Transcript of
Staying motivated
Why do I do it? I don't know.
I think I must be a bit sadistic,
but I do it because I do get a lot of personal enjoyment out of it, really.
Plus I do believe that it just keeps you younger,
you keep fit, you've got a lot more going for you
and it exercises your brain as well as your body, really,
and so it just gives you another interest.
A healthy person should be doing about 30 minutes' brisk walking a day.
This can be broken up into three ten-minute periods
if it can't all be done at once.
Regular activity improves blood pressure, cardiovascular fitness,
lowers the cholesterol.
Women in particular can lower the risk of osteoporosis.
Exercising increases insulin sensitivity and improves the blood sugar.
The other thing that's interesting is it improves the immune system.
It boosts the immune system.
I swim once a week,
I do 24 lengths, 24 slow lengths,
probably the slowest swimmer in the pool.
I do quite a lot of walking. I try and walk...
I walk a couple of miles a day anyway,
but sometimes I walk more than that and I run a couple of times a week.
Getting on my bike on a day like this and doing some miles,
it's really nice, I love it.
Exercise gives you what they call a high.
They used to call it a runner's high.
It's thought to be release of things like serotonin
or various hormones that actually improve...
or give a feeling of wellbeing.
I've been doing more for the last year.
A year ago I decided to get fitter and I feel great as a result.
I'd like to exercise more but it's just finding the time and fitting it in.
It's always hard to fit it into your day.
A lot of people say that they don't have enough time
and they haven't got the energy to exercise.
If only they started exercising, they'd find that they do have the energy
because the more we exercise, the more energy we have.
The key thing is actually motivation.
We all know how to get fit, we all know that exercise...
So it's just really triggering the mind to get us up and running.
There are so many little things that we can do to help motivate ourselves.
One of the most important things is finding an exercise that you enjoy.
I love martial arts. With that I've chosen something that I really enjoy.
The other thing that's good to do is think about training with a friend
and do what we call buddy training.
Commit with someone else and then you don't want to let them down,
so that's quite a good motivational trick as well.
Of course other ways to exercise are to exercise for others,
to run for charities or to swim for charity or cycle for charity.
In that way, by helping others you also help yourself.
I've had the opportunity to go to Chicago to do the Chicago Marathon.
I thought, "I'm going all that way, I'll do it for something worthwhile."
It's such a good thing to sign up for a charity race. There are so many.
The atmosphere at them is fantastic
and it's a really good motivation to have a fitness goal to work towards.
300 swimmers have been in the Serpentine this morning,
raising money for breast cancer at Cancer Research UK.
It's a one-kilometre swim, all the way the length of the lake and back.
I think there are two things here.
One is to raise money for charity and this is a lovely way of doing it.
A lot of people are here because they love outdoor swimming.
It was a really good laugh.
I swam with my friend and we sang and kept each other going. It was good.
My father and my brother are some way down there.
I'm waiting for them to come in. We all went along together.
Events like this are really good at giving people a goal.
It's hard to motivate yourself sometimes to stay fit
unless you love it for the sake of it. Things like this give people a boost.
If someone's new to it,
think about starting off with a really easy form of exercise
like just doing a walk.
Start off doing that, aim to do it about three times a week.
Even if it's just walk out of the front door as far as you can for 15 minutes,
turn round and come back,
before you know it you've done 30 minutes.
I would encourage everybody to do some exercise.
It will make them feel better in the long run.
Fitness is one of the most amazing things
because you can see and feel the difference so quickly.
