Quarter of adults in England "get less than half hour of exercise a week"

One in four adults in England get less than 30 minutes of exercise a week, with women more likely to be inactive, a report shows.

NHS Digital’s annual review of obesity in England also found high levels of obesity among adults and children, with only around a quarter of adults eating the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

Twenty six per cent of all adults were classified as inactive (undertaking fewer than 30 minutes of physical activity a week), with women more likely to be inactive (27%) than men (24%).

People who are long-term unemployed or who have never worked are most likely not to take exercise (37%), compared with 17% of those in professional and managerial jobs.

Almost a third of people in South Tyneside, Leicester, Barking and Dagenham and Rochdale are deemed to be inactive, while the lowest rates of inactivity were found in Wokingham (13%) and Brighton and Hove (14%), the report said.

In 2015, 58% of women and 68% of men in England were overweight or obese. Obesity has risen from 15% of adults in 1993 to 27% in 2015.

The prevalence of morbid obesity has more than tripled since 1993, affecting 2% of men and 4% of women in 2015.

The report also revealed high numbers of overweight children, with more than one in five in reception class (aged four to five) being overweight or obese in 2015-16, rising to more than one in three for children in year 6.

On Thursday, Public Health England (PHE) published new voluntary targets for the food industry to reduce sugar levels by 20% by 2020 in nine categories of food popular with children.

The NHS Digital report found that only 26% of adults ate the recommended five portions of fruit or vegetables a day in 2015: 47% of men and 42% of women ate fewer than three portions a day. But 52% of 15-year-olds said they hit the recommended five a day.

The data also showed there were 525,000 hospital admissions in England in 2015-16 where obesity was recorded as a factor. Two in three patients, or 67%, were female.

The data revealed, too, that 6,438 weight-loss surgical procedures were carried out.

A spokesman for the Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of more than 40 health charities, campaign groups and medical colleges, said: “As waistlines increase, so do the chances of developing life-threatening conditions like Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer, putting further strain on our already overstretched health service.

“This data is a stark reminder of exactly why we need measures like the sugar reduction programme and the soft drinks industry levy to help create a healthier environment for all.”

Dr Justin Varney, Public Health England’s national lead for adult health and wellbeing, said: “We need many more adults and children to be more physically active. Little and often makes a big difference – just 10 minutes extra walking each day can improve a person’s health and their overall quality of life.”

Chris Allen, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Being inactive can dramatically increase your risk of having a deadly heart attack or stroke.

“But the good news is that it’s never too late to start being more active, which can help you control your weight, reduce blood pressure and cholesterol and improve your mental health.

“The recommended 150 minutes of physical activity a week may seem like a lot, but you can break it down into 10-minute sessions and gradually build up.”

Quarter of adults in England "get less than half hour of exercise a week"

Tipping point: revealing the cities where exercise does more harm than good

Who says exercise is always good for you? Cycling to work in certain highly polluted cities could be more dangerous to your health than not doing it at all, according to researchers.

In cities such as Allahabad in India, or Zabol in Iran, the long-term damage from inhaling fine particulates could outweigh the usual health gains of cycling after just 30 minutes. In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this tipping point happens after just 45 minutes a day cycling along busy roads. In Delhi or the Chinese city of Xingtai, meanwhile, residents pass what the researchers call the “breakeven point” after an hour. Other exercise with the same intensity as cycling – such as slow jogging – would have the same effect.

“If you are beyond the breakeven point, you may be doing yourself more harm than good,” said Audrey de Nazelle, a lecturer in air pollution management at Imperial College’s Centre for Environmental Policy, and one of the authors of the report.

The study, originally published in the journal Preventive Medicine before the World Health Organization’s latest global estimates, modelled the health effects of active travel and of air pollution. They measured air quality through average annual levels of PM2.5s, the tiny pollutant particles that can embed themselves deep in the lungs. This type of air pollution can occur naturally – from dust storms or forest fires, for example – but is mainly created by motor vehicles and manufacturing.

People cycle in heavy smog in Beijing. Photograph: Imaginechina/Rex/Shutterstock

Breathing polluted air has been linked to infections including pneumonia, ischemic heart disease, stroke and some cancers. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Burden of Disease study ranks it among the top risk factors for loss of health.

The report in Preventive Medicine assumed cyclists moved at speeds of 12/14kph, with health benefits calculated in a similar way to the WHO’s Heat assessment tool. It also assumed cyclists used roads with double the background levels of air pollution, which may underestimate how poor air quality is in many developing world cities: for example, a study in Lagos found five out of eight sites exceeded Delhi’s annual PM2.5 concentration.

People commuting to work along busy roads in a city with average annual background PM2.5 levels of 160 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m³) or above will pass the breakeven point at just 30 minutes a day, the study found. Using the WHO’s latest global estimates, published in May, those levels are only reached in Zabor, and in Allahabad and Gwalior in India – although many large cities in the developing world do not accurately measure air pollution so were not included in the WHO database.

Breakven point for different levels of cycling and air pollution

Fifteen cities (see map above and table below) have annual mean PM2.5 levels of 115μg/m³ or above, according to the WHO data, so the breakeven point is reached after an hour of active travel. Fine particulate levels above 80μg/m³ were found in 62 cities, making cycling more harmful than beneficial after two hours.

The study found people in western cities such as London, Paris or New York would never reach the point where PM2.5 air pollution’s negatives outweigh exercise’s positives in the long term.

