Exercise for the lazy ⏲️ 6 Minute English — Transcript

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1. 0:09Hello. This is 6 Minute English from
2. 0:11BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.
3. 0:13And I’m Sam. Did you make any New Year’s
4. 0:16resolutions this year, Neil? They’re promises
5. 0:18that you make to yourself to do something
6. 0:20positive in the coming year… And now that
7. 0:23we’re into February, it’s getting harder
8. 0:25to keep those promises!
9. 0:26Yes, the same promises I make every year,
10. 0:30Sam – to exercise more and get fit. But
11. 0:33I’m too lazy to go running on cold winter
12. 0:35mornings - I’d rather stay in bed!
13. 0:37Are you feeling out of shape after
14. 0:39Christmas, like Neil? Maybe you want to
15. 0:42be more active but can’t find the time?
16. 0:44If so, this programme is for you!
17. 0:46Yes, in this lazy person’s guide to
18. 0:49exercise, we’ll be asking: what is the least
19. 0:52amount of exercise someone can get away
20. 0:54with doing whilst still staying healthy?
21. 0:57And, of course, we’ll be learning some
22. 0:59useful new vocabulary as well.
23. 1:01Of course, any exercise is better than
24. 1:03none. ‘Structured exercise’ - activities like
25. 1:07going to a fitness class, or swimming are
26. 1:09great. But if that’s not possible, we’ll be
27. 1:12hearing about small changes you can
28. 1:14make that will help as well.
29. 1:15Which is good news because fewer and
30. 1:17fewer of us of doing what the UK
31. 1:20government recommends - thirty minutes
32. 1:22of moderate exercise a day. In fact, the
33. 1:26government recently downgraded its
34. 1:28recommendations because so few Brits
35. 1:31were following it. So, Sam, according to
36. 1:34new government advice, what is the
37. 1:37minimum number of steps we should walk
38. 1:38every day to stay healthy? Is it:
39. 1:42a) five thousand steps?
40. 1:43b) ten thousand steps? or,
41. 1:46c) twenty thousand steps?
42. 1:48I’ll say a) five thousand steps per day.
43. 1:51OK, Sam. We’ll find out the answer at the
44. 1:53end of the programme. Someone else
45. 1:56who’s interested in how little exercise he
46. 1:58can do is BBC reporter, James Gallagher.
47. 2:01Here’s James speaking with sports
48. 2:04physiologist, Dr Zoe Saynor, after Zoe had
49. 2:07been monitoring James’s fitness while running
50. 2:09on a treadmill for BBC Radio 4
51. 2:12programme, Inside Science.
52. 2:15… I also know you do regularly try
53. 2:17and do structured exercise.
54. 2:18Just to be clear, my structured exercise
55. 2:19training is going for a swim once a week.
56. 2:22Generally, that's fantastic! I guess my
57. 2:24question to you would be, how hard
58. 2:26do you push yourself when
59. 2:27you go swimming?
60. 2:28Not as hard as the treadmill.
61. 2:30I think the big thing if we come back
62. 2:31to this question of what is the least
63. 2:33I can do? There's clear evidence that if
64. 2:37you want to do shorter exercise
65. 2:40sessions, they need to be
66. 2:41of a higher intensity, right?
67. 2:43So there's a trade-off.
68. 2:45Zoe says that if you don’t have much
69. 2:48time to exercise it’s okay to do shorter
70. 2:51sessions, as long as you push yourself –
71. 2:53try harder and put more effort into what
72. 2:56you’re doing. If you can swim a length in
73. 2:58forty seconds, push yourself
74. 3:00to swim it in thirty-five.
75. 3:02That means exercising harder of course,
76. 3:05but for a shorter time. In other words,
77. 3:07there’s a trade-off – you accept the
78. 3:09disadvantages of something in order
79. 3:11to get the benefit it brings.
80. 3:13Another problem for many people is that
81. 3:15their job is sedentary – it involves little
82. 3:18exercise or physical activity. Zoe thinks
83. 3:22it’s important that office workers who
84. 3:24sit down all day also find time to exercise.
85. 3:27Here she shares her tips with BBC Radio 4
86. 3:30programme, Inside Health.
87. 3:33Especially people who have office jobs are
88. 3:36sat down all day, we then look at some
89. 3:38of the easy wins. So, active travel, and
90. 3:41even if that's parking a little bit further
91. 3:42away. One of the exciting areas in the
92. 3:44literature that's coming out at the
93. 3:46moment, is actually walking faster.
94. 3:48So, if you have no time to suddenly
95. 3:51do 10,000 steps a day, can we get
96. 3:54you to do 5,000 steps faster? Will we
97. 3:58see an improvement on your health?
98. 3:59Yes, we will see an improvement on
99. 4:01your health, especially over a longer
100. 4:03period of time. The big focus around short,
101. 4:06sharp exercise sessions is you
102. 4:09get more bang for your buck.
103. 4:11Zoe’s suggestions for active travel,
104. 4:14things like walking from the car, and
105. 4:16using the stairs instead of the lift,
106. 4:18are easy wins - tasks that are both easy
107. 4:21to accomplish and bring benefits.
108. 4:24Easy wins, like short but intensive
109. 4:26bursts of exercise, increase fitness and
110. 4:29give you more bang for your buck,
111. 4:31and idiom which means that you get
112. 4:33better results for the same amount of
113. 4:35effort you put in. That’s something
114. 4:37everyone can appreciate – even you, Neil.
115. 4:40Well, I’ll definitely try to walk more,
116. 4:42but remember, Sam, the
117. 4:44body needs rest too!
118. 4:45And speaking of walking, isn’t it time
119. 4:48to reveal the answer to your question:
120. 4:50how many steps does the UK
121. 4:52government recommend we should
122. 4:53walk a day? I guessed it was five
123. 4:56thousand… So, was I right?
124. 4:57You were close, Sam, but in fact
125. 4:59the correct answer is ten thousand
126. 5:01steps a day, although as Zoe mentioned,
127. 5:04walking fewer steps faster has
128. 5:06benefits too. OK, let’s recap the
129. 5:10vocabulary we’ve learned from our
130. 5:12lazy guide to exercise, starting with
131. 5:14New Year’s resolution – a promise you
132. 5:17make to yourself to do positive
133. 5:19things in the coming year.
134. 5:21When you push yourself, you put more
135. 5:23effort into what you’re doing.
136. 5:24In a trade-off, you accept the
137. 5:27disadvantages of something in order
138. 5:29to get the benefits as well. ‘Trade-off’
139. 5:32can also be used as a verb.
140. 5:34The adjective, sedentary, describes
141. 5:36something which involves little
142. 5:38exercise or physical activity.
143. 5:39An easy win is a task that is both
144. 5:42easy to accomplish and
145. 5:45brings positive results.
146. 5:46And finally, the idiom more bang
147. 5:48for your buck, means you get
148. 5:50a better outcome for the same
149. 5:51amount of effort you put into
150. 5:53something. We hope your New Year’s
151. 5:55resolutions have made it into February!
152. 5:57If there’s just one you keep, make
153. 6:00it joining us again soon for more
154. 6:02topical chat here at 6 Minute English.
155. 6:04Bye for now!
156. 6:05Bye!