Here’s the easiest training boost you’ve never considered
NEAT is the acronym for the ordinary movements you do between runs, as part of daily life–and it matters more than you think
It’s a weird runner problem many of us face: you crush your scheduled Tuesday-morning tempo run, but spend the rest of the day folded into a chair, staring at a screen. Training might be going fine, but everything around training is largely stillness. NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is the fix that you are probably ignoring, and one that will never be uploaded to Strava—the everyday steps, stairs, chores and errands that don’t count as “exercise,” but that can really make a difference to both your general health and your running performance.
Before this starts sounding like one more thing to optimize: don’t get discouraged. If you’re already running regularly, you’re ahead of the game. NEAT isn’t meant to replace or overload training; it’s simply there as a useful tool to support it.
What is NEAT, exactly?
NEAT involves calories burned (and general body benefit) from everyday movement that isn’t part of a structured workout. We’re talking about walking around the house, carrying groceries, taking the stairs, standing while you cook a meal, doing laundry… it’s the daily activities that don’t look like scheduled training, but that still count as time spent moving.
Why runners should care
If you run a few times a week, you probably wouldn’t call yourself “sedentary.” Fair. The sneaky part is that a solid training routine can still sit on top of a day that barely involves any movement at all—you go from your desk to sitting at dinner, then watching Netflix on the couch, then bed… and repeat. NEAT is the easy lever here: just nudging up those little pockets of movement so your body isn’t only “alive” during workouts. One large study that followed more than 45,000 women for 20 years found that more sedentary time was linked with lower odds of healthy aging, while more light activity was linked with better odds. In fact, swapping one hour of TV time for light activity was associated with a greater likelihood of healthy aging, no “training session” required. Research is clear that more light movement and less sitting equals better health, and better health directly translates to better performance.
How to build NEAT today
Start small and make it part of your day. Take a short walk after a meal, stand up for the low-focus parts of your workday, pace while you’re on calls, take the stairs (or at least some stairs) when you have the option or do a quick lap around the block before you settle in for the night. Light movement is the whole idea, and it doesn’t have to be drastic or impressive to make a difference.