“The benefits of active travel outweighed the harm from air pollution in all but the most extreme air pollution concentrations,” said Nazelle. “It is not currently an issue for healthy adults in Europe in general.”

London’s annual average PM2.5 pollution was estimated at 15μg/m³ by the WHO – above the WHO’s guideline of 10, but still at a level at which the study estimated active travel would always be beneficial. Paris had ambient PM2.5 levels of 18μg/m³, while New York had 9μg/m³.

However, the study did not consider the health impacts of short-term spikes in PM2.5 pollution, or take into account the effect of exercising in air containing larger PM10 particulates, ozone, or toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx) from diesel cars.

London mayor Sadiq Khan issued his first “very high” air pollution alert last month when air in the UK capital hit the maximum score of 10 on the Air Quality Index, equivalent to PM10 in excess of 101μg/m³. NOx pollution causes 5,900 early deaths a year in the city, and most air quality zones across Britain break legal limits.

“This is the highest level of alert and everyone – from the most vulnerable to the physically fit – may need to take precautions to protect themselves from the filthy air,” Khan warned.

Air pollution – cities where harm from exercise outweighs benefits – table

Guardian Cities is dedicating a week to investigating one of the worst preventable causes of death around the world: air pollution. Explore our coverage at The Air We Breathe and follow Guardian Cities on Twitter and Facebook to join the discussion

Tipping point: revealing the cities where exercise does more harm than good

Getting Your Family’s Health On Track With Good Old Diet and Exercise

Getting Your Family’s Health On Track With Good Old Diet and Exercise

Weekend warriors: why a two-day blitz is as good as a week’s steady exercise

Name: Weekend warriors.

Age: You’re as young/old as you feel.

Appearance: Saturdays and Sundays.

Is this a battle re-enactment thing? Are people still doing that? Or have they all become preppers now? We should all become preppers now. But no. Weekend warriors are people who don’t exercise all week and then go nuts with it at the weekend.

That doesn’t sound wise. Experts agree with you. At least, they did until this week.

Really? How come? New research from Loughborough University appears to show that cramming all your exercise into two days has almost as much effect when it comes to lowering your risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and death as spreading it out over the week.

Wow. First they change the recommendation about when to give babies peanuts, now this. I’m starting to feel a bit Govian about experts. Never go Govian. Channel Victoria Wood instead and hope that, if you hang around long enough, someone will put in a good word for wine gums.

Are they seriously saying that a two-day blitz is as good as a week’s steady exercise? That’s what this study of 63,000 adults between 1994 and 2012 suggests.

Crikey. It also found that the benefits of doing either is clear, even if you don’t meet the recommended overall amount of 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week.

Does scrolling through Netflix count, by any chance? No.

I sometimes have to do it for a really long time. There’s nothing on. Still no.

By the time I’ve settled for Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 again, my arm can ache like I’ve been doing pull-ups. NO.

Fine. It’s still good news. Yes. That said, the study’s senior author points out that, “for optimal health benefits from physical activity, it is always advisable to meet and exceed the physical activity recommendations”.

Actually, I think I’m just going to hang around here a bit longer waiting for news about wine gums. I feel as though we’re on a roll. As you and your furry arteries wish.

Do say: “I’m off to the gym!”

Don’t say: “Can you bring me a Wagon Wheel from the vending machine when you come back? Thanks.”

Weekend warriors: why a two-day blitz is as good as a week’s steady exercise

"I exercise a lot but drink a bit too much": middle-aged readers" health fears

The government has launched a new health drive aimed at 40- to 60-year-olds, 83% of whom are either overweight, drink too much or are physically inactive.

With its One You campaign, Public Health England wants to help middle-aged people stay in shape. It says aspects of modern life – such as sedentary lifestyles and the consumption of junk food – are bad for our health, but it is those in middle age who are suffering the consequences most.

We asked our readers what they thought of the campaign and whether they had any concerns about their own lifestyles. Here’s what you told us.

Caroline, 58, from Essex: ‘There’s no incentive to lose weight when everyone you see is bigger than you’

I feel like I am generally in good health despite having an underactive thyroid and high cholesterol (I take medication for both these things). My weight is creeping up, however, which aggravates my arthritic knee – the legacy of a motorcycle accident in my 20s. My New Year resolution is to do more walking. I’ve got borderline osteoporosis, a condition that weakens bones, so know it’s important to build bone density, but having a desk job makes this hard.

I know I am overweight at 5ft 4in and 11st, but a lot of people are bigger than me and tell me I am “slim”. My clothes size has not changed over the years: I still wear a size 12, the same as when I was a teenager. There is no incentive to lose weight if nearly everyone you see is bigger than you.

I doubt that the One You campaign will make much of a difference. We all know we should eat healthier, be active and drink and smoke less but how many people who don’t do this already will really be bothered to change?

Kevin Varney, 49, from Reading: ‘I exercise a lot, but drink a bit too much’

My health is pretty good at the moment. My body mass index is not much over 25. I exercise quite a lot, but I drink a bit too much. I probably drink about 14 pints, sometimes a small bottle of wine and two or three mixer tins – for example, of gin and tonic – a week.

I do worry about it a bit. If I am socialising with friends, that will involve drinking, but if I am on my own at the weekend, I will drink too. However, I am suspicious of medical guidelines. I suspect there is a puritanical element or a wide safety margin in them. I suspect the government would like to ban alcohol altogether if they could.

