Making Movement Easier with Chris Boardman #46
This episode features former Olympic gold medalist Chris Boardman, Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Greater Manchester. He discusses enabling people to build movement into their everyday lives by creating safe walking and cycling infrastructure, aiming to reduce the 250 million car journeys under 1km annually. The goal is to empower people to be architects of their own health and reduce inactivity-related costs.
Deep Dive Analysis
14 Topic Outline
The Challenge of Inactivity and Short Car Journeys
Enabling vs. Encouraging Behavioral Change for Active Travel
Chris Boardman's Journey: From Olympic Cyclist to Commissioner
Greater Manchester's Mission for Active Travel and Political Leadership
Designing Infrastructure for People: Relatable Standards
Lessons from the Netherlands: Prioritizing Active Transport and Legislation
The Importance of Ease, Pleasure, and Enjoyment in Behavior Change
Integrating Movement into Everyday Life vs. Formal Exercise
The Role of Public Transport and Reimagining UK Road Design
Reframing Cycling: Beyond Sport and Stereotypes
The Economic and Health Costs of Inactivity and Car Dependence
Community-Led Network Design in Greater Manchester
Chris Boardman's Post-Athletic Career and Current Passions
Practical Tips for Listeners to Increase Daily Movement
6 Key Concepts
Enabling Change
This concept emphasizes providing the necessary conditions, infrastructure, and alternatives for people to adopt new behaviors, rather than solely relying on individual motivation or encouragement. It acknowledges that current environments often make healthy choices difficult or unsafe, requiring systemic changes.
12-Year-Old Test
A design standard for cycling infrastructure, where the quality is sufficient for a competent 12-year-old to use it safely and willingly, and their parent would permit them. This ensures the infrastructure is genuinely safe, appealing, and connected for everyday use, not just for experienced cyclists.
Double Buggy Test
A design standard for walking infrastructure, assessing if a street or path is comfortable and safe enough for someone to walk with a double buggy. This highlights the need for adequate space, smooth, and unobstructed pathways to make walking accessible and pleasant for all.
Presumed Liability Law
A legal principle, exemplified in the Netherlands, where the more vulnerable road user (e.g., pedestrian or cyclist) is presumed not to be at fault in an accident with a less vulnerable user (e.g., car driver), and the less vulnerable user is liable unless they can prove otherwise. This encourages greater care from those operating larger vehicles.
Building Movement into Everyday Life
An approach to physical activity that integrates movement seamlessly into daily routines and tasks, rather than scheduling dedicated 'exercise' sessions. This makes physical activity easier, more pleasant, and sustainable, avoiding it becoming a chore that is easily abandoned.
Cycle Lanes for Car Users
A reframing of the purpose of dedicated cycling infrastructure, suggesting they are primarily for people who currently drive cars to provide them with a safe and appealing alternative mode of transport. The idea is that existing cyclists are already using bikes, but new infrastructure aims to convert car users.
7 Questions Answered
People often don't feel safe doing anything else, especially for things like the school run, due to the number of cars on the road, creating a circular effect where more cars make it less safe for active travel.
The key is to enable people by creating safe, protected, and connected spaces for active travel, making it easier, more pleasant, and more appealing than driving a car for short journeys.
Primary barriers include a lack of perceived safety, particularly for children, the ingrained habit of using cars, and infrastructure that is not joined up or pleasant to use, making active travel feel like a chore.
By using simple, relatable design standards like the 'competent 12-year-old test' for cycling and the 'double buggy test' for walking, ensuring infrastructure is safe, connected, and desirable for all users, not just a niche group.
Excellent public transport is critical for covering the 'middle bit' of journeys, allowing people to complete the 'first and last miles' by walking or cycling without needing a car for the entire trip, especially if it's dependable and frequent.
Using terms like 'people using bikes' instead of 'cyclists' helps humanize the mode of transport and avoids creating an 'us vs. them' mentality, which can be detrimental to promoting wider adoption of active travel.
The total cost of doing nothing, which includes collisions, pollution, and poor health resulting from car travel, amounts to £3.75 billion a year across the UK.
16 Actionable Insights
1. Integrate Movement Into Daily Life
Instead of forcing yourself to ’exercise’ if you don’t enjoy it, focus on building movement naturally into your everyday life. This approach makes physical activity sustainable and less like a chore.
2. Implement Small Activity Changes
Become the architect of your own health by immediately implementing small, actionable changes to build more activity into your life, such as getting off the bus one stop earlier or taking a 15-minute lunchtime walk.
