We all know regular exercise is vital, as it contributes greatly to our healing and staying healed, maintaining our mental health, boosting our energy, slowing aging, keeping our cognition sharp, getting better sleep, etc., etc., etc.
Yet, for a lot of us, getting exercise on a regular basis is not always easy. Let’s face it, life often gets in the way. The good news is we don’t have to run five miles every day or spend hours in the gym if that’s just not a possibility, which for the majority of us, it isn’t.
While our bodies benefit most from regular and consistent exercise, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, especially when you’re just starting out. If you have been struggling with making exercise a priority by getting into (or getting back into) a consistent routine, my hope is that the below strategies can help you start to incorporate more movement into your day.
Here are five strategies for increasing your health by getting more exercise throughout the day.
1. Use your legs for transportation - This is admittedly easier for us city folks since in urban areas a lot of places you need to get to are likely to be walkable. That being said, if you usually jump on a bus or a scooter to go several blocks to work or run an errand, can you build in an extra 10 minutes to walk those blocks instead? And for you suburbanites, consider reevaluating how much you use your car and if you always need to drive somewhere. If the grocery store is one mile away and you just need a couple items, can you safely walk there instead of drive? Leaving the car at home once or twice a week has not just health benefits, but planet benefits as well. And if you do feel the need to drive, can you park far away, like on the other side of the shopping center or even at the other side of an adjacent shopping center? Even just a little walking is WAY better than none at all.
2. Walk like you’re late for something - Speaking of walking, the faster you go, the more health benefits you can receive. When I walk, I like to BOOK IT. I mean it, I really move my short little legs in order to get that blood pumping. I’ve heard this described as “walk like you’re late for something” – so perfect! I’ve never understood the slow walking “meandering” types that often plague my city sidewalks (and getting trapped behind them is one of my biggest pet peeves!) as walking fast has a double benefit - more substantial exercise AND I get to places wayyyy faster! Whatever your walking speed, try challenging yourself to move a little more quickly. So, if you see me out there hauling ass down the sidewalk, I’m probably not late, I’m just taking advantage of my errand running opportunity to get maximum exercise benefits.
3. Shun convenience - Our society tends to be set up for maximal comfort and convenience, which unfortunately translates to less movement and less health on our part. Beyond intentionally using our cars less or parking really far away when we do use them, there are other things we can do to shun convenience and increase exercise. Take the stairs instead of the elevator whenever possible - simple yet super effective. And again, errands are a great opportunity to get more exercise - instead of ordering something off Amazon, take the extra step of getting up and walking to the store to pick up and carry home what you need. When chilling on the couch, leave the remote control or your phone on the other side of the room so that every time you want to use one of them you have to get up and move a bit. Even with small things like this, it all adds up to more movement. This is also applicable to hiring out jobs that are inconvenient such as cleaning the house, shoveling snow, or doing yard work - instead of always paying someone else to do those things, consider building time into your week to do them yourself in order to up your exercise time, and save a bunch of money to boot!
4. Make yourself a daily challenge list - if you are a lover of list-checking like me, this idea might be a really fun motivator for you. On days when I know I won’t be getting to the gym or out for a good long walk, I write up a list of multiple exercises that I can do at home instead in order to keep moving and continue to grow stronger and healthier. Here’s an example of one of my lists -
- 3 sets of 10 Chair Squats (where I sit down super slowly and hold and hover just above the chair for 10 seconds before sitting) - great for the butt and legs.
- 45 push ups (knees down are A-OK!) - strengthens shoulders, back, chest, arms, and core.
- 45 ab crunches - works those tummy muscles.
- 40 dips (I set two chairs a few feet apart and put my feet up on one then my hands on the other and “dip” down slowly using my arms) - hits those triceps hard.
- 3 pull-up bar sets (I have an inexpensive and removable pull-up bar on my bathroom door frame and use it for regular pull-ups, chin-ups, just hanging, or stretching) - strengthens the whole upper body.
I like to mix it up a lot so that my list never feels routine, and I spread the items out throughout the day so that they provide a bunch of mini-challenges for me. This also helps to make sure that I’m not sedentary for too long. I find that taking the time to get up and get my body and my muscles moving gives me way more energy, and even prevents the afternoon slump a lot of us are all too familiar with. I love how accomplished I feel when I check off the last item and can rest assured that I’ve successfully given my body some good attention that day, despite not having “official” exercise time. Experiment with your own list starting off by making it super simple, then build on it a little each day in order to increase your strength and stamina, slowly but surely. You can set a timer for every hour or so to remind yourself to get up and get to checking off that list!
5. Do something fun! - The kind of exercise you are most likely to do is the one that you enjoy doing! Sometimes just reacquainting yourself with the concept that physical activity can be fun is enough to get us comfortably moving again. Whether that’s a bike ride or basketball game with the kids, a tennis match, roller skating, kickball, or whatever it might be that gets you happy to be up and moving, is a fantastic exercise that’s going to be really good for you - mind, body, and spirit.
When it comes down to it, getting enough exercise is all about choosing to make it the priority it deserves to be, and developing healthy habits to ensure that we stay consistent with it, so that we can receive all of its tremendous healing and life-giving benefits.
I’d love to hear any additional tips that have worked for you. And now, I’m off to take a break and go for a walk!
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