I am surprised by the rates of inactivity reported recently – it should be possible to fit in some exercise while working. You can cycle to work, jog over lunch or head to the gym in the evening. I suspect a lot of people just hate exercise. I don’t think a campaign to change this will help. People are constantly being told they are too fat and don’t take enough exercise. Telling them again won’t make much difference.

Gita Bapat, 51, from London: ‘Long working and commuting hours make it harder to stay in shape’

I’ve never smoked (inherited asthma) and am a moderate drinker – around 5-6 units a week – but I am about 1st overweight. This is my main concern as I am quite vain. I have dogs and walk them most days for around an hour and a half. I am also trying to start running again. When I lived in Paris I ran 25km a week. My goal is to run 5km three times a week.

Modern lifestyles – long working and commuting hours – make it harder to stay in shape, as do care obligations, such as looking after children and older people. It’s easy to feel a sense of hopelessness if one cannot live up to the unrealistic and Photoshopped standards of people portrayed in the media.

Medi Parry, 59, from north Wales: ‘I want to be active, self-sufficient and healthy as I get older’

We are living longer and I don’t want to be one of those elderly women who can’t do anything for themselves. I want to enjoy as much life as possible with my daughters and their families. I am an independent heritage consultant and want to keep working for as long as I can. I want to be active, self-sufficient and healthy as I age. I try to keep fit but hate the gym. I like to cycle but there are no cycle paths near where I live. I exercise by using the stairs where possible. I also jog in the kitchen while I’m waiting for the kettle to boil and go to a Zumba class once a week.

It’s not just modern lifestyles that make it hard to stay fit. The easy availability of high-calorie food also makes it difficult. Chocolates, sweets, pizzas and takeaways – they’re all too easy to get hold of and it’s hard not to eat them when you’ve been working hard all week. Our love of the internet means that we sit down for hours on end to engage with it; work is far more internet-based now and so more of us are tied to our desks for hours.

I’m not sure whether this campaign will work, it depends how it’s done. GPs find it difficult to broach the subject of weight with their patients as they mostly respond negatively (I have GP friends who confirm this – one has been reported for having “offended” his patient). It’s a good idea to flag up this research, and a preventative campaign should be more cost-effective than dealing with the long-term consequences of obesity in old age. However, I’m sceptical of the impact of this campaign unless it is backed up by some sort of legislation. The NHS has been running smoking cessation campaigns for decades but smoking has only really lessened following the ban in public areas.

Alex Dean, 40, from Kent: ‘I try not to drink during the week but usually buy a bottle of red on Friday’

I don’t worry about my health but I do limit the amount I drink, I exercise and only eat healthy low-sugar foods. I don’t think modern lifestyles are to blame for the rise in obesity. I have two young kids, work in an office and have a minimum 15-hour commute each week but still find the time to exercise. It is a state of mind.

I have always been aware of my health and enjoyed walking and climbing, but last year I stepped it up and did my first triathlon. Having a date set for that (I gave myself six months to train) really helped me achieve my goal. Also taking on three new sports, especially swimming, was really beneficial – I gained a lot from the learning process. I loved completing the triathlon and have already booked myself into a longer one for next year. Again having “an event” was something to aim for. I regularly got out and trained.

I am not sure whether the campaign will work but it’s good to try something. I also believe schools play a big role and we need to educate on the importance of fitness from a young age.

I try not to drink during the week but usually buy a bottle of red on Friday. I drink it over Friday and Saturday night. Not having drink in the house for the rest of the week makes it easier to manage for me. I’ve managed to cut down by knowing my wife does not like it if I am drunk or drinking too much. I also think it would negatively affect my health and motivation if I drank more.

"I exercise a lot but drink a bit too much": middle-aged readers" health fears

Should I exercise if my muscles are sore? You asked Google - here’s the answer | Max Bridger

Muscle soreness is something many people experience for a couple of days after exercising. When the activity has been particularly intense or you’ve been unusually inactive beforehand, it can even last as long as five days. This ache is often referred to as Doms (delayed onset muscle soreness), and this annoying pain can cause people to avoid training and exercise until it has completely subsided, for fear of injury or intensifying the soreness. Luckily – or maybe unluckily – you needn’t wrap yourself in cotton wool or avoid all activity until you feel 100% again.

Before we go further into the creaky, sweary and achy world of aerobic- and weight training-induced Doms, it is important to note that you should be careful with very severe and localised bouts of muscle pain following exercise. Pain emanating from a focused area of the muscle can be a symptom of a muscle tear, which could have been missed if you are very competitive, determined, have a high pain threshold, or were simply aching equally everywhere and nearing the end of some particularly gruelling activity. If the localised pain is accompanied by bruising or swelling or you’re worried, it would be wise to stop and seek medical advice.

‘Muscle ache will be more severe towards the beginning of a new exercise regime; such as a weights workout plan.’ Photograph: Alamy

Sometimes the post-exercise pain encompasses the entire muscle group – as you may have experienced after weights or a challenging class – in which case you should ensure you warm up fully before your next bout of training. The pain may impede your ability to assume correct posture, suitable technique and safe practices, which will increase your risk of injury. So it’s important to take the correct precautions, such as warming up, stretching, cooling down, and extra rest periods.

