1. Concepts of Fitness & Wellness 7e
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Presentation Package for Concepts of Physical Fitness 14e
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Section III: Concept 06
Lifestyle Physical Activity: Being Active in Diverse Environments
This concept will describe the importance of lifestyle physical activity for optimal health and wellness and provide strategies that will help you lead an active life in an inactive world.
Moderate intensity physical activity done as a regular part of daily living has many health and wellness benefits.
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2. Adopting an Active Lifestyle
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Adopting an Active Lifestyle
Lifestyle activities are the foundation of an active lifestyle.
Lifestyle activities include activities of daily living and less intense sports and recreational activities.
Should expend more energy than normally expended at rest.
While it is possible to meet physical activity guidelines by participating regularly in structured exercise, it is easier for most people to meet the guidelines if they perform some activity throughout the day. Lifestyle physical activities are activities that can be done as part of one’s normal daily routine. They are at the base of the physical activity pyramid because they provide valuable benefits, require little skill, and can be easily performed by most people. Involvement in lifestyle activity also provides a strong foundation for other forms of physical activity. Common examples of lifestyle activities include daily tasks, such as walking to work or to the store, doing housework, gardening, and climbing stairs.
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3. Concepts of Fitness & Wellness 7e
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The Activity Pyramid
Lifestyle activity is at the base of the pyramid because it is something that everyone can do on a regular basis.
This diagram shows how different activities can contribute to overall cardiovascular fitness. It is important to point out this concept because many people do not like sport activities or structured aerobic activity but enjoy lifestyle activities like walking and gardening.
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4. Examples of Lifestyle Activities
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Examples of Lifestyle Activities
Washing or waxing a car
Washing windows or floors
Gardening
Wheeling self in wheelchair
Social dancing
Pushing a stroller
Raking leaves
Walking
There are many activities that are done throughout the day that can contribute to daily activity patterns. Additional activity at more vigorous intensities will provide additional benefits but these activities will provide some benefits.
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5. Advantages of Lifestyle Activity
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Advantages of Lifestyle Activity
Lifestyle activities can be integrated into your daily routine.
Relatively easy to perform, therefore they are popular among adults.
Promotes metabolic fitness.
The best part of lifestyle activities is that they can be incorporated into one’s lifestyle. This helps to save time in everyone’s busy schedule.
Students cam discuss the merits of commuting as a beneficial lifestyle activity. Commuting to school, work, or to the store can add activity to the day and reduce use of automobiles.
Though lifestyle physical activity does not promote high-level cardiovascular fitness, commonly referred to as a performance
benefit, it effectively promotes metabolic fitness. The overall impact of lifestyle activity on individual fitness depends on a person’s current level of fitness. Individuals with good levels of fitness will likely benefit most from maintenance of good metabolic fitness, while individuals with low levels of fitness may also receive cardiovascular fitness benefits. Lifestyle activity is particularly important for the large segments of the population that do not participate in other forms of regular exercise. As previously described, some activity is clearly better than none.
See Web06-8 for info on commuting
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6. How to Add Activity into Your Daily Lifestyle
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How to Add Activity into Your Daily Lifestyle
Park farther away in parking lot
Walk/bike to the store
Walk breaks at work
Take stairs instead of elevators
Add in Yard work
Count Housework as “activity”
These are suggestions for adding lifestyle activity into your routine.
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7. Occupational Physical Activity
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Occupational Physical Activity
In a famous study, bus conductors who regularly climbed stairs to collect tickets from passengers had lower rates of dying than the more sedentary bus drivers after controlling for other risk factors.
In a famous epidemiological study, Dr. Jeremy Morris compared the mortality rates of bus conductors with bus drivers. Because the conductors climbed stairs regularly to collect tickets they obtained more lifestyle activity and had lower rates of dying.
This study was one of the first studies in the area of exercise epidemiology.
Walking up and down the stairs made a significant difference in health risks.
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8. Concepts of Fitness & Wellness 7e
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Try Taking the Stairs!
A great way to increase daily energy expenditure is by taking the stairs instead of the elevator (or just going up and down the stairs several times during the day for quick breaks).
The estimated energy expenditure required to go up and down 1 staircase (15 stairs) is ~ .022 kcal/lb (.0015kcal/lb/stair)
Example calculation:
Going up and down 4 flights of stair: 120 stairs
150 lb person: kcal/lb/stair x 150 lb x 120 stairs = 27 kcal
200 lb person: kcal/lb/stair x 200 lb x 120 stairs = 36 kcal
Small lifestyle changes over time can add up to big differences.
