Swimming freestyle (aka front crawl) can burn 100 calories in 10 minutes if you’re good at it. Plus it’ll tone your glutes, abdominals and shoulders.

Breaststroke burns just 60 calories in each 10 minutes – but you may be able to do it for longer and really see the benefits. These include expanding the lungs, chest muscles, inner thigh, bra-strap area, shoulders, triceps, legs and hamstrings. But don’t do this stroke with your head above water!

Backstroke burns 80 calories in each 10 minutes. Tones stomach, buttocks, legs, arms and shoulders, helps elongate your hip flexors.

Butterfly burns 150 calories per 10 minutes – but it’s the hardest stroke to master. For your efforts, you’ll get upper-body strength and toned chest, abdominals, arms, triceps and back muscles. Your body is stretched and more flexible.

Try mixing freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke for a good swimming pool workout – and once you’ve improved your skills in these, give the butterfly a go.

By raising your activity levels you can gradually improve your overall fitness. This also gives your metabolism a boost allowing you to burn the calories in the food you eat more effectively. In today’s world it is very easy to become lazy, and the less exercise you get the more sloth like you become. By being more active in daily life you’ll feel generally healthier and have more energy to do some proper training. Many of you will own cars and drive for short distances when you really should be walking. Walking is a great calorie burner and tones up your legs and bum! It is relaxing and gives you a bit of time to yourself to reflect and think.

If you live fairly near to work, then walk! A stroll in the morning really wakes you up and it gives you time to plan for the days activities. If you can’t walk then get off the bus a couple of stops early, or park in a car park just out of town (think of the money you’ll save too!)
If you work in an office for 8 or 9 hours a day then your lifestyle is probably fairly sedentary. Try and sit up straight at your desk and take a wander around every so often so you don’t get stiff. Go outside a couple of times a day to get some fresh air. If you don’t work on the ground floor, make sure you always take the stairs and never get in the lift.

When you go out in the evenings try walking home from the pub, chances are you’ll be too drunk to feel the cold or notice the distance. Make sure your journey doesn’t always take you past the chip/ pizza/ kebab shop, and don’t walk home late at night alone for safety reasons. Another good way of burning off all those calories consumed in the pub is to go on to a club and have a dance, dancing is a great all over body workout, and sociable and fun too!

AEROBIC EXERCISE:

This type of work out is very effective at burning calories once we reach a desired heart rate. Types of exercise include swimming, running, stepper, rowing, ski-ing, aerobic routines and cycling.

STRENGTH TRAINING:

Training with weights can build up muscles, or simply tone muscles for a shapely or stronger figure. It should be done carefully and built up slowly to avoid strains. You should combine this type of training with some aerobic exercise, and make sure you warm up and cool down carefully. Such exercise can be done in the gym with specialist equipment, or at home.

TEAM GAMES:

Participating in team sports can be great fun, and a little competetiveness can add to our enthusiasm and motivation. Many local leisure centres and sports facilities offer leagues for teams such as football, go along with a friend, or get a group together and form your own team. This is a very sociable activity and a great way of meeting new people.

OTHER EXERCISES:

Exercise such as yoga and the Alexander Technique can improve our posture, breathing, co-ordination and suppleness. Martial arts such as Karate and Judo can improve our confidence and provide us with an effective form of self defence.
Before you begin an exercise regime, decide what you wish to achieve, and make sensible targets, building up gradually.

If you haven’t exercised for a while, or are particularly overweight or out of shape then get some professional help and advice from your GP before you begin.

GOOD LUCK!

Many of you may be put off the idea of taking regular exercise by the thought of endless trips to the gym, leisure centre or pool. When I finish work my main priority is simply to get home! Not all of us have leisure facilities on their doorstep and don’t have time to make the journey.

Anyway, who wants to embarrass themselves puffing and sweating in front of the local Adonises in the gym? And who wants to spend their hard earned cash on membership fees and expensive Lycra outfits?

I have a solution that means you can’t use these as excuses to skip exercise -Do It At Home!

When I was at university I used to go to the gym with my friend Vic nearly every day as it was on campus and there was plenty of free time, it was a sociable thing to do! When I started work full time this all changed so I bought myself two exercise videos, Cindy Crawford: Shape Your Body, and Cosmopolitan: Tonetics, I haven’t looked back (or stepped foot in the gym!) since!

There are loads of benefits to working out at home, and several ways of doing it:

Follow work outs set out in books, magazines or on the Internet
Use one of the many available exercise videos, from gentle yoga to powerful dancing
Invest in a piece of equipment such as a stepper, rower or treadmill – these aren’t cheap but you will save money in the long run!

And remember that the most ordinary household objects can double up as weights, ropes and steps! I use a chair and two tins of out of date salmon!

Bear in mind the importance of warm ups and stretching, and if you live on a busy road like I do, save your blushes and don’t forget to draw the curtains!

Once you have decided on your new regime you can exercise whenever you wish. Find a time that suits you personally, preferably when you don’t feel too tired, or when your at home alone. I get home from work an hour before my man, Ben, this gives me the perfect opportunity to have a bit of time to myself and work out.

This sort of exercise program relies on self motivation so it’s important to set aside times you can exercise without disturbance, it’s a good idea to take the phone off the hook. You don’t need anything fancy but make sure you wear supportive footwear to protect your joints. Other than this anything goes, I usually end up in an old t-shirt and knickers, I don’t care, no-one can see me!
The best thing about exercising at home is that you can step into your own private shower afterwards, and then straight into the kitchen to cook a well deserved tea!