Anything That Burns Calories Counts

Once upon a time, Harvey B. Simon believed that the only good workout was an intense, cardio-throbbing thrashabout. Now, the Harvard med school professor and editor of Harvard Men’s Health Watch is singing a different song–one whose tempo is a bit closer to adagio. Simon’s latest book, The No Sweat Exercise Plan, urges readers to look around and exploit the normal activities in our daily lives that burn calories. Climbing stairs, raking leaves, even housecleaning. Writing about the book, the Washington Post reports that Simon makes an important distinction between "exercise for health"
(what he is pushing) and "exercise for fitness" — the higher-intensity
cardio and strength training that recreational and serious athletes
need. The book also includes health and fitness assessments, including a
simple calculation for learning your heart attack risk. But the scariest statistics in the book are not about heart attacks: Simon notes that Americans spend an average of 170 minutes per day watching television.