Five More Ways To Sneak Movement Into Your Day
What do you think “counts” as exercise? Do you have to do it for a certain amount of time and in a certain location? Do you need specialized equipment? Does your heart rate need to reach a certain level?
Hopefully you can guess where I’m going here… you do NOT need to exercise in a certain way, in a certain place, and for a certain amount of time for it to “count”.
Your body doesn’t know where you are or what you’re wearing! All movement counts and it all adds up!
I’ve spoken to many people who have a very narrow view of exercise. I’ve seen that mindset hold them back from creating a positive relationship with exercise and with their bodies.
When we break free from that narrow definition of exercise and instead start taking every opportunity to move, we can rekindle the connection between our bodies and minds, find joy and purpose in movement, feel better, and improve our physical and mental health!
I previously posted an article with five strategies for sneaking more movement into your day. You can find it here.
Here are five more strategies to help you move more and protect your health.
Move While Doing Your Usual Habits
We all have habits, which are things we do automatically each day. You can leverage those habits by adding some movement to them. It won't take any extra time since you would be doing these things anyway, and soon movement itself will become a habit.
Here are some ideas:
Squat while brushing your teeth.
Do counter push ups while waiting for water to boil for your morning cup of tea.
Lunge each time you need to get something out of a low cabinet.
Stand up every time you take a phone call.
Put your socks and shoes on standing up.
To learn more about the science of habits, check out my full article with a step-by-step system for building healthy habits that will help you achieve your fitness goals.
Make Your Leisure Time More Active
We’re all busy. For many people, their leisure time is precious.
I understand the urge to spend your leisure time sitting, but it’s incredibly worthwhile to devote some of your down-time to being active.
You can create important memories and recharge your batteries with activity. Go for a family bike ride or hike, play active games, go for a walk while chatting with a friend.
This is especially important if you have kids. It sets a great example about prioritizing your health, builds a positive relationship with exercise (it can be fun!), and helps them ingrain healthy habits.
Use Your Home As A Gym
I’m not referring to at-home workouts, although those are good too. By “use your home as a gym”, I mean doing a rep or two of a specific exercise throughout the day, using prompts in your home (or office) as a reminder.
This is based on a strategy called “greasing the groove”, which is a great way to build strength. To utilize this strategy, you complete a few reps of a strength exercise, very frequently. If you want to get better at push ups, you would do just 2 or 3 perfect push ups every few hours.
By completing a few reps at a time without reaching fatigue, you train the neural connections between your brain and muscles. Strengthening your “mind to muscle” connection is essential for building strength.
This method only takes a minute or two at a time, and it won't make you tired or sweaty.
How to start “greasing the groove”:
Decide on a strength exercise you want to work on. Push ups, pull ups, and squats are good options. Then set up a “station” somewhere in your home or workplace.
Let’s say you want to work on squats. You might designate a certain chair in your kitchen as a squat chair. Every time you walk past that chair, do 1 or 2 squats, lowering yourself so your glutes just touch the chair.
For push ups, it could be a kitchen counter or the front of your desk. Every time you walk past that spot, do just 2 or 3 push ups.
For pull ups, you can get an inexpensive doorway pull up bar and mount it in a doorway you use often. Every time you pass through that door, do just 1 or 2 pull ups.
Make The Most Of Your Wait
Next time you’re waiting for an appointment to start or for your dishwasher to finish, use that as a prompt to move.
At an appointment, ask the receptionist to call you when they’re ready and go for a walk down the hall or around the building.
Do calf raises. Standing calf raises might look a little strange in the checkout line, but remind yourself that it's worth looking silly if it means protecting your health! If that doesn’t convince you, skip the standing calf raises and do seated ones in a chair. This version is much more discreet. Simply press your toes into the floor and raise your heels, then lower your heels back to the floor and repeat.
Practice core activation. While seated in a waiting room or stopped at a traffic light, practice bracing your core and breathing into your belly. A strong core is essential for proper exercise performance and for protecting your back and preventing pain. It only takes a few minutes of muscle activation at a time to get better at it!
Have An “Exercise Snack”
I love a good long workout, but exercise doesn’t have to take a long time. There’s a growing movement of people who complete some or all of their exercise in short bursts, known as “exercise snacks”.
A recent study found that just 1 to 2 minutes of high-intensity exercise had a significant impact on life expectancy.
Researchers used wearable devices to track the activity levels of more than 25,000 people for 7 years. Those who performed 3 or 4 bouts of short and intense activity (think sprinting up the stairs), each day had up to a 40 percent reduction in death from all causes and up to a 49 percent reduction in death from cardiovascular disease.
The ‘greasing the groove” strategy is a good example of incorporating exercise snacks into your day, with a strength focus.
For cardio, the same principle applies. Take just a couple of minutes to devote to getting your heart rate up. It doesn't matter how you do it, just get moving!
I hope these tips help you become more active throughout your day, and that you notice how great it feels to move!