Never say no to a free workout!

Where the line came from

This expression came out of my mouth when I was being filmed doing some teaching and a colleague was doubtful about their ability to hold up the boom mic for the required time. “Never say no to a free workout, Joe!” I teased…and then kept on thinking about this as a concept for the rest of the day. On our evening walk I mentioned it to Chris and she loved the idea, as it encapsulates her approach to functional fitness: don’t take the easy or automated route; do it the more active way, and then exercise becomes part of your daily life – AND you know you are becoming fitter in a useful, functional way. Her favourite example is carrying the big milk bottles home from the supermarket, one in each hand, including up the three flights to our flat.

What Active Choice means

In many ways, my jokey line sums up what we mean by Active Choice. You are choosing to be active, of course; you are also actively making that choice – not just going with the flow, doing what everyone else does. Taking the stairs instead of the lift, walking or cycling instead of driving…maybe reading instead of watching?

When the lift is the right choice

‘Never’ is too strong, of course, and there will be times when we choose the lift, the car, the screen. The point is to make those times an active choice too: you are choosing them now because you have too much to carry, too far to travel, you can’t concentrate on reading just now… Sometimes, the active choice is to NOT workout, even when it’s scheduled!