Most commonly, muscle ache will be more severe towards the beginning of a new exercise regime; such as a weights workout plan or resistance class in the gym, or even the start of a new rugby or football season. This is because your body is not conditioned to the intensity or duration of the activity, and most likely you won’t use a full and proper cool-down period. When time to exercise is scarce, this is the bit we all have a tendency to skip. To reduce the inevitable Doms, increased frequency of training, and even a reduced volume of repetitions in regards to weights specifically, will help. Your fitness and conditioning will improve as you become used to the activity and increase your fitness. Reducing the volume of reps (repetitions) per muscle group, but hitting the muscle two to three times per week across more sessions, will allow for better recovery, less ache and more efficient progress towards your goals.

Muscle soreness can be caused by small micro-tears in the muscles, and/or the build-up of byproducts of intense activity such as lactic acid and calcium, which can be reduced with a proper cool-down period. These tiny tears to the muscle cells are nothing to be worried about; they are what cause your muscles to grow and repair (in combination with good nutrition and sufficient rest), making the muscles stronger and bigger over time. In the majority of cases, muscle soreness should not be a cause for concern and shouldn’t stop you training, rather it simply serves as a reminder that you need to:

• cool down and stretch after intense periods of cardiovascular activity;

• ensure your nutrition (including hydration) is up to scratch;

• increase your fitness, which is likely to improve as the season or regime you’ve started progresses;

• consider training more muscle groups per session, and multiple times per week, rather than a one-muscle group such as a biceps or a chest day – where too much volume is used, resulting in debilitating muscle soreness, and no extra progress for the pain.

Muscle soreness should lessen as you become used to the volume, intensity and duration of exercise, so you should only have to train while aching for the first couple of weeks of a fitness programme. Simply ensure you leave around 48 hours between training the same body part twice with weights to allow the muscles to fully recover before you hit your next session.

‘Cool down and stretch after intense periods of cardiovascular activity.’ Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Equally, in the same way that you shouldn’t stop training because you still have Doms, you shouldn’t label a workout as ineffective because you don’t experience severe muscle aches afterwards. This pain differs in intensity from person to person, and will lessen over time as you get used to the exercise. It does not have a correlation to muscle growth or improved fitness.

The best advice when weighing up whether or not to train with sore muscles is to listen to your body and distinguish between muscle ache, general fatigue (physical and mental) and an actual injury. If there is swelling and bruising around the site of pain or you’re worried, there may be some damage, so cease any activity that aggravates the area and seek medical advice. If your workout is extremely laboured even with a warm-up then consider training another part of your body or performing a non-weight bearing form of exercise instead – swimming, cycling or rowing.

Should I exercise if my muscles are sore? You asked Google - here’s the answer | Max Bridger

18 Magical Ways To Lose Weight Without Exercise

18 Magical Ways To Lose Weight Without Exercise

Doctors "know too little about nutrition and exercise"

Most doctors are ill-equipped to tackle Britain’s growing epidemic of lifestyle-related diseases because they know worryingly little about how nutrition and exercise can improve health, a group of prominent medics has claimed.

“There is a lack of knowledge and understanding of the basic evidence for the impact of nutrition and physical activity on health among the overwhelming majority of doctors. This has its roots in the lack of early formal training,” they state in a letter to the Medical Schools Council (MSC) and General Medical Council (GMC).

They warn that the government’s ambition to prevent tens of thousands of premature deaths from heart disease and cancer by 2020 will fail without a radical overhaul of how the 8,000 young people a year who start at medical school are educated about lifestyles and health.

Backers of that call include Sir Richard Thompson, ex-president of the Royal College of Physicians, Professor Chris Oliver of Edinburgh University, Dr David Haslam, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, and Dr Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist and health campaigner.

They want the MSC, which represents the UK’s 34 publicly funded university medical schools, “to support the introduction of evidence-based lifestyle education, including basic training in nutrition and the impact of physical activity on health and chronic disease into all medical curricula”. All of Britain’s 250,000 doctors should also receive the same education and training to improve their ability to help patients with conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, they say.

Haslam, who is a GP, said that, just as it is unthinkable that medical schools would not teach students about cancer, so “it is equally unthinkable that overweight and obesity are ignored by [medical] educational bodies; a situation that cannot continue if unnecessary deaths and illnesses are to be avoided”, he said.

Oliver said that, in a recent study of Edinburgh University medical students, just 14.9% knew how much exercise the UK chief medical officers recommended that adults should take in order to boost their health. Fewer than 10% felt adequately trained to give patients advice on physical activity, and more than 90% said they would like more training on it.

Katie Petty-Saphon, the MSC’s chief executive, said that “areas such as unhealthy lifestyles will require greater emphasis” in medical training in the near future if the doctors of tomorrow were to be fully trained to handle the rising toll of disease related to bad diet, alcohol and smoking. It wants the GMC, which regulates doctors, to increase the priority given to nutrition and exercise when it next reviews its guidelines to medical schools on what they should be teaching.

Doctors "know too little about nutrition and exercise"

Can Exercise Help Improve Posture?

Poor posture is a problem we’re all aware of but something that we rarely do anything about.

Long periods of sitting, looking down at your phone, laying on the couch in all sorts of positions.

It’s no wonder our posture is so bad.

When it comes to posture it’s just accepted that we are the way we are.

But does it have to be like that?

What Does Exercise Even Mean

Everyone takes the word exercise to mean different things.

As a health practitioner, I hear people describe exercises in so many ways. From stretching and running to gym, yoga and pilates, everyone has a different definition to what they classify as exercise.

Lucky for you, exercise is a combination of all these things put together to get the best changes in terms of your posture.

How does Exercise Improve Posture

Exercise is something we all know we need to do but never get around to finding the time to do it.

