3 minute read
Professor Greg Whyte OBE talks about the health benefits of getting active outside and shares his advice for anyone looking to get started exercising in the great outdoors.
Not just content with being an Olympian with both European and World Championship medals in modern pentathlon, Professor Greg Whyte is a world-renowned sports scientists with an OBE for services to charity and sport to boot.
Applying a lifetime of outdoor exercise and his expertise in sports science, Greg has successfully trained and coached celebrities in no less than 23 Sport & Comic Relief Challenges since 2006. Including helping David Walliams to swim the channel and Eddie Izzard to complete 43 marathons in 50 days! Through this hard work and dedication, Greg has helped raise a whopping £35 million for charity.
Passionate about open water swimming since his father first took him to the river as a boy, Greg is a firm believer that exercising outdoors significantly increases its effectiveness:
“We know that physical activity reduces all-cause mortality, this means a reduction in cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, but also things like cancer are lower in people who are physically active.
Add on top of that we get mental and emotional health benefits, we also get social benefits as we invariably do exercise with other people.
The great thing about outdoors is it takes those benefits and actually elevates them, particularly when it comes to emotional and mental health. There’s research that shows we can improve that just by simply taking our exercise from the indoors into the great outdoors."
Here are Greg’s top tips for getting active outdoors:
1. Get started!
One thing that often stops us is getting outside the door. Remember, there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad equipment!
2. Do it with someone else
Have an exercise buddy. On those days when you’re not feeling motivated they can motivate you and visa-versa. Doing it with somebody makes a really big difference.
3. Choose an exercise that you love
There is often a push for us to do what everyone else is doing, whether that’s running or cycling; if they’re not your thing don’t do it! Do something you really love.
4. Try something new
Just because you’ve never done something before doesn’t mean you won’t love it!
5. Seek advice
Get the right advice. If there is a club that you can belong to or if there is a group already doing it, then get involved with that. This will help you learn a lot of information about your chosen activity, ensuring that you’re not only exercising outdoors but you are doing it safely and as well as you possibly can.
The most important thing is: Get started, get outdoors!