Hobbies for Exercise – Great Way to Get and Stay Fit No comments yet

We tend to think that in order to “get fit” we need to put on our trainers and Lycra and get jogging, stepping or otherwise forcing ourselves to get hot and sweaty. Some of us do genuinely enjoy these activities and have no problem incorporating them into our daily routines but so many others of us have tried and failed. If you fall into this latter category, don’t despair, there is another way.

When we stop our car engines they stop using fuel and we tend to think that our bodies are the same, that when we stop “exercising” we also stop using fuel; in our case, burning calories. This is not true! Our bodies are biological machines that never switch off. Even sitting reading a book or whilst sleeping we are still burning calories. To use the car analogy, our engine is constantly “idling” and consequently still using up “fuel” even though we are not consciously “exercising”.

How much fuel we are burning depends on our individual metabolic rate as well as how hard our bodies are working, so that whilst sitting after exertion, we are burning fuel faster than if we had been sitting down all day because once we have raised our metabolic rate, it takes a while to return to a lower rate. Lean tissue (muscle) in our bodies, uses more fuel, pound for pound, than fat tissue whilst at rest, so increasing muscle mass increases the amount of fuel we burn even whilst “idling”.

Everything we do, therefore, can be considered to be “exercise” in the sense that calories are being used up and if we think of it in these terms, exercise need not be a chore. Many of the things we do for fun such as gardening, dancing, DIY and even shopping, that we don’t usually think of as exercise, can help us to keep fit (and lose those excess pounds too).

If we think of sitting reading as our “idling state”, we burn three to four times as much fuel when gardening, decorating, or dancing, which is actually comparable to the amount of fuel we burn whilst doing “proper exercise” such as aerobics or jogging. What’s more we are more likely to perform these hobby-type activities for longer than a typical one-hour session of formal exercise; meaning more fuel burnt, metabolic rate boosted for longer and that all-important muscle mass increase (leading to a higher rate of fuel use whilst idling, remember).

Even sedentary hobbies like knitting can help control your weight by stopping boredom snacking!

So you see you don’t have to go anywhere near the Lycra if you don’t want to, to begin to lead a healthier life. “Hobby exercise “is just as good as ordinary exercise at producing endorphins, those “feel good” chemicals that boost our mood, immune system and reduce our tendency to “comfort eat”. For all these reasons you need not feel guilty about indulging your hobbies at the expense of “proper exercise”, wear what you like, look sporty if you like to put you in the mood and be proud of your chosen activity. Throw yourself into it and feel the difference!