Unfortunately, because of the way you hold your body over extended periods of time, your joints and muscles start learning specific movement patterns to compensate for the position you keep your body in.

If you’re sitting at your desk for 2-3 hours at a time day after day with your neck craned towards the screen and your shoulders and back slumped forward, does it really come as much of a surprise when your posture looks the way it does?

The worst part is, it’s not something that happens over a few weeks or months. It’s something you’ve taught your body to do over multiple years.

Exercise begins to change the interaction of the muscles affecting your posture so you can re-teach your body what good posture is.

• Stretching 

While most people take stretching for granted its one of the easiest things you can do to help start changing your posture.

As your posture begins to change there are muscles which are commonly known to become overactive and take up the slack for other muscles which tend to become weaker.

It is these weak muscles which cause the change in your posture and the overactive muscles that keep it there.

Stretching can help reduce the build up of tension in these overactive muscles and reduce the likelihood of pain coming on because of this tension.

• Strengthening and Rehabilitation

It’s very difficult to strengthen a weak muscle when there is an overactive muscle still at work.

I’m sure you’ve heard the hype about strengthening your core to help hold your body in better posture. This is all very helpful information, but when there are muscular imbalances that have developed, weak muscles should only be addressed after overactive muscles dysfunctions have been corrected.

Strengthening and rehabilitation through specific movements can help to correct poor patterns that you have taught your body over time. Strengthening increases the ability of your weaker muscles to cope with the load you add to your body when you do things such as sitting or standing for long periods.

What Can you Do To Improve Your Posture

Stretching and strengthing come from different avenues. When it comes to posture correction visiting a health professional should always be your first step.

A health therapist such a physiotherapist or chiropractor can help improve your poor posture. They can also provide you with an exercise program and advice about which areas of your body need work to change your posture.

Whether it be through running or specific weight training at the gym, or yoga and pilates to stretch tight muscles and increase strength all are beneficial exercises to improve posture.

What exercises do you do help your posture? Let us know in the comments section below.

Can Exercise Help Improve Posture?

Do you spend a lot on fitness? Seven people reveal their exercise budget

The latest sportswear, healthy cookbooks, Fitbits, apps and after-work classes – exercise and wellbeing is big business these days. Consumer spending on UK gym membership soared by 44% in 2015 and sales of sportswear grew by by 9.5% in 2014. So how much do you spend staying in shape?

We asked readers about their monthly fitness (including sportswear, health food etc) and weekly exercise spend, calling for people to reveal how much they were willing to pay. We also asked for stories of people who manage to exercise on next to nothing. We received 473 responses. Here are some excerpts from the comments we received, condensed and edited for clarity.

Sian Melonie, 32, from London: ‘I spent more than £1,000 on a juice retreat’

Spend on exercise a week: £37.50
Spend on fitness per month: £25
Hours spent exercising: 15

Sian Melonie: ‘Most pressure to be fit comes from my parents – my mum, sister and step-mum all worry about their looks’

I have a Classpass which lets me access a variety of fitness classes around London. So with this pass you pay £110 a month and you get access to lots of different fitness sessions – you can attend three a month at each studio and it’s a rolling contract so I set myself a goal of doing 20 to 25 a month. It ends up being better value than wasted gym membership. The most I have ever spent on exercise was more than £1,000 for a week at a juice retreat.

I used to go for cheaper alternatives, such as running and going to cheaper gyms, but it didn’t seem to really work. ClassPass allows me to mix it up and do different exercises to challenge my body. I’ve never struggled with my finances because of the cost of exercise but I have spent a lot in the past.

In terms of other fitness spending I buy good quality food as I prefer to put unprocessed foods in my body. I also spend lots on clothes. Most pressure to be fit comes from my parents – they may not appreciate that but my mum, sister and stepmum all worry about their looks. However, the rise of Instagram and Facebook also adds to this. Knowing that l am doing something about it and getting stronger with each class that l do takes the pressure off me feeling bad about myself – knowing I am working towards a goal makes me feel better about myself. I have lost inches from my waist and I am more focused on toning up than losing weight. I am also much stronger and can do planks, burpees and press-ups.

Kelly, 50, from London: ‘The fact I know I will lose money if I don’t see my personal trainer helps to motivate me’

Spend on exercise a week: £200
Spend on fitness a month: £1,000
Hours spent exercising: eight

I have a personal trainer twice a week , a tennis class once a week and I go to group lessons too. I am also a member of a tennis and golf country club, which is about £200 a month. The combination of playing tennis and going to the gym has been good for my body. I have always been into fitness but recently I’ve got better at doing exercises that specifically help me as a tennis player.

Having someone there helps to motivate me and pushes me more

Kelly

If I could pay less on exercise then that would be great. I guess if I didn’t go to such an expensive club I could save. I could also maybe not have a personal trainer twice a week, but have it once instead. I just find it hard on my own. I always think next month I will do just one personal training session a week, but that never quite happens. Having someone there helps to motivate me and pushes me more. It depends on your personality but, for me, having someone there waiting for me and the fact that I will lose money if I don’t go means I can’t create excuses for not going.I feel fitter and look leaner and that has an impact on how I feel about myself. There’s also the endorphin release aspect that helps as I tend to have slumps in my mood and working out helps with that.

‘There’s also the endorphin release aspect that helps as I tend to have slumps in my mood.’

Cearon O’Flynn, 34, from Kent: ‘Cycling to work saves me money in petrol each week’

Spend on exercise a week: £15
Spend on fitness a month: £15
Hours spent exercising: 10

Cearon O’Flynn: ‘Exercising saves me money as I don’t have to drive to work.’

