Lifestyle

NEAT

NEAT means non-exercise activity thermogenesis, a fancy way of saying any non-exercise activity! For example, when you are walking in the shopping mall, that's burning calories, but that's not "exercise" per se. Furthermore, we move in different ways that also burn calories. For instance, some people sit more while others often stand, some move their hands when speaking, and others are more still. Some fidget in their chair, others don't. And so forth.

At the end of the day, this adds up! For example, a brisk walk for 30 minutes every day leads to 6200 extra burned calories in a month, a pretty significant amount! Some aspects of NEAT are not too much in your control (eg fidgeting), but walking is to a large degree. And for most people, the walking component accounts for a greater caloric burn than exercise itself.

Active lifestyle

While most lifters don’t usually worry about their step count, it's still pretty important! Both for the caloric expenditure as mentioned, but also for health. If your step count is low, even though you’re lifting, you’re still sedentary overall.

If you train for one hour five days a week, and you spend the rest of the day sitting, you’re still sedentary during 96% of your waking hours! (5h vs 112h).

Of course, it’s infinitely better than 100% of your waking hours, but nevertheless, humans have traditionally been active for most of the day in some form or another, and we don’t do well with this level of sedentarism. Regular strength training fights this to a great degree, but not totally.

Here is an awesome graph from a recent study analyzing the dose-response association of daily step count and all-cause mortality. As you can see the benefit is pretty big, although as expected you get diminishing returns at higher levels.

Very important to note that a high activity level is not only important for health in the sense of blood work and longevity but also directly impacts quality of life right now: better mood, energy, and sleep.

Step count levels

These are my step recommendations. There are many free apps for your phone that you can use to count your steps, and many already track them by default.

Great: 12500 steps (Around 2h of walking)

Very good: 10000 steps (Around 1.5h of walking)

Good: 7500 steps (Around 75mins of walking)

Acceptable: 5000 steps (Around 50mins of walking)

Low: 3000 steps (Around 30mins of walking)

Very low: 1000 steps (Around 10mins of walking)

I recommend my clients to aim anywhere from 5000 to 10000 steps. Remember that there are diminishing returns, so it's not worth putting a huge amount of energy and effort into a higher step count if you're already in a good range, especially if it's difficult to pull off in your situation.

Steps are an easy way to track activity outside the gym, but any other type of activity counts as well, like riding a bicycle.

Increasing your activity

While walking isn’t a very demanding activity, doing a lot more than you’re used to can be tiring and potentially cause small injuries if you are heavy. Work on adding 1000 steps per day each week to what you have been currently doing, and keep adding until you're at the desired level.

While I recommend trying to be active in your daily life, it’s understandable that it might be hard to achieve. Here are some ideas to boost your step count:

• Parking far away

• Taking frequent walks

• Use a bathroom far away

• Pace when doing calls

Frequent walks are very underrated. They are especially great because they can serve as a great break during bouts of productivity. You get to refresh your mind while also helping your fat loss and health goals!

You can also compensate on other days so that your weekly average goes up. If you tend to have a low-step count during workdays, you could, for example, go on a bike ride or hike on the weekend.

Personally, the easiest way I found to have a good step count is taking a walk while listening to an audiobook as soon as I wake up. I try doing another one after lunch, but I realize that might be trickier for some people’s schedules. However, a walk in the morning is doable for almost anyone. Just find a method that works for you.