During the Olympics

We are all looking to the London Olympics scheduled from early evening and straight through the night to the morning in Australia you will be spending lots of time on the couch watching the triumphs of some seriously fit and talented men and women. Rather than taking tentative sips from your beer and emptying another packet of chips at 3am with your viewing companions introduce a bit of fitness fun for yourself and your friends during the London Olympics .

Top 5 ways to avoid turning into a couch potato this Olympics.

1. Create your own competition

Whether the winner gets the title, the reputation or perhaps even some money, get the adrenaline flowing and introduce an ad break competition between yourself and your mates. Try to see how many pushups can be done in the ad break, then try sit-ups. Not only are you benefiting from releasing stress hormones (particularly if the competition is tight) but you are also working on key muscles in the body - your abs and core with sit-ups and triceps, shoulders and chest with pushups.

2. Avoid the booze blues

Anyone who has had a hangover knows that alcohol in excess wreaks havoc on your body. But did you know that aside from the toxic effects of alcohol on your system, it also provides you with excess calories? Alcohol has 7 calories (29 kJ) per gram, second only to fat (9 calories/ 37kJ per gram). One standard drink contains 10 grams of alcohol which yields 70 calories from alcohol alone (not to mention sugar also contained in many alcoholic drinks). If you have one standard drink every night of the week, this is equivalent to consuming 5 Tim Tams worth of extra calories per week! So to minimise the amount that you drink, try having a mineral water in between each alcoholic beverage and use low calorie mixes such as coke zero instead of coke.

3. Become a masterchef

Hmm, pizzas - perfect Olympics watching food, but rather than ordering in the calorie rich fast food variety, why not try your hand at making your own they will be healthier fresher and maybe even tastier. Go gourmet and switch the ham and pineapple for rocket, parmesan and prosciutto or try tomato, bocconcini and fresh basil.

4. Leave the car behind

Give yourself a warm up before you settle down to watch the Olympics and do some cardio. Jump on a bike, go for a run or head to the gym – anything that will get the heart pumping.put New guidelines for health in adults under 65 recommending 30 minutes 5 days a week of moderate intensity cardio and strength training twice per week.

5. Get Inspired

Why not find inspiration from the Olympians to try new sports, get back into old sports, or hit the gym to replicate the awesome abs and guns of steel? Life is too short to just be a spectator. You never know what talents you may find.