My biggest expense is my bike, it was £800, although through the cycle-to-work scheme I’ve paid for it now. I cycle to work; this keeps me fit and saves me about £20 a week on petrol. I then use that bike to cycle more over the weekend. I love cycling because it keeps me healthy, makes me feel comfortable and allows me to run around with my kids. Exercising saves me money as I don’t have to drive to work. This eases my financial burdens.

Tania, 49, from High Wycombe: ‘I spend a significant portion of my household budget on exercise’

Spend on exercise a week: £50 (minimum)
Spend on fitness a month: £300
Hours spent exercising: 12

Tania: ‘My biggest expense is probably on running shoes, but you can’t compromise on quality.’

I pay for quality exercise classes, as well as doing free stuff such as running. My biggest expense is probably on running shoes, but you can’t compromise on quality – I spend about £120 every six months. Physiotherapy is also expensive and I usually get a few sessions when something goes wrong. I do Taekwondo with an excellent instructor; it costs £55 a month but I can train as often as I like. It’s excellent for the body, mind and soul, and great value for money.

I’ve tried doing classes at my gym, which cost £6 a session, but they are usually packed so I don’t get the same level of attention from the instructors. It’s important to do certain exercises, such as pilates, in small groups so you can make the most out of it. I spend a significant portion of my household budget on exercise but I see it as an investment. I spend the money to be healthy and set a good example to my kids. It’s also a great way to socialise too.

Sam Thompson, 24, from York: ‘It’s very enjoyable to cycle everywhere, and it’s cheap’

Spend on exercise a week: £0
Spend on fitness a month: £0
Hours spent exercising: eight

My biggest exercise expense is probably bike maintenance; I’ll spend on average a few hundred pounds a year on tyres, chains, cassettes, brake pads, new cables, etc. I think I’m about as cheap as it’s possible to be – if I were to spend the same time running, I’d probably get through the same cash on shoes.

Cycling. My bike doesn’t tell me how many calories I’ve burned, but humans have managed for millennia without knowing whether they’ve burnt off that extra slice of cake (though admittedly, we’ve spent millennia without the option of an extra slice of cake). Seeing the English countryside and fresh air is far more enjoyable than labouring in the identikit gym down the road with all the other sweaty people. It’s very enjoyable to cycle everywhere, and it has the positive side-effect that it keeps me healthy.

Not owning a car makes using a bike for everything sound a lot better value. Cycling everywhere costs about half what I’d spend on insurance each year.

Daniel Coleman, 41, from Bracknell: ‘I hired a personal trainer when I was 40 and going through mid-life stuff’

Spend on exercise a week: £5
Spend on fitness a month: £50
Hours spent exercising: five

Daniel Coleman: ‘I got the running bug after doing an obstacle course and have really got into it this year.’

I generally run to keep fit – I run about 5km every day after work and have a budget gym membership. I have set a little challenge for myself this month to run every day but I used to run three times a week. It’s something I’ve discovered this year and before that I had a personal trainer and cycled to work. I hired a personal trainer when I hit 40; I was going through some mid-life stuff, but after having him for a year I gained the confidence to train on my own.

I got the running bug after doing an obstacle course and have really got into it this year. I like how quick and easy running is, and it doesn’t take up much of my day doing it. I am very motivated by goals, so I set myself the target of running 5km in under 24 minutes this year. I mix cheaper activities (eg running in the woods) and more expensive stuff (eg a personal training session) depending on mood. I don’t spend much else on fitness, except I occasionally treat myself to a brand of top.

Clare Riley, 56, from London: ‘I should probably just cancel my gym membership but I keep it as a safety net’

Spend on exercise a week: £75
Spend on fitness a month: £25
Hours spent exercising: three

I do an hour with a personal trainer a week and two bootcamp classes that I pay extra for. I do them locally in London and they are about £12 to £13 each. I haven’t always been into fitness, but when I reached 50 I concentrated on it more as your metabolism slows down, etc. I do spend a lot compared to some people, but it works for me.

I also have gym membership, which costs me £25 a month. I don’t go to the classes at the gym as much though as the standard of tuition isn’t great. I should probably just cancel my gym membership altogether but I keep it as a safety net and sometimes go to pilates there.

What I spend is fair in terms of the market rate and my trainer is very good. The boot camp also gives me a good level of cardio fitness, so it really does make a difference. As you get older, it gets more important to stay healthy. I don’t want to go into old age not being mobile and getting out of breath easily. I want to stay in shape for as long as possible.

Dan, 44, from Bristol: ‘It’s not always easy to pay for it all, but what bigger priority is there than health?’

Spend on exercise a week: £100
Spend on fitness a month: £400
Hours spent exercising: four

I have a personal trainer and gym membership. I also spend monthly on clothes, healthy food and race entry fees. Surely the reason why people spend so much on exercise is because there isn’t an alternative. Lots of us would spend two hours a day running or cycling if we could, but we are all in offices for most of the day. I mean, for six months of the year it’s dark when you leave work so going to the gym is the easy option. On weekends it’s also hard to find the time to exercise outdoors because I want to spend time with my family. I’d rather spend Saturday morning with my four-year-old than training. It’s not always easy to pay for it all, but what bigger priority is there than health? We all come alive when we make a hard physical effort, it’s in our genes.