3. Prioritize Stairs Over Escalators
Make it a personal rule to always choose stairs over escalators or lifts as your first option, unless there’s a compelling reason not to, to consistently build movement into your day.
4. Propose “Walk and Talk” Meetings
When scheduling meetings, propose a ‘walk and talk’ instead of a sedentary meeting to build movement into your day and change habits around travel. This can facilitate conversation while incorporating physical activity.
5. Do Opportunistic Bodyweight Exercises
Incorporate short bursts of bodyweight exercises, like press-ups or sit-ups, throughout your day wherever you happen to be. This makes physical activity easy and sustainable without needing to go to a gym.
6. Factor In Simple, Short Exercise
Instead of aiming for long, dedicated exercise sessions, factor in simple, short bursts of physical activity whenever you can. This approach makes movement more sustainable and adaptable to busy lifestyles.
7. Initiate Small Behavioral Pilots
To change behavior, start with small, manageable ‘pilot’ schemes like walking to work once a day or trying a park run. This reduces commitment pressure and increases the likelihood of trying and continuing if the experience is positive.
8. Pilot Active Travel Habits
Create a personal ‘pilot scheme’ for active travel, such as exploring quiet routes by bike or foot for an hour once a week for a month. This allows you to try new habits in a manageable way without overwhelming commitment.
9. Exercise With Others
Engage in physical activities with friends or colleagues, as community and positive peer pressure can make it easier to maintain new habits and provide camaraderie.
10. Share Active Experiences
Engage in physical activities with others to create shared experiences that are more enjoyable and can help sustain your commitment to movement.
11. Take Office Stairs Daily
In an office setting, make it a collective habit to take the stairs daily, especially if on higher floors. This builds movement into the workday and leverages positive peer pressure for sustained activity.
12. Enhance Stairwell Appeal
To encourage stair use, improve the attractiveness of stairwells with decorations or motivational messages, making them a more appealing option than lifts.
13. Optimize Exercise Type & Dose
Determine the right type and dose of exercise that fits your lifestyle to avoid over-exercising, which can cause more stress. Learn how to make appropriate changes for optimal health benefits.
14. Manage Stress Proactively
Identify where stress is present in your life and implement simple, achievable strategies to lower your stress levels. This will help you live a happier and calmer life.
15. Sign Up For Energy Series
Sign up for Dr. Chatterjee’s free six-part video series at drchatjee.com/energy to help increase your energy and get more out of life.
16. Support Podcast: Review & Share
Support the podcast by leaving a review on your listening platform, taking a screenshot to share on social media, or simply telling friends and family about the show.
7 Key Quotes
It's not just about encouraging people to change, we have to enable them to.
Chris Boardman
It's brilliant, what an opportunity that we have to change so little to have such a significant impact on all of the problems that we face.
Chris Boardman
I'm a distinctly normal person these days. You know, I exemplify normal, just ordinary, in fact. And so I do represent, I mean, I just do the same things as everybody else.
Chris Boardman
If it isn't easy and pleasant, I'm not going to do it.
Chris Boardman
Don't exercise, but build movement into your everyday life.
Chris Boardman
If people feel they need a bulletproof vest at the moment, I get that, but I shouldn't be selling them. I should be trying to stop people shooting at you.
Chris Boardman
The bicycle is right up there with the printing press. It is liberation. It is freedom.
Chris Boardman
2 Protocols
Greater Manchester Active Travel Network Design Process
Chris Boardman- Bring together representatives from each of the 10 districts/boroughs with a map.
- Participants draw on the map where they currently cannot ride a bike or wouldn't let a 12-year-old ride, or where they wouldn't want to walk with a double buggy.
- Identify problem areas (e.g., busy roads) and desired crossing points or quiet road connections.
- Identify key routes for protected bike lanes where many people want to go.
- Develop a draft plan for each district in a short session (e.g., 1.5 hours), without the core team touching a pen.
- Consolidate district plans and release them to the public online for feedback and further input.
- Build the network based on public input, ensuring it meets the '12-year-old test' and 'double buggy test' criteria.
Personal Movement Integration Strategy
Chris Boardman- Do not aim for 'exercise' if it feels like a chore; instead, build movement into everyday life.
- Identify opportunities for movement during daily routines (e.g., walking for work, biking to the station, doing floor exercises at home, pull-ups on a tree).
- Start with a 'pilot scheme' by committing to a manageable, short-term goal (e.g., explore for one hour, once a week, for a month).
- Involve other people to create social pressure and shared enjoyment, making adherence more likely.