12 Feb Top 5 active date ideas for Valentine’s Day
Give the gift of health this Valentine’s Day! Get moving with your partner and give your heart (and sweetheart) a Valentine’s Day to remember.
Exercise Right’s top five ways to move with your partner this Valentine’s Day:
- Racket Sports: Tennis, badminton, squash, and racquet ball – the possibilities are endless and the joy of all of these sports is you will both get a good cardiovascular workout whilst being able to brag about being king or queen of the court.
- Hiking: Our country is blessed with thousands of national parks and well mapped walking paths that are there waiting to be enjoyed. Why not make it a date and head off into nature with a compass, good walking shoes and a picnic to celebrate.
- Rock Climbing: Indoor rock climbing is an excellent way to improve your strength and fitness and also requires the input of your partner. Whilst one of you is climbing the other belays the ropes.
- Kayaking: With 35,000kms of Australian coastline, getting your hands on a double kayak is an excellent way to improve your cardiovascular fitness and strength whilst enjoying the natural beauty of the sea.
- Long walks on the beach: Not being ironic – it’s true! If sports is not your thing, just making the time to enjoy exercise for 30 minutes a day with your partner will add years to your life.
Exercise Right is setting the challenge to loved-up couples around Australia this Valentine’s Day: if you want to help your partner live a longer, healthier life, then start moving yourself!
Research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has found that if one half of a couple improves their exercise levels, the other half is more likely to follow suit.
This study interviewed over 3,261 couples about their physical activity levels over a period of six years. Of the people they interviewed only 45% percent of husbands and 33% of wives in the study group met the national recommendations for weekly exercise.
The results showed that when a wife met recommended levels of exercise at the first visit, her husband was 70 percent more likely to meet those levels at subsequent visits than those whose wives were less physically active. When a husband met recommended exercise levels, his wife was 40 percent more likely to meet the levels at follow-up visits.
What this reveals to us is that one of the key components to maintaining an active lifestyle is to have the support of your partner. We are not just talking about moral support we mean, both of you have to get out there and get moving!
Exercising with your partner should be fun so try and think outside the square when it comes to exercise, try new activities that will challenge you both and help your overall health and who knows, it might improve your love life!
It’s also important to remember to exercise the right way for your needs, if you have an existing health condition or are worried about starting a new exercise regime then talk to your local GP or an accredited exercise physiologist who can give you the expert advice on how to get started.
Did you know that getting hot and heavy with your significant other can pass as “moderate exercise”?
According to a Canadian study, sex sessions that ranged from 10 to 57 minutes, including foreplay, qualified as a 6-MET activity burning four calories per minute for men and 5.6-MET activity burning three calories per minute for women. That’s the equivalent, of playing doubles tennis or walking uphill!
