Staying Fit

Ideas for fitting fitness into daily activities

If you don't have time to get out and exercise the recommended 30 min per day/3-5 days a week, there are always little things you can do throughout the day to stay in shape. One idea I use is to assign specific exercises to each daily task. Here are a few I use:
 While:

• Blow drying hair - calf raises and dead lifts (without the weight)
• Folding clothes out of the dryer - a squat for each item of clothing pulled out
• Washing/Conditioning hair - lunges
• Washing face - squats
• Brushing teeth - glute kickbacks

You can make up your own assignments for tasks that you normally do. Perhaps washing dishes or sorting papers. Here are some more exercise ideas for those tasks:

• One legged squats
• Tricep dips on a chair
• Wall push ups
• Jumping Jacks
• Skaters (similar to jacks but legs go forward and back)

There are also some really good websites especially from fitness magazines that will give you at home or outside/at the gym workouts to try. They are all free. Here are links to a few of them:

• http://www.shape.com/fitness/workouts
• http://www.self.com/fitness
• http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness
• http://runnersworld.com/channel/0,,s6-238-0-0-0,00.html
• http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbmaintrain.htm

 Another tool that help,s is listening to good workout music. The first three site links listed have a section for music playlists as well. They have really good ideas for upbeat music to load onto your ipod and jam to while exercising.

If it's yucky outside, and/or you're a mom and can't get out of the house, or if you just don't feel like going anywhere, there are lots of exercises you can do right in front of the tv watching a favorite program. Keeps you warm while warm and if a mom, good for while kid's asleep/playing/otherwise occupied.
Keep items like hand weights, ankle weights, a stability ball, resistance bands, etc in your living room or bedroom. You can do exercises you know like push ups, sit ups, kick backs, arm raises, chest press, etc. or you can print out one of the workouts from the above fitness links and circuit through them. So easy, just make sure you are sore the next day!

Have stairs in your house? Use them to your full advantage. Take the pledge to always bound up the stairs instead of plodding up them. They are of course always good for a make-shift aerobic step. (Practice some of those moves from Jan, my high school aerobics buddies!)

And of course - run, walk, skip, or jump out there - it's always good to get outside and enjoy the fresh air if you get the chance.

Anyone else have techniques like this that they use to stay in shape? I'm open to ideas!