Do you spend a lot on fitness? Seven people reveal their exercise budget

The Science Behind Skeletal Muscle Memory and Exercise

Imagine that you are a marathon runner, an Olympic swimmer or a professional football player for the NFL. (This shouldn’t be too hard to do as most of us have dreamed about this at one point or another in our lives.)

You train for months and months and even years to run a marathon, swim in the Olympics or play professional football. You train for hours and hours in the weight room, on the field or swimming laps. After years of this consistent training routine, you’re ready for that race or game.

After the event is over, you take a few months off. You rest up and help your body repair before beginning your next training session. After nine months of “rest”, you jump back into the weight room or dive in the pool.

Your muscles should be able to pick right up where they left off, right? Maybe not…

Do Muscles Retain Memory?

We all know the main benefits of exercise: fat and weight loss, building and toning muscle, lowering cholesterol and the risks for other diseases. However, there are also some little-known facts and benefits of exercise that make a big impact, such as improved cognitive functions, reduced depression and anxiety symptoms, sleep quality and even skeletal muscle function.

Although the benefits of exercise are seemingly endless, scientists and medical researchers are still puzzled with just how much regular and consistent exercise positively impacts skeletal muscle functions, and particularly the memory of muscle functions.

In fact, studies have shown that high-intensity and regular, consistent training results in many physiological, structural, biochemical, and transcriptional changes, although many of these changes aren’t permanent after a period of rest from training.

In contrast, other research has shown that regular, consistent, and repetitive exercise and training is often lost if and when an individual stops exercising, leading to the theory that skeletal muscles don’t retain memory.

What the Studies Show

A medical research team at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden studied the impact of endurance training on the physiological, structural, biochemical, and transcriptional changes of skeletal muscle memory in endurance and high-intensity training.

As a part of the study, researchers recruited 23 individuals to participate in the study over a three-month period and a nine-month period respectively.

The first three-month training period, one leg underwent significant training. After nine months of careful study, 12 out of the 23 participants participated in a second training that involved training both legs.

After performing a biopsy from both legs before and after each training session, it was concluded that muscle cells represented approximately 3400 genes differently as a result of endurance, training, and exercise.

Data Analysis and Discovery

The data output and analysis of this study showed that the outcome of the performance tests conducted were collected at different points throughout the study. The trained leg that went through training through both time periods was compared with the untrained leg.

Although there were a number of transcriptional changes as a direct result and impact of exercise, after a nine-month period of no training or exercise, those specific exercise and training-induced differences were no longer present in the trained and untrained legs, leading medical researchers and biologists to believe that skeletal muscle cannot retain memory.

Authors of the study explain, “Although there were several differences in the physiological and transcriptional responses to repeated training, no coherent evidence of an endurance training-induced transcriptional skeletal muscle memory was found.”

Nothing Tastes as Good as GENES Feel…

Skeletal muscle is highly adaptable to different environments and conditions, such as regular, consistent endurance and even high-intensity training. In the study discussed, as well as many others, individuals who participate in regular exercise have a particular gene present in their skeletal muscle tissue.

The presence of this gene has piqued researchers’ interest levels, and their studies and persistent research have shown that this gene can be regulated with different variations of training.

This conclusion also shows that the presence of this gene is also associated with proteins, which are also present in the post-training skeletal muscle tissue.

Regular and consistent exercise actually changes the activity of the gene, promoting the development and presence of new proteins. Now, you would think that the proteins released by the gene would remain dominant and present even throughout a rest period, or a period without consistent training. However, studies are showing quite the opposite…

Anyone trying to get on the weight loss and fitness train have likely heard the motivating quote, “Nothing feels as good as skinny feels” to help them maintain discipline in eating right, dieting, and exercise. And although those skinny “genes” feel great after months and months of rigorous, highly intensive training, we may understand just really what happens with our “genes” when we give up exercise.

If we give up on exercise and forget all of our hard work and diets, those skinny “genes” become a distant memory – both on the inside and the outside.

In the End, We Are All Different…

Although extensive studies and research have been dedicated to the study we outlined above, the truth is that a global study has yet to be conducted. With that fact to consider, it is possible that other individuals who follow the same training and endurance track followed by a long-term period of rest may find that their muscles do “remember” a training sequence, making it easier to pick back up where they left off.

However, there is also a lack of studies and research that thoroughly investigate the results of consistent, regular training in the same individual.

All in all, these situations have gained the interest of medical researchers, biologists, and scientists, and we can certainly expect to see more time, information, and long-term research being dedicated to this theory.

The Science Behind Skeletal Muscle Memory and Exercise

Exercise can cut risk from alcohol-related diseases, study suggests

Drinkers who do the recommended amount of exercise can reduce their risk of dying from alcohol-related cancer, according to new medical research.

Undertaking two and a half hours a week of physical activity can also reduce, but not banish, someone’s chances of dying from any cause, according to the study of 36,370 British patients.

The findings, published on Wednesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that: “Stratified analysis showed that the association between alcohol intake and mortality risk was attenuated (all-cause) or nearly nullified (cancer) among individuals who met the physical activity recommendations.”

The authors added: “Meeting the current physical activity public health recommendations offsets some of the cancer and all-cause mortality risk associated with alcohol drinking.”

The study, by academics in London, Canada, Norway and Australia, examined the health of men and women over the age of 40 who had provided data for six editions of the Health Survey for England up to 2006, and the 1998 and 2003 editions of the Scottish Health Survey.

