Finding time to exercise

Lack of time is the reason most often given for not exercising, particularly by parents of young children and people who work long hours. The recommended 150 minutes of moderate activity a week does not have to come in gym sessions: it can be collected in short pieces through the day.

Short bouts count

Activity of any length contributes to the weekly total, and the NHS notes that a brisk ten-minute walk a day already brings benefits. Three ten-minute spells are as useful as one of thirty. Vigorous activity counts double, so 75 minutes of running or fast cycling meets the same target, and short, hard interval sessions take less time still.

Building activity into the day

• Travel: walking or cycling all or part of the journey to work, school or the shops; getting off public transport a stop early; parking further away.
• Stairs in place of lifts and escalators.
• At work: walking meetings, a walk at lunchtime, standing up for telephone calls.
• At home: gardening, vigorous housework, and exercise during television programmes.
• Waiting time: walking round the pitch or the block while children are at a club or lesson.

Exercising with children

• Brisk walking with a pram or pushchair, alone or with a group of other parents.
• Walking, scooting or cycling the school run.
• Active play: ball games, tag, swimming, bike rides and trips to the park, joining in instead of watching.
• Exercise videos at home, which small children often copy.
• Classes for parents and babies, and leisure centres with a crèche.

Children aged 5 to 18 are themselves advised to be active for an average of an hour a day, so family activity serves both generations.

After having a baby

Gentle walking and pelvic floor exercises can begin soon after a straightforward birth. The NHS advises that more intense exercise can start after the postnatal check at six to eight weeks, for those who feel able, and later after a caesarean section or a complicated birth. High-impact exercise is resumed gradually. Leaking urine, a feeling of heaviness in the pelvis, or a bulge along the midline of the abdomen are reasons to seek advice from a GP or a women's health physiotherapist.

Making it stick

• A fixed slot: exercise entered in the diary survives better than exercise fitted in when possible.
• Early in the day: sessions before work or before the household wakes are the least likely to be displaced.
• Shared care: partners, relatives or friends taking turns with children so that each has time.
• Company: an arrangement with someone else is harder to cancel.
• Convenience: activity close to home or work, with kit ready.
• Realistic aims: two or three sessions that happen are worth more than five that do not.

Strength without a gym

The two weekly strength sessions can be done at home in fifteen minutes with squats, lunges, press-ups and planks, or with resistance bands; see strength training. The targets are set out under physical activity guidelines.