CARDS on the table: I really dislike exercise.

So I feel a bit of a fraud that I am a “healthy living pensioner ambassador” for the Somerset Activity and Sports Partnership.

I even have a write-up in a magazine by NHS Somerset.

How have I achieved such recognition? 

Well, I (try to) spend ten minutes in the morning on a cheap Davina McCall exercise bike in the spare room, then I do ten sit ups, ten press ups and ten stretches.

That’s it – and some days I forget!

There was a time that I was better at exercise. I ran my last half marathon when I was 60. But in truth I never really felt any better for it.

People used to talk to me about endorphins – those things that are meant to kick in at some point and give you a boost. Well, I never came across them.

I just got more and more exhausted.

I joined a gym once, but hardly went.

People would ask: “Is the gym working for you?” 

And I’d reply: “Yep… I’m losing 50 pounds every month!” As I get older, I’m trying to do the “right thing”.  Some form of exercise has to be good for you right?

A Pilates instructor once told me that when you reach 60 just practise getting down on the floor and getting up again. 

And work on your balance by standing on one leg (maybe when you clean your teeth). Good advice, because falls are a big issue for older people.

It is the main cause of hospitalisations among the over 60s.

So there you are – words of wisdom from an “ambassador”!

But if, like me, you find exercise more a pain than a pleasure, console yourself with these words from Matthieu Boisgontier, a health researcher from the University of Ottawa: “That disinclination, that voice in your head that says ‘I don’t want to’ is completely normal and natural.”

And, in any case, according to scientists in Holland an adverse reaction to exercise is actually down to your genes – so not your fault.

There – I feel better already!