This may be obvious...

This may be obvious but being active and leading a healthy lifestyle doesn't have to include going out running or being at the gym every night. As much as I personally love those things and would encourage anyone that way, I actually believe that being generally active (i.e. not sitting around all day!) is more important. For some people, a sedentary job and home life can mean lots of inactivity and fitting in organised exercise is too much of a squeeze on their time. But how about a few of these ideas (and yes some of them will sound silly, but I'd rather look silly and be healthy!)...

* If you get the bus into work (or anywhere for that matter) get off a stop or 2 early and walk the rest. Using public transport to get to work whether its the bus or train is a great way of getting a bit more activity into your day as it usually involves some walking. And it's great for our planet too :)

* Take a small glass into work for drinking water, then you'll need to get up more regularly to refill it and you can power walk to the tap! Most of us probably don't drink enough water anyway :)

* Whenever you come across stairs, sprint them! And if you're extra adventurous take them two at a time.

* When having a catch up with a friend on the phone, walk and talk, even if its just round the block a few times. Or spend an evening a week walking and talking in the evening with a spouse/friend...it'll do your soul good as well as your heart :)

* When you need the loo at work, go to the furthest one away from your desk!

* Swap your chair for a swiss ball (pictured below) for a core work out whilst you're working! My lecturer used to do this and I thought it was a fab idea!

* If you're feeling brave and work at home, a set of press ups every hour will get that heart racing :)

These are just a few ideas. There are also plenty of short intense workouts for people who can give 20 minutes or so of their time to exercise, some of which I'll post on here over the coming months.

Get that heart pumping!