You don’t have to go to the gym for an hour a day to get the exercise you need. Here are 10 easy ways to add a little exercise into your day:
- Bike or walk to work: This may not be feasible for some, but biking or walking is a great way to get a ton of exercise. In cities, you might even get there faster.
- Watch TV on an exercise bike: Do you read the paper every morning or watch TV every night? If so, you might as well do it while on an exercise bike.
- Use the stairs: Of course, this won’t work if you’re on the first floor, but taking the stairs is a great way to sneak in some exercise.
- Add push ups and squats throughout your day: It takes less that 30 seconds to do a set of push ups or squats. So, find ways to squeeze them into your day. For example, you could do push ups every time you stand up from a couch or chair at home.
- Use a standing or treadmill desk: Time spend sitting has been associated with mortality and other negative health outcomes, even independent of physical activity. That means if you regularly workout, you still face health risks from sitting down while working all day. To fix this problem you can turn a bar into a standing desk area or antibiotics antibacterials on top of pre-existing desks. It costs some money, but treadmill desks are another option.
- Park further away: Whenever you park somewhere, park at the end of the lot instead of in the closest possible spot. If you live in a city, this could mean walking to lunch at a place a mile away instead of in your building.
- Hold walking meetings: Another way to reduce sitting (and increase activity at the same time) is to start walking meetings. Here’s a TED talk from a woman who walks 20-30 miles a week during meetings. She also noticed that ideas flow a lot better during these walking meetings.
- Walk and talk: Some people naturally do this, but you should also consider walking while you’re on the phone (could be a ton of miles for some people).
- Squats while holding your baby: Might as well do some squats while you’re holding your baby. The great thing about this is that the resistance will naturally increase as your baby grows.
- Athletic outings: Instead of meeting up with friends or co-workers at bars, start meeting up on the golf course, tennis court or at a 5K.
Just because you work long hours, have kids or otherwise have little free time in the day doesn’t mean you can’t get some exercise. Let us know if you have any other creative ideas in the comments below!