The health and fitness industry should be focusing on
how people can squeeze time for exercise into their lives, as opposed to purely telling people
why physical activity is important, according to
Health Club Management editor Kate Cracknell.
The
HCM editor’s comments seek to further an idea being proposed by Dr Mike Evans, which encourages adults to merely limit their focus on inactivity to 23 and a half hours each day, allowing for half an hour of exercise or activity.
“I’m starting to wonder if – although there must be an element of ‘why’ in our public-facing messages – the focus should be as much on the ‘how’,” Cracknell wrote in her opening letter for the May edition of
HCM magazine.
“How can people squeeze activity into their time and cash-strapped days? That’s the key: making daily activity seem easily and enjoyably achievable. And where it starts is with a simple question: can you limit your sitting and sleeping to just 23 and a half hours a day?”
The idea of pushing
how exercise can be more attractive to the public has become more pertinent in recent months given the proposition of a
National Action Plan supported by the three main political parties to help drive exercise as a lifelong habit.
One such way of achieving this could be a focus on pushing early access to positive experiences in sport and activity play.
This drive is being matched by a new initiative named MOVE1, which sees a coalition of leading health organisations, charities and sporting brands – including the likes of the British Heart Foundation, Nike and the Premier League – coming together to promote an hour’s activity each day for children.
Elsewhere, other leading figures have highlighted that all ages need to be considered, with current inactivity problems being attributed to a societal problem, as opposed to one purely defined by an age bracket.
One such figure who has advocated a rounded approach is ukactive CEO David Stalker, who said: “We must be cautious that the youth demographic isn’t seen as the main driver in overturning what is a societal problem that needs to be addressed holistically.”
For more information on the discussion, visit the May edition of
Health Club Management magazine.
