On average, adults watch three to four hours of TV a day – but this doesn’t have to be all sitting-down time. You could be racking up at least an hour of exercise during viewing time if you decide to move during the ad breaks.
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| How to make the most of evening workouts |
Do three-minute blasts
‘Grab a big, heavy book and do chest presses,’ says
personal trainer Lucy Wyndham-Read. ‘Use your stairs for step-ups. Or
use a sofa cushion like a wobble board for squats and planks – the list
of exercises you can do in minutes at home utilising your own body
weight is endless.’
Keep your gear handy
Guilty of buying fitness equipment, then leaving it to
gather dust? ‘Whether it’s something big like a stationary bike or a
treadmill, or smaller kit like hand weights and resistance bands, move
it to the living room,’ says personal trainer Stuart Amory. ‘You can
still watch The X-Factor, but burn some fat at the same time.’
Get competitive
This brilliant idea from Lucy gets the whole family
involved in TV fitness: ‘Grab some sticky notes and ask the kids to
choose different types of adverts, then match each to an exercise,’ she says. ‘Stick these somewhere near the TV so no one forgets. Then, for example, when a car ad comes
on, everyone has to do as many star jumps as they can for the duration.
If it’s a perfume ad, they have to hold the plank position for as long as possible, and so on. The loser makes the next cuppa…’
