Nine Year Exercise Streak

My unbroken exercise streak began on 25th March 2013, so today marks the completion of the ninth year of a personal challenge to make an active journey of at least five kilometres every single day. Tomorrow will be the start of my tenth lap of the calendar.

In recent weeks I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the benefits I’m gaining from the regular exercise I take and where there might be lessons for others, even for those that are far less active than I am, and for that matter, even for those that are far more active than me.

I was already very active before I started this streak and, here’s an obvious statement, I was also quite a bit younger back then.

I often think about the spectrum of activity, a line that begins with the least active person at the left-hand end and the fittest of Olympians at the right-hand end. We all have a place, somewhere on that line, and if we care about our health and well-being, and believe that physical activity has a role to play in determining how healthy we are, then we should all be making some effort to move along that spectrum in the direction of the right-hand side. Even if only by a small amount, we should be trying to nudge ourselves in that positive direction.

Spectrum of Exercise. 21% of men and 25% of women take fewer than 30 minutes of exercise per week. Further along the spectrum, 34% of men and 42% of women take fewer than the Chief Medical Officer’s recommended 150 minutes of exercise per week. (Public Health England) Where would you be on that spectrum from 0 to 100?

So, what difference has the exercise streak made for me? Well, I felt that I was fit and active before the streak, but looking back now, I’ve realised how I was active when the opportunity was there or when there was something specific to train for, but there were times when I was too busy at work, or studying for long hours, or prolonged bad weather made me want to stay indoors.

If I had to put a number on my average percentage position on that spectrum, I might have said I was along at 95%, but ask me what my position was in a given week then the answer could vary wildly. If I was training for a race and there was some good weather tempting me out for a weekend of hillwalking, then I might be along there at 98%, but if there was nothing specific to train for, I was overloaded at work and the weather was awful, then without noticing it, I was not taking exercise and could on the odd occasion have drifted along to that danger zone at the left-hand end of the spectrum. I hate to admit it, but twenty years ago there could have been weeks when I was somewhere around 20% on that scale.

Now that I have some ongoing structure to my physical activity, I take some form of physical activity every single day. I always make a journey of at least five kilometres and my six chosen forms of movement are running, walking, cycling, canoeing, kayaking and skiing. That guarantees that I get out for at least thirty minutes every day, and usually quite a lot more. I still train for specific events and grab the good weather for long days walking, cycling or kayaking, but I no longer allow work, study, rain or feeling tired to get in the way of exiting the door for some exercise. To quote from the title of my book – I now Find Time for Exercise, no matter what.

Even in a quiet week, I would estimate that my position on that spectrum is now beyond 95%. Having an exercise challenge has raised my base level and cut out the gaps in my exercise programme. I feel much better for taking regular exercise and thoroughly enjoy the challenge of keeping the streak going.

Wherever you might be on that spectrum, I would urge you to make the effort to make two changes in your life. Firstly to challenge yourself to take a bit more exercise than you do at the current time. That will have the effect of nudging you along that spectrum and increase your percentage position. Even if you think you would be around 20% right now, a few more walks during your week could move you along to 30%. A change like that could make a noticeable difference to your health and fitness.

The second change is to find a way of ensuring you take a similar amount of exercise each week, in other words to make a sustainable and lasting lifestyle change. A great way to do that is to set yourself a realistic physical activity challenge. Your challenge could be to walk at least 5,000 steps every day, walk 10 miles every week or walk a kilometre before and after work each day. If you set a challenge and can’t keep up with it, then you may have bitten off more than you can chew. Don’t give up, just lower your target and make your challenge easier. There is a challenge out there somewhere that is just right for you, and which will give you a nudge along that spectrum of exercise.

The culmination of my book is the Ten Principles that I suggest following when setting out on an exercise challenge. I want to end this article by quoting three of those principles.

Build exercise into your daily routine.

However much exercise you currently take, even a small increase in your level of activity could provide you with benefits to your health and happiness.

Get out on the bread-and-butter days, and relish the five-course-meal days.

These three principles emphasise the importance of making physical exercise a regular habit, even on the most ordinary of days (what I like to call bread-and-butter days) and even if it is just as simple as going for a short walk. Indeed, going for lots of short walks is one of the best activities that you can do. Take a short walk today, and straight away you will have gained something, a quick win, as a result of reading this article.

If you read this article and find it useful, then please let me know via my social media channels or by sending an email.

The ninth anniversary journey. Kayaking around Mugdrum Island in the Tay Estuary. Photo by Oliver Crane.