Keeping Yourself As Fit As Your Heroes

“Shirtless, Blake was magnificent. His muscles were chiseled beneath his glowing tan. He had the physique of a man used to hard work.”

That’s a line from my upcoming novel (Her Hot Number, coming soon!). Fit, toned bodies are the norm for romance novels because they’re sexy. But what about romance writers? Are they as buff as the characters they describe so lovingly?

It’s no secret that writing novels requires large amounts of bum glue, which makes it difficult to keep as fit as some of us might like. And recent research has come up with some scary statistics linking long periods of sitting with a reduced lifespan. The longer you spend sitting down every day, the higher the risk of dying prematurely, even if you engage in regular daily exercise. Adults who sit for more than 11 hours a day have a 40 percent increased risk of dying within 3 years– from any cause– compared with those who sit for less than 4 hours a day. This puts authors right in the hot seat (so to speak)!

There are a range of products coming out to help authors combat this problem. Standing desks are becoming more common, as are products like the Fitbit – a small device you wear that tracks your activity and encourages you to move more. There are even treadmill desks so you can walk and write at the same time!

Personally, I find that after writing for long periods my body is noticeably stiffer and I sometimes suffer from back pain, so I’m heading out to buy a Fitbit tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it goes!

What about you? Are you conscientious about keeping active, or do you find – like me – that you get engrossed in writing a scene and before you know it the day is over and you have to ease your aching joints out of your chair? I’d like to hear how other authors deal with the problem of both keeping fit and keeping up your word count.