’s resolution – a promise you
make to yourself to do positive
things in the coming year.
When you push yourself, you put more
effort into what you’re doing.
In a trade-off, you accept the
disadvantages of something in order
to get the benefits as well. ‘Trade-off’
can also be used as a verb.
The adjective, sedentary, describes
something which involves little
exercise or physical activity.
An easy win is a task that is both
easy to accomplish and
brings positive results.
And finally, the idiom more bang
for your buck, means you get
a better outcome for the same
amount of effort you put into
something. We hope your New Year’s
resolutions have made it into February!
If there’s just one you keep, make
it joining us again soon for more
topical chat here at 6 Minute English.
Bye for now!
Bye!