Too busy to exercise? Here’s how to meet all your targets in just two days

Remember to tick off both cardio and resistance

“If your goal is to exercise for general health, then you need to cover two forms of exercise: cardio and resistance training,” says Dr Michael Graham, senior lecturer in sport and exercise at Teeside University.

Cardio, he explains, is an aerobic activity that raises your heart rate and makes you breathe faster – “anything from brisk walking to running or cycling”. In exercising your heart and lungs this way, you are “helping to prevent a wide variety of health conditions, from high blood pressure to type two diabetes and heart disease”.

Resistance training, on the other hand, is “anything that involves using your muscular strength to move or generate force against an object”, says Graham. You might immediately think of hefting weights at the gym, but body weight exercises, such as planks and push-ups do the job just as well. This sort of exercise improves your muscle strength and tone, maintains your balance and, in building stronger, denser bones, helps fight against osteoporosis.

If covering both sounds a mammoth task, do not panic: “We need to move away from the concept of having to go to the gym and engage in a really structured, formal programme of activities, because a lot of people are put off by that environment, or feel they don’t have time to get there,” he says. There are plenty of other ways to fit these exercises into your weekend, without too much disruption.