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9. Concepts of Fitness & Wellness 7e
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What is a MET?
1 MET = resting energy expenditure
1 MET = 3.5 ml O2 / kg / min
1 MET = 1 kcal / kg / hour
This slide further reviews the concept of METS. It can be understood through each of these examples.
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10. Range of Intensities for Lifestyle Physical Activity
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Range of Intensities for Lifestyle Physical Activity
See Web06-2
to see how ranges vary by fitness level
Lifestyle activities are typically considered to be of moderate intensity. They are at a level that is hard enough to be considered “physical activity” but not at a level that is too taxing or makes you breathe too hard.
The range of MET values for most people is about METS and it is equivalent to a brisk walk. The actual ranges of intensities is dependent on a person’s fitness level. See On the Web – click 3 for more information on this.
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11. Concepts of Fitness & Wellness 7e
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Exercise Continuum
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Aerobic
Anaerobic
Intensity of Exercise
MAXIMUM
VERY HARD
HARD
MODERATE
The range of exercises can be seen by this exercise continuum.
Resting metabolism is given a MET value of 1 to correspond to the bodies resting metabolism. Moderate activity corresponds to about METS and Maximal exercise is considered anything over 12 METS.
It is important to understand that these qualitative ranges depend on a person’s physical capacity. An elite athlete can exercise very comfortable at METS because this value is at a lower percentage of their maximal capacity in METS.
LIGHT
VERY LIGHT
REST
METS
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12. Sample Calculations with METS
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Sample Calculations with METS
Estimate of calories burned from 1 hour of brisk walking in a 150 pound (70 kg) person
walking = 6 METS = 6 kcal / kg / hour
6 kcal / kg / hour x 70 kg = 420 kcal/hour
Because 1 MET is equal to 1 kcal / kg / hour it is relatively easy to calculate energy expenditure of different physical activities.
Walking is considered to be about 6 METS so if a person weighs 70 kg this activity would burn about 420 calories in an hour.
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13. Estimating Energy Expenditure from other Activities
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Estimating Energy Expenditure from other Activities
MET values have been estimated for most other forms of activity.
Household and gardening tasks can have MET values ranging from 3-5 METS.
They can contribute to an active and healthy lifestyle and promote weight control.
In a study conducted at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research the metabolic value of a variety of “lifestyle” activities was assessed through the use of a portable metabolic measurement system.
The MET values for these common lifestyle activities are shown.
See Compendium of Physical Activity Web site at:
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14. Concepts of Fitness & Wellness 7e
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Wellness Benefits
Reduction in disease risk and early death.
Take less time to go to sleep and sleep nearly an hour longer.
Functional limitations are much lower in moderately active people than in those who are sedentary.
Enhances self-esteem.
Lower incidence of depression and anxiety.
Lifestyle physical activity has wellness benefits. Reduction in disease risk and early death are important.
But equally important is quality of life. Many of the wellness benefits previously described result from moderate lifestyle physical activity. For example, people who do moderate exercise have been shown to take less time to go to sleep and sleep nearly an hour longer. One study showed that functional limitations are much lower in moderately active people than in those who
are sedentary. Lifestyle activity is also associated with enhanced self-esteem and less incidence of depression and anxiety.
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15. How Much Lifestyle Physical Activity is Enough?
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How Much Lifestyle Physical Activity is Enough?
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16. General Physical Activity Recommendations
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General Physical Activity Recommendations
“Every U.S. adult should accumulate 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days of the week”.
Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health
The American College of Sports Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control recently released a recommendation on the type and amount of physical activity needed for health (Pate et al., Physical Activity and Public Health, JAMA 273(5): )
The statement is for Americans to “accumulate” 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on most days of the week. The activity does not have to be continuous, and it does not have to be vigorous. The key is to do some form of physical activity on a regular basis.
The level of activity recommended in this guideline can be achieved by incorporating lifestyle physical activity throughout the day.
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17. FIT Formula for Lifestyle Physical Activity Threshold of Training
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FIT Formula for Lifestyle Physical Activity Threshold of Training F I T
Most days of the week
Equal to brisk walking
About 150 kcal
3-5 METS
30 min or 3 10-min sessions/day
The FIT formula for lifestyle activity is to get 30 minutes throughout the course of the day.
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18. FIT Formula for Lifestyle PA Target Zone
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FIT Formula for Lifestyle PA Target Zone F I T
All or most days/wk
Equal to brisk or fast walking
kcal/day
3.0-7 METS
Maximize caloric expenditure
(30-60 min.; sessions of at least 10 min)
Lifestyle physical activity is also a great way to burn calories and maintain body weight. If your goal is weight control it would be good to increase your exercise duration (time) so that you can maximize energy expenditure. Aim for minutes.
