Just walk

That's right, just walk.

If you can’t do any other exercise due to lack of time or whatever, try to walk at least. It’s the most bang for your buck you can get.

If you’re up to it, try to walk briskly.

As a species, we didn’t evolve to sit on our butts all day long; we evolved to be on our feet most of the time.

That’s why walking is so good for you.

Any time you have a choice between using your car to get somewhere and using your feet, use your feet.

No, walking won’t make you ripped or build great muscles. But it’ll have enormous benefits for the functioning of your body overall if you do enough of it. Enough doesn’t have to be a lot.  Just fitting it in around your everyday life can give you 10,000 steps a day which is sufficient (so I’m told) to give you a lot of health benefits).

10,000 steps might sound a lot, but you can easily get to that figure in a normal day just by adopting habits like taking the stairs instead of the lift, getting up from your desk a bit more often, and walking to the shops instead of driving there.

Pavel Tsatsouline (one of the many internet fitness gurus!) was asked what level of fitness the average man should aim for.

His answer: the ability to hike in the mountains for a few hours and do ten pull-ups.

I appreciate that not everyone can get to do ten pull-ups (or even one); and that hiking in mountains for a few hours might be a stretch for many people.

But everyone who is able-bodied can aim to – and achieve – walking more than they do to get the benefit of the undoubted health benefits that it confers.

What are you waiting for?

Stop reading this right now, get out there and walk!

When you get back, take a look at this interview I did with The Walking Dad – and have a read of his Blog for inspiration.

Interview with The Walking Dad