Health
10 Quick Fitness Tips for When You Have No Time for Exercise
Finding time to exercise can be hard, especially if you don’t particularly enjoy it. But working out doesn’t mean you need to make a trip to the gym. There are plenty of things you can do to fit little bit of exercise into your day without really noticing.
- Get your heart pumping and tone those thighs at the same time by getting up and down from a sturdy upright chair without using your hands. Do as many as you can in 30 seconds. Once this gets easy, try it for one minute and try to improve your score.
- Even if it’s raining and you can’t get out to walk you have the perfect piece of gym equipment in your home — the stairs! Walk up and down stairs ten times every day, and try to do this consecutively if you want an aerobic workout.
- When you’re in the shower, do some heel raises at the same time. Lift up your heels and hold for a few seconds, then lower them down slowly. You can really feel your calf muscles working and it’s great for boosting circulation.
- Improve your grip strength by wringing out wet laundry. Squeeze and twist your wrists in both directions carefully without holding your breath. Or as an alternative, try ripping up the newspaper into smaller and smaller pieces until it gets too difficult to continue.
- Every time you walk past a mirror, do a posture check. Look at yourself from the side and make sure your abdominal muscles are tight, shoulders are back and down, chin is level, and you feel like you’re standing as tall as you can to lengthen through the spine. Keep practicing until this becomes your natural way to stand.
- Talking on the phone? Don’t sit — stand up instead (or walk around as you talk).
- If you can’t get to an exercise class, put some lively music on and dance around the house. This will burn calories and cheer you up, too.
- When you have a dull moment (say when the commercials come on TV or you’re waiting at a red light), remember to do your pelvic floor exercises. Squeeze and lift your internal muscles as if you were trying to stop mid-flow, hold for up to 5 seconds and repeat. Aim to do 10 repetitions at least three times a day.
- When you go shopping for groceries, rather than use a cart, see if you can carry two equally weighted bags back to the car or bus to keep your arms and shoulders strong. Remember to tighten up your core muscles as you lift.
- Think about your breathing when you wake up or go to sleep. As you lie on your back place a magazine on top your abdomen just under your ribs. If you’re using your diaphragm to breathe properly the mag will gently rise and fall. Don’t breathe too deeply or quickly.
This article was originally written by Yours editors. For more, check out our sister site, Yours.
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