Mike Dales is a keen walker. In fact, he hasn’t missed a day in the great outdoors for more than 8 years.
But, he says, you don’t have to go to extremes to transform your health.
And, as working from home and box-set-nights-in continue, Mike is on a mission to highlight small activity changes that can make a big difference.
The 62-year-old explains: “My partner and I were both fit and active, but we looked at what exercise we were doing.
“I’d thought I was active, but actually I was cramming everything into weekends and Thursday nights.
“We felt we needed to get a higher base level of fitness and health by doing something every day.”
His new book, Find Time For Exercise, details how he escaped a sedentary lifestyle and provides advice for others who would like to do the same.
‘I’ve walked for more than 3,100 days’
Mike’s love for walking has taken him around the world – from the Andes to the Alps – before he settled in Perthshire to enjoy the best of Scotland’s countryside.
He continues: “We started out doing the 5×50 challenge in 2012, where we’d make one active travel journey of at least 5km every day for 50 days.
“Our New Year’s resolution for 2013 was to do the same for 270 days in the year, but by March I wasn’t missing a day.
“I’ve now walked for more than 3,100 days over eight and a half years. I really want to get to 10 years.
“Part of it is I don’t want to let the challenge go, or the benefits because I feel them and that drives me to keep going.
“The other thing is, every time I get out and exercise I just enjoy it.”
It’s time to try ‘deskercise’
Even those who don’t enjoy walking can change one simple thing, Mike says. Spend as little time sitting as possible, even when working.
Mike explains: “The chair in all its formats is a serial killer.”
In the UK alone, excess sitting is linked to 50,000 early deaths due to the health complications associated with a sedentary lifestyle.
It also costs the NHS £0.7 billion. Which is why Mike believes chairs should come with a health warning attached:
‘Warning: This is a chair’
“Warning: This is a chair. It is potentially hazardous to your health, could shorten your life and in conjunction with other chairs, has the potential to bankrupt the country.
“Use sparingly and for periods of less than half an hour in one sitting. Sit less, stand more, move more.”
He continues: “I created my own standing desk before I bought a proper one. I put the screen on a box on my desk with the keyboard on another lower box.
“It’s brilliant and I never sit for more than an hour and a half in an office-based day.
“It’s so much easier to build ‘deskercises’ into your day when you’re standing.”
Challenge yourself
Mike advises: “People think they have to take up a sport, buy equipment, or go to the gym. But to just get started, simply get up, get out and walk more.
“One of my phrases is ‘I wonder if I can’. Say to yourself ‘I wonder if I can walk five miles a week or a mile every day.’
“It’s about challenging yourself, giving yourself that push but also having fun. Realise that by doing these small things, you’re helping yourself.”
You can find out more about Mike and buy Find Time for Exercise here.