The FastDay Forum

[janeg]

How to increase our activity level?
At the moment we're doing the 30 day shred and I am seeing significant changes in Beloved.
However, I keep thinking that it can't be good for us to kill ourselves for 20 minutes a day, 6 days a week and then do nothing for the other 23 hours and 40 minutes of the day.
At home I walked everywhere, ran up and down stairs and generally got lots of what I call 'incidental exercise' (probably NEAT! )
I'm going to see the difference when I go home for our holidays. Out playing all the time and being generally active.
Here, in the sandpit, it's 46C just now and doesn't drop below 30C at night - I just can't do the heat. Walking outside is really out of the question. Mall walking is a nightmare due to *people*
There are no accessible stairs in public buildings- it's all escalators and traveletors. Stairs inside that are accessible are suffocatingly hot.
Work situation is extreme- desk bound or hard physical work with long hours standing.
So, I suppose I'm after two things...
reassurance that doing something, all be it fairly brutal for a short time, is better than nothing/not harmful
and
ideas to increase incidental activity
help!

My instructor was talking about this the other day as I was commenting on the HIT exercises I was doing. The general consensus is that its the way our bodies are meant to move. General sitting around a campfire for much or the time (your desk job), slow steady stalking of prey (your neat) and very intense fast active chase and kill times (the 30 day shred).
The instructor said that doing the HIT (for me) for 20 minutes boosted the body into a higher activity level that lasted much longer (hours longer) than doing moderate exercise for and hour. So a win situation in less time.

How about this?

[janeg]

Love that idea @P-JK
Hmm, kind of makes sense @julieathome except I'm missing out on the stalking!

There was a meme floating around facebook about how much weight you could lose if you had to cycle to get your laptop working. I joked that if we did that in this house there would be excess energy (with 4 PC's) that we could sell to the national grid.

I'm about to switch back to a standing desk. I wish I had a tread desk, but it doesn't make sense for me to invest in one now. Otherwise… I can't think of much that doesn't involve being outside. I read the article below and it really scared me. I've gotten really bad about sitting and watching TV for hours every evening.

http://www.burnthefatblog.com/are-you-a ... potato.php

I have a standing desk, and it definitely helps. But to really make it effective, I try to remember to set my alarm to go off every 30 minutes, and I do *something*. I work at home, so it'll be hang out washing, make a cup of tea, do 10 push ups, 30 squats, lunges, skip for a couple of minutes. Things which are quick and get me moving briefly, mostly close to my desk and in a small space. Think it just gets circulation going and eyes away from the computer and generally I feel better on days when I remember to do it.

Shred will stick with you for a long time after you've cooled down, a really good thing to be doing daily anyway I'd say.

It would really suck not being able to do proper exercise outside - when my sister was in the UAE, she found walking on the beach was the best bet in summer. Is that a lunchtime possibility, finishing off with a swim? (yeh, I know the sea is a bit bath like - but at least you'd be wet.)

[janeg]

Scary stuff @MaryAnn- I'll read that article proper later.
@KataMac thanks for the encouragement to keep shredding! The idea of 'doing something' is a good one. Will try and incorporate that.
It's averaging 49C at lunchtime just now and it's a wee bit of a trail to the beach. Water temp is 33C the now! Don't think I'l be going out for quite some time

33. Wow! Okinawa, thankfully, has not reached the point yet where the water is not refreshing. By mid-July it will be like taking a warm bath.