Are you an ‘Active Couch Potato’?

Did you exercise for 30 minutes today but then stay relatively still while sitting for 10+ hours for the rest of the day? If the answer to this is ‘yes’ then according to a recent study in Finland, you meet the criteria for being an ‘Active Couch Potato’.

The study purports that Active Couch Potatoes, despite exercising for 30 minutes each day, may not be moving enough to counteract the potential long term effects of being sedentary. This means that in order to make that 30 minutes of dedicated exercise really count, we need to be moving more throughout the day too. And in fact, the cohort of people who did move more (called ‘The Movers’) doing an hour of exercise a day and light movement throughout the study found their health to be much better than the Active Couch Potatoes.

What is also wonderful is that the the researchers on this study say that making a cup of tea or walking up stairs instead of taking the lift can have a big impact cumulatively.

See, it’s what I keep telling you… it all adds up! Those seated moves while you work: the side-bends, marching on the spot, squatting up and down from you seat, rotating, doing some cat-cows, desk planks, standing lunges, heel lifts while you wait for your coffee, working your shoulders with cactus arms: IT ALL COUNTS!

Pop on top of this the fact that all this type of movement also has a positive impact on your energy levels, mood, stress levels, posture and how your muscles feel then it should be a no brainer.

Do you need to move more throughout the day? As a MAYD member you get access to over 100 seated/standing videos of varying duration and focus, well as live classes eahc week. I also send out a weekly newsletter to remind you to move with videos of the week and tips so there’s no excuse.

This membership is available to individuals and businesses. Click below for more info.