Aside from losing weight, a lot of us in the new year want to just get a little fitter. Getting out of breath when climbing the stairs can get a little annoying after all. The reason that many of us don't stick to this one is that the idea of slogging it out at the gym can be a pretty daunting prospect, and most of us would much rather do something like curl up on the sofa or push needles into our eyes than spend an hour on the treadmill. With the World Health Organisation recommending at least 2.5 hours of moderate exercise a week, many will just cite lack of free time and give the whole thing up as a bad job. Well, good news, because the latest research is suggesting that a grueling fitness regime may not be the way to go, and the current thinking is that "anything is better than nothing". It's becoming increasingly clear that a sedentary lifestyle is one of the greatest modern health risks, but studies have found that just 15 minutes a day could make all the difference. If that still sounds daunting, then a study from the University of Utah found that taking a two-minute stroll every hour could add three years to your life. If you wanted to kick it up a notch, the High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is also gaining popularity with time-poor fitness freaks. This consists of short, intense workouts that can have you in and out of the gym in 15 minutes. One UK study found that just 10 minutes of cycling with two 20 second sprints three times a week affords the same cardiovascular fitness as a conventional workout. There, now you've got no excuse.