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Too tired? Too cold to venture outside? A nation-wide study reveals the average Brit takes 1,000 steps per day, despite advice from doctors and health experts to take at least 10,000 daily.
According to the research, one in five claim they always take the lift rather than the stairs, while a quarter park as close to shops as they can in a bid to reduce the distance they need to walk. Worryingly, of those polled, nearly two thirds (65 percent) said they take their health for granted and need to look after their body a bit more.
But it seems as if Brits have all the excuses when it comes to working out, with being unable to find our earphones, being too unfit to work-out – and something good on the telly emerging as the most common excuses Brits give for not wanting to go to the gym.
The survey showed, while the majority of us drive to work, a staggering one in ten (11 percent) said they would rather miss their bus or train than pick up speed and run to catch it, while 19 percent said they regularly get their partner and colleagues to fetch things for them.
In fact, the research showed the average Brit is sedentary for up to six and a half hours a day, with one in five describing themselves as ‘very lazy’.
Ten percent said there is little point in doing exercise of any sort because Christmas is around the corner and nearly one in twenty won’t go and work-out if it’s happy hour in their local pub.
The study was commissioned to help raise funds to find a much-needed cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy – a muscle wasting disease that effects 1 in 3,500 Brits – with most boys who have it only living until their mid-twenties.
Alex Smith, the founder of Harrison’s Fund, whose son was diagnosed with the disease in 2011 said: “We can all relate to that feeling of not wanting to drag ourselves to the gym – especially on these cold nights. But people suffering with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy simply don’t have that option. Muscle degeneration is an inevitability and something we are raising awareness and funds to try to cure.
“What we’re saying with this campaign is simply, don’t take your muscles for granted. if you’re going to skip the gym this week, then why not get a better excuse. As is clear from these statistics, we can all struggle to get motivated – so why not make a good excuse this week and help turn a little bit of laziness into hope for someone else.”
Three in ten said they will use any old excuse for getting out of exercise with a popular excuse being that their phone is flat so they won’t have any music to listen to.
But a confident one in twenty reckon they look great anyway so they don’t need to bother with the gym and many said they don’t want to get too buff.
Not surprisingly then, the average Brit gets out of a gym session at least four times in a typical month.
Three in ten of the 1,500 adults polled said they have not got much use out of their gym gear and sports equipment – with the average adult confessing to wasting £176 on unused gym memberships and high-end workout gear.
TOP EXCUSES TO GET OUT OF EXERCISING
Too tired
Too cold to venture outside
I’m so unfit, I won’t be able to do anything
I’ve got the start of a cold, so I don’t want to make it worse
It’s winter so no one sees my body anyway
My favourite TV show is on
Christmas is around the corner so there’s little point
I’m too hungry
I want to be thinner before I go to the gym
There is no point because I’ve stuffed my face today
My gym buddy can’t make it, so I won’t go alone
I look great anyway, so I don’t need to go
I need to help the kids with their homework
Gym gear is in the wash
The dog can’t stay home alone
Need to be rested for a big night out
I ran for the bus today so that’s my exercise for the day
It’s happy hour in the pub
Gym gear is too tight
My friends are in worse shape than me so that’s ok
I can’t find my earphones
My phone is out of charge, so I have no music
I don’t want to get too ripped
To get a good excuse to skip the gym today and help Harrison’s Fund fund a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy visit www.gymexcuses.com
