How Can I Exercise If My Day Is Too Busy? I Feel I Don’t Have Enough Time To Exercise. Creative Solutions To Exercise Amidst A Jam-Packed Schedule.
I know I should be exercising but I don’t have time. Creative Solutions to incorporate exercise amidst a jam-packed schedule.
It’s easy to feel too busy to exercise. You may be thinking “I don’t have an hour to spend at the gym 4 times a week”.
We know that movement and exercise are good things to do and yet we can’t find the time to do it. Is there a solution? “
How will I ever bring my vision of fitness and wellness into action?”.
There are a variety of creative ways to incorporate more exercise into the day. However part of this solution requires getting over the roadblock of what we conceptualize as “exercise”.
It’s easy to view exercise through the lens of “all or nothing”. “Either I’ll go “all out” at the gym for an hour or I’m simply too busy or tired to do it”. Maybe we need to rethink what constitutes exercise. Can taking a break every hour during work to do pushups count as exercise? Indeed! Perhaps this may seem like a new idea to you. It’s not uncommon to assume that you need to engage in movement or activity for a long duration of time for it to count as exercise. Short bouts of movement throughout the day can be equally as effective.
Essentially the more movement we can introduce throughout our day the better. Many researchers state that