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19. Comparison of Daily Activity Patterns
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Noon-time jog 10
Sedentary 8
Lifestyle Exercise
Leisure-Time Exercise
After-dinner
walk 6
MET level
Walk to bus
stop 4
This slide compares a variety of activity patterns.
The sedentary line is shown in magenta and clearly reveals few moments of activity above the resting level.
The lifestyle line is shown in green and multiple bouts can be seen.
The leisure time exerciser gets all of their activity in at one time. While this person exercised for a shorter total time and at a higher intensity. The person performing the lifestyle probably burned about the same number of calories (area under the curve would be about equal) and may obtain similar health benefits.
Graphic courtesy of S. Blair (Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research) 2 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Time (hours)
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20. Concepts of Fitness & Wellness 7e
Pedometers
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Pedometers provide a great way to remind you to get more lifestyle physical activity in your day (self-monitoring).
Set step goals based on 1 week of baseline steps (average steps/day)
Increase step count by 1,000 to 3,000 steps/day
10,000 steps is NOT for everyone!
Web07-6 for information on pedometers to track activity
Pedometers are very popular today.
It is important to look for quality pedometers as there are many available that are poorly made. These companies make/distribute some of the best pedometers. See the On the Web feature for more detailed information, links and reviews.
Walk 4 Life Inc.
New Lifestyles Inc.
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21. How Many Steps is Enough?
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How Many Steps is Enough?
Activity Classification for Pedometer Step
Counts in Healthy Adults
Table 5, p. 104
Category
Steps / day
Sedentary
< 5000
Low active
Somewhat active
Active
10,000-12,500
Very Active
> 12,500+
There is considerable confusion about the number of steps needed for good health.
There is a mythical figure of 10,000 that floats around in the literature. While it is true that doing 10,000 is probably enough, that figure may be too lofty of a goal for many people.
Source: Based on values from Tudor-Locke, 2004.
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22. Lifestyle PA & the Environment
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Lifestyle PA & the Environment
The sedentary nature of our society is due in part to environmental factors.
Changes in the environment can promote lifestyle physical activity.
“built environment”
Active Living by Design ( - dedicated to promoting more active environments in society
Considerable emphasis in recent years has been on factors in our physical environment. Studies have demonstrated that the extent of urban sprawl is associated with population levels of physical inactivity and obesity. Researchers have also determined that certain characteristics of an environment can make it more or less “walkable.” Sidewalks, safe neighborhoods, aesthetic surroundings, and good lighting are considered to be among the key factors that define walkable areas. In Lab 6B you will evaluate the walkability of your community based on some of these characteristics.
Studies showing associations between physical activity and the “built environment” are important, but inherent limitations in
research designs have made it difficult to determine if there is a cause-effect association. It is possible, for example, that active people choose to move to environments with less sprawl and more access to parks and green spaces. Recent research, however, has demonstrated that changes in the environment can lead to changes in population levels of physical activity.
Lab 6b Info
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23. Concepts of Fitness & Wellness 7e
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Lifestyle PA: Summary
Many advantages to adopting an active lifestyle.
You can accumulate lifestyle physical activity throughout the day (10-min bouts) to meet the recommendations
Many people use pedometers to self-monitor daily activity levels.
Changes in the environment can promote lifestyle physical activity
Also need to consider personal strategies.
Lifestyle PA can provide many benefits and is relatively easy to add into one’s lifestyle.
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24. Concepts of Fitness & Wellness 7e
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Web Resources
Online Learning Center
“On the Web” pages for Concept
This page provides active hyperlinks if the computer is connected to the Internet.
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25. Supplemental Graphics
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Supplemental Graphics
Supplemental graphics follow
Lab information
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26. Concepts of Fitness & Wellness 7e
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Lab 6a Information Planning and Self-Monitoring (Logging) Your Lifestyle Physical Activity
Plan a variety of ways to get more lifestyle activity in your day.
Use the Lifestyle Activity Log to record the number of bouts of lifestyle activity you actually had on each day.
Lab 6a information
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27. Lab 6b Information Evaluating Physical Activity Environments
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Lab 6b Information Evaluating Physical Activity Environments
Use the community audit forms to conduct an evaluation of the walkability of your community and the availability of community resources for physical activity.
The walkability audit requires that you take a brief walk in your neighborhood to note key features in the environment that may help or hinder walking.
Requires evaluation of the quality of resources and programming available in your community.
Lab 6b information.
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