There were seminars that went beyond the internet (but it’s still in there somewhere). One I sat though talked about health. In 2008 the New York Times ran an article that stated sitting in front of a computer all day is not good for you. There was some additional research shown that says adults spend 8-9 hours sitting at their desk every day. Kids were spending 7-8 hours a day sitting.
Most alarmingly, this is now matching smoking as a factor in heart disease.
This is a subject close to me, recently at work we were given pedometers and asked to track our daily steps. A low day for me was 6000 steps, this converts to about 3 miles (average was about 10k steps). Not very far and realistically means I was on my feet for maybe an hour that day. My walk to and from the car park takes care of maybe a third of that distance.
Like most people I struggle to actually find the time. I have a demanding job, a social life and considerable stress. I have started making it more of a priority and have found that once I have pulled into the gym car park or laced up my sneakers the hard part is done.
I’ve worked hard to get rid of the excuses for why I’m not able to work out today. It’s becoming a more important part of my day, and after sitting through this seminar, I’m happy I’ve a couple of doctors that nag me.
Now for the obligatory computer geek part. There are a number of good apps out there that help me develop a program that works for me and track progress. I was recommended the “couch to 5K” by someone a little while ago (it’s an app and podcast). I’m slowly working back up to it, I’ve only just been allowed to start running again on my knee in the last couple of weeks and it’s felt like slow going with lots of muscle aces and pain the day after.
To go with the Couth-to-5K app I’ve started using the iFitness app on my iPhone to track progress. It’s a very comprehensive app to aid in the gym, suggest workouts and track intake. It’s not too difficult to use, but it does have to be used and that’s where I need to be more consistent.
With this seminar the big take away was you need to do something, we all know that’s important, but the stats are something of an eye opener.