“In this large British general population cohort we found that the association between alcohol intake and mortality risk was moderated by physical activity,” says the study.

The researchers found that risk of death from either cause increased more slowly among Britons who followed the government-backed advice and did five lots of moderate-intensity exercise a week than those who undertook less physical activity, although the effect was more noticeable for cancer.

Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of statistics at the Open University, said: “Does this mean that I don’t have to worry about the effect of drinking on my health, as long as I get enough exercise? Well, no, it doesn’t, for a long list of reasons.”

McConway advised caution. “It’s possible the changes in risk patterns in people who exercised were not because of the exercise, but because of something else that just happened to be different.”

Matt Field, professor of psychology at Liverpool University, said the “rigorous piece of research” showed that “it appears that physical activity may partially offset some of the harmful effects of drinking, particularly alcohol-attributable cancers”.

The findings have prompted calls for fitness trainers to work in pubs to encourage drinkers to be more active.

“From our Let’s Get Moving physical activity initiative, we’ve seen the benefits of linking exercise professionals to GP surgeries to improve the health of at-risk patients. This research suggests we should look at similar measures in pubs to help engage harder-to-reach sections of society in physical activity,” said Steven Ward, executive director of ukactive, which represents the exercise industry.

“This research might sound like great news for Sunday league footballers everywhere, but as the recently updated chief medical officer’s guidelines show, excessive drinking remains a major health risk,” Field added.

However, the researchers found that 27.5% of the patients studied took no exercise at all and almost 61% did not achieve the target of 150 minutes a week.

Nonetheless, the authors believe their findings show that physical activity can promote good health and reduce at least some of the associated harmful effects of drinking, even among those who do no more than the minimum 150 minutes. “Our results provide an additional argument for the role of [physical activity] as a means to promote the health of the population even in the presence of other less healthy behaviours,” they say.

Exercise can cut risk from alcohol-related diseases, study suggests

7 Reasons We Are Fatter than 3 Decades Ago (It’s Not Food or Exercise)

7 Reasons We Are Fatter than 3 Decades Ago (It’s Not Food or Exercise)

THIS Will Happen If You Do Plank Exercise Every Day

THIS Will Happen If You Do Plank Exercise Every Day

WHO"s recommended level of exercise too low to beat disease – study

Higher levels of physical activity can achieve bigger reductions in the risk of five common chronic diseases, but only if people engage in levels far above the recommended minimum exertion, a study has suggested.

An analysis of 174 studies found that gardening, household chores and more strenuous activities, when done in sufficient quantities, were strongly associated with a lower risk of stroke and of contracting breast and bowel cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

But the researchers, from the US and Australia, concluded that for the biggest risk reductions, the level of total physical activity per week should be five to seven times the minimum level recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

At present, the WHO recommends that people conduct at least 600 metabolic equivalent minutes (MET minutes) of physical activity – the equivalent of 150 minutes each week of brisk walking or 75 minutes of running. But the new study suggested most health gains were achieved at 3,000 to 4,000 MET minutes per week.

The lead author, Hmwe Kyu from the University of Washington, said: “Major gains occurred at lower levels of activity. The decrease in risk was minimal at levels higher than 3,000 to 4,000 MET minutes per week.

“A person can achieve 3,000 MET minutes per week by incorporating different types of physical activity into the daily routine – for example, climbing stairs 10 minutes, vacuuming 15 minutes, gardening 20 minutes, running 20 minutes, and walking or cycling for transportation 25 minutes on a daily basis would together achieve about 3,000 MET minutes a week.

Analysing studies published between 1980 and 2016, the researchers found the pattern highlighted was most prominent for ischemic heart disease and diabetes and least prominent for breast cancer. For example, individuals with a total activity level of 600 MET minutes per week had a 2% lower risk of diabetes compared with those reporting no physical activity.

An increase from 600 to 3,600 MET minutes reduced the risk by an additional 19%. The same amount of increase yielded much smaller returns at higher levels of activity.

As the meta-analysis, published in the BMJ on Tuesday, is based on observational research it cannot draw conclusions about cause and effect but the authors say their findings have important public policy implications.

“With population ageing, and an increasing number of cardiovascular and diabetes deaths since 1990, greater attention and investments in interventions to promote physical activity in the general public is required,” they write.

“More studies using the detailed quantification of total physical activity will help to find a more precise estimate for different levels of physical activity.”

Related: Can exercise really reduce the risk of getting cancer?

In a linked editorial, researchers at the University of Strathclyde and the International Prevention Research Institute in Lyon, France, write that the study has importance for the prevention of chronic diseases but point out: “It cannot tell us whether risk reductions would be different with short duration intense physical activity or longer duration light physical activity.”

Dr Oliver Monfredi, clinical lecturer in cardiovascular medicine at Manchester University, praised the research.

“What is clear, in summary, is that in terms of protecting oneself from the development of these five common and potentially life-limiting illnesses, undertaking any level of exercise is protective, more is better, and should be encouraged by healthcare professionals, politicians and charities alike, to decrease the burden of these debilitating illnesses in society today,” he said.

Simon O’Neill, the director of health Intelligence at charity Diabetes UK, said: “It’s important to remember that all activity counts and a good way to increase your physical activity is to simply incorporate it into your daily life – for instance getting off the bus a stop or two earlier or walking to the shops. Also try to discover a physical activity you enjoy doing such as dancing, cycling or gardening. This will make it far easier for you to stick with it as it will become part of your routine.”

WHO"s recommended level of exercise too low to beat disease – study