Keeping fit

BBC Learning EnglishWeekenderKeeping fitCallum: Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is Weekender.
　　Today, Friday April 7th is World Health Day. A day promoted by the WorldHealth Organisation 1 to raise awareness 2 of health issues around the world.
　　This got me thinking about my own health and fitness and that of my colleagues. Do we take good care of our bodies? Do we try and stay fit. I asked my colleagues what they do to keep fit and healthy. Listen out for the things that they say, how many different things are mentioned?
　　ColleaguesI go to the gym very sporadically 3 and I don't own a car so I walk everywhere and I walk very fast.
　　To keep fit I cycle to and from work everyday, so I feel that keeps me pretty fit. But sometimes I also go to the gym.
　　Well the main thing I do is I go to the gym and I go pretty much like clockwork because I do think it's important to go regularly.
　　I don't really do anything to keep fit and healthy.
　　I do a lot of walking and I try to go to the gym when I can but unfortunately I haven't actually been for a while.
　　Well I'll tell you one thing I don't do, I never go to gyms, I don't like gyms at all. In the summer I play tennis but I'll tell you what I do every day – I walk my kids to school. That's about a three kilometre walk, that's pretty good!
　　I try to go to the gym every week if I can, but I haven't actually been for the last three weeks,so that's pretty bad.
　　Callum: There 4 different things mentioned there, did you catch them all? There wascycling, walking, playing tennis and a lot of mentions of going to, and not going to the gym there. Matt, the first speaker talked about going 'sporadically' to the gym, which means, not going very often, not regularly. Jackie, on the other hand likes to go regularly, she says she goes like clockwork. Elena and Helen both try to go to the gym but not really seem to manage and Doug doesn't go at all.
　　I have to say that I am a member of a gym, but recently I haven't been going regularly. I do cycle about 24 kilometres a day – but I wish I was more dedicated 4 in going to the gym. To help regain 5 my motivation I went and talked to someone who goes to the gym every day. That's right, every day. He's Rodney Mitchell, manager of a local gym. I asked him what he does to keep fit. He talks about training, which is doing exercises and weight training, which is lifting heavy weights to build up your muscles and also cardio exercises.
　　Cardio is short for Cardio Vascular 6 – which describes exercises which are good for your heart and lungs. Listen to Rodney, how often and how long does he train.
　　Rodney Mitchell 1I train on a good week, four times a week and each session will last about an hour, I have a, mainly train doing resistance training, weight training. And a little cardio, not as much as I should but a little cardio.
　　Callum: Rodney trains for about an hour, four times a week! That's a lot more than everybody I spoke 7 to! I asked him how important he thought doing regular exercise and keeping fit is.
　　Rodney MitchellWell I feel that it is relatively 8 important as there are lots of health benefits to be gained from exercise. As we see increasingly now people are becoming more and more obese 9 so to put in a small amount of exercise can help to reduce a person's calories and so forth 10, so yea, on a health aspect on also the general well-being 11 you get from exercise I'd recommend it.
　　Callum: He thinks that doing exercise is good for your health, it can help you lose weight by burning calories – calories is the term for the energy we get from food. Doing exercise, he says, can also give you a sense of 'general well-being', which is when you feel good in yourself.
　　Finally I asked him for some simple advice for getting and staying fit, things that everyone can do, even if they cant 12' get to a gym. So listen out now for some fitness tips.
　　Rodney MitchellA general, easy thing for most people to do is to go for maybe a walk in the park. If you usually take the bus and it would really take you 10 minutes to walk to where you needed to get to, try and incorporate that into your lifestyle. Lifts in a building where you work in, take the stairs instead of the lift. If you work on say the sixth floor and you think walking up six flights of stairs is too much then maybe take the lift to the third floor then walk up three flights, and so forth.
　　Callum: Some excellent advice there – go for a walk, don't take the bus for short journeys and use the stairs and not the lifts.
　　Well all that talk of exercise makes me want to get out and do something – so I'm going to hop 13 on my bicycle and head home. Hope you have a good and healthy weekend.