Want to get some rewards for getting active? NHS England has partnered with former Olympic medallist Sir Brendan Foster to create the 'Movement 26.2' scheme, designed to incentivize people to get active and log walks digitally to achieve rewards.

By logging 20-30 minutes of walking each day, the idea is that participants will have walked around 26.2 miles at the end of each month — equivalent to a marathon.

Details around the scheme are thin on the ground at the moment, but here's everything we know so far — including the technology you'll need.

What is the 'Movement 26.2' scheme?

Announced this morning (July 3) by Foster, who founded the Great North Run, the scheme is designed to incentivize and reward people to get active by encouraging people to complete daily walking targets, logged via their smart tech.

We know the UK Government is talking to high-street brands to help add 'discounts and shopping vouchers' into the mix, as well as digital rewards like streaks and badges, presumably delivered via an app.

You can probably expect longer streaks to earn freebies and special offers at high-street coffee chains and restaurants (although that might rather defeat the purpose) or vouchers to be spent at retailers.

When does the scheme start?

According to the BBC, the scheme is set to start 'early next year', although dates are to be confirmed at this stage.

What equipment do you need to track your steps?

The BBC article linked above states that 'users will be able to log their walks online, or through their phone or smartwatch.' Users will reportedly also be able to log walks online via browser.

While the best smartwatches and best fitness trackers are great for counting steps, you will be able to do it with the phone in your pocket too, as all modern smartphones have built-in pedometer functionalities. One advantage of smartwatches is that some models, such as the best Garmin watches, now have wheelchair modes that translate distances covered by wheelchairs from steps into an equivalent number of daily pushes. So in theory, wheelchair users can take part too.

Details of how exactly the logging is going to work are currently scarce, but 'will be revealed in the coming months'. I assume there will be a dedicated Movement 26.2 app, perhaps with the ability to piggyback onto apps like Apple Health, Samsung Health or Google Health to share your step count. But this is just conjecture at this stage.

Otherwise, you'll just need some comfortable clothes and shoes. If you plan to run instead of walk, you can check out our best running shoes guide.

• The Withings BodyFit scale finally lands in the UK and Europe after its US launch
• Its body composition scanning feature is said to be 'DEXA-level' implying pinpoint accuracy
• The scale is also allegedly ideal at GLP-1 drug users who are prioritising keeping muscle while losing fat

Health technology company Withings announced it will be launching the Withings BodyFit smart scale in the UK and Europe, priced at £229.95. Said to be a "segmental body composition scale", the smart scale will calculate your ratio of fat, muscle and bone using a technique called Bioelectrical Impedance Spectroscopy (BIS).

Similar to Biometric Impedence Analysis used by more of the best smart scales, BIS tech sends a harmless electrical current through your body, which moves through fat, muscle and bone at different speeds. Using this information, the Withings BodyFit can calculate how much of each material is in your body. Clever.

The Withings BodyFit uses a retractable handle for more contact points, said to provide body composition measurement as accurate as a medical-grade DEXA scan, calculating fat mass with up to 99% accuracy and muscle mass with up to 98% accuracy. The scale provides fitness goals, a calorie tracker, cardiovascular insights, nutrition logging and lots more. It's essentially a fitness tracker you can stand on, taking you on a 'personalised body composition health journey' with tips accessible in the Withings app.

The GLP-1 connection

The interesting bit is Withings is recommending its scale to a group of people who are most concerned about maintaining muscle mass, and no, it's not bodybuilders. It's GLP-1 users, who are taking drugs like Wegovy (the UK's most common GLP-1, equivalent to the more famous Ozempic in the US) to help dramatically curb weight loss. Wegovy contains the same active ingredient as Ozempic — semaglutide — which stabilizes blood sugar and signals to the brain that you're full.

With muscle analysis based on six 'zones' in your body, Withings says 'For GLP-1 users, Withings BodyFit provides the precise, actionable insights to ensure weight loss targets fat while actively protecting crucial muscle mass'.

The idea is that while taking these drugs and dramatically losing weight, you can maintain functionality in your body by doing workouts that prioritise maintaining and gaining muscle mass, and check you're on track with the scale's advanced muscle-scanning tech.

Muscle and fat

Building and maintaining muscle is an important part of any healthy weight loss journey. While some people will welcome the aid of GLP-1 medications, especially those that are unable to burn calories with intense exercise due to joint or disability issues, others will want to do it the way it's always been done — sweat equity.

Muscle weighs more than fat, so a reliable smart scale like the BodyFit can help shift the goalposts of weight loss (and weight gain) success from a simple number on a scale to adjusting your body's percentages of fat and muscle.

While such detail can in some extreme cases create obsessive behaviour, for most people it's going to make getting healthier easier long-term, as it's more about having some functional muscle than it is about how much you weigh.