Want to try a simple fitness challenge? It can stand alone or compliment other diet and fitness goals. It is simply to perform a minimum of one hour moderate exercise every day, or the equivalent.

It is a great little goal because it is easy to achieve and addresses the most important aspect of health, regular exercise. If you want to live longer, it is far more important to achieve physical fitness than it is to achieve normal body weight.

Reasonable physical fitness can be obtained through regular moderate exercise. The medical profession recommends between 30 and 60 min per day of moderate exercise, depending on your weight. 60 minutes, or its equivalent, is obviously better and very achievable when integrated into everyday living.

Moderate exercise is defined as 3 to 6 Metabolic Equivalent Tasks, or METS. One MET is defined as the the resting metabolic rate—the amount of oxygen consumed sitting quietly in a chair. Activity at 3 METS requires three times the resting metabolism.

3 METs is equivalent to very light cycling, or Pilates, or light gardening. Walking is 3.3 METS, as is vacuuming the house. Hiking a trail is 6 METS, as is a friendly game of basketball. The Compendium of Physical Activities lists MET values for everything from Eskimo Olympics to sexual activity.

A MET-minute is the MET value of an activity multiplied by the number of minutes performed. So a one hour walk is 3.3 x 60 = 198 MET-minutes, and a half hour trail hike is 6 x 30 = 180 METs, and so on. Simply look up the MET of your activity in the compendium, multiply it by the minutes spent and jot it down in your diary or exercise log. After you get an idea of what 180 MET-minutes feels like you won't even need to record it—just do the activity.

Your challenge is to perform a minimum of 180 MET-minutes per day, EVERY DAY. Ride to work, walk the dog, shoot hoop with the kids, do some laps … there are a hundred ways to accumulate 180 MET-minutes.

Have fun and please let me know your favourite 180 MET-minute activities.