1. Spend Your Lunchtime Walking
According to a 2012 study by California State University, people who ran a mile burned an average of 112 calories, but those who simply walked still managed to get through 88.
2. Help a Neighbour
Maybe the old lady down the road is losing the battle against nature in more ways than one, and hasn’t cut the grass for a while. Gardening can burn around 300-400 calories an hour.
3. Spend More Time Upright at Work
Researchers insist that long periods spent in a chair are a contributor to obesity, and Apple CEO Tim Cook described too much chair as “the new cancer”. Stand up a lot. Hold meetings on foot. Buy a standing desk.
4. Try a Workout Video from the Last Century
Perhaps you’re addicted to irony. Perhaps you’ve got a thing for girls in leotards and legwarmers. Perhaps your favourite Jane Fonda movie is Easy Going Workout. You don’t need to apologise for your tastes.
5. Work Out Hard First
Keeping the intensity high during the first half of your workout and taking it easier in the second burns up to 23% more fat than doing the opposite, according to a study from the College of New Jersey.
6. Wear Workout Gear to Bed
If you like to exercise first thing, going to bed in your lovely workout clothes will make it that bit easier to escape the seductive charms of the duvet.
7. Pick a Television Drinking Game
Pick a TV show, such as Soccer Saturday, and turn it into a random workout generator. So whenever Jeff Stelling and co mention Swindon Town, get up and do ten press-ups or 20 lunges.
8. Drink a Mug of Strong Coffee an Hour Before You Exercise
Coffee improves circulation, numbs pain, guards against muscle damage and delivers a major energy boost, so you burn more calories than you would otherwise, says health.com. Experts recommend a highly scientific 6mg of coffee per kg of bodyweight.
9. Every Time You Want a Snack, Go for a Ten-Minute Walk
Ten minutes may even be the length of time you’d spend going to the shop and eating your crisps anyway, so that’s six calories per minute of walking plus all those calories you’re not actually consuming. If you can’t walk right there and then, do it at lunchtime or straight after work.
10. Get a Pedometer
A report in the Journal Of The American Medical Association in 2007 found that just wearing such a device makes people walk 27% more. That 27% equated to around 1.5 kilometres a day, which is worth an 3.5kg loss over the course of a year.
11. Gamify Your Workouts
For the full list of health and fitness shortcuts, check out Coach magazine. To find out where you can grab your free copy, click here.
Fitocracy turns fitness into a social game, with your motivation being the desire to get to the next level. Zombies, Run! plays zombie scenarios through your headphones while you jog, and you have to speed up when they spot you. Teemo combines simple exercises with iPhone adventure games.
