How do health experts get people to go from TV or computer to keep-fit? It’s a growing dilemma as Brits become ever more overweight while also spending more time than is probably necessary sat in front of the TV and computer. The end situation could quite literally be a country that sits all day long in front of a screen and grows ever fatter and less fit collectively.

But there are some health groups trying to make a difference. The other day I came across a computer-based initiative that aims to get across a few salient points about health, fitness and weight via an inventive “Tworkout“. The Tworkout is an on-line game that gives your fingers a workout while at the same time getting you to spell out words related to fitness and health, such as jog, benchpress, accelerate, aqua etc.

Split into four workouts,Warm Up, Cardio, Aerobic and Weights, each section includes a range of words that are required to be spelled out correctly out at top speed. The faster the better, and for those with the fastest (and presumably, fittest) fingers there is a league chart of top scorers. Your efforts are rewarded with a prize.

Of course, there is a bit of a marketing drive behind this on-line game. Nuffield Health, Fitness and Well-being have created the game and the people with the top three scores in the Tworkout  win free  membership for 12, 6 or 3 months at their nearest Nuffield Health Fitness & Wellbeing Centre. The competition closes May 31, 2011, by the way.

The game is quite fun and provides a 10-min distraction during your working day. I can imagine the more competitive spending more time trying to win the highest scores. Hopefully, if they keep on trying, some of the fitness-related words will stick in their heads. Whether this then propels these people to go out and become  more active is another question. Maybe a later survey will ascertain this outcome. Three winners will also gain a handy health centre membership, but it will be up to them to get away from the computer and make use of the facilities.

You need to be signed up/in to twitter to give the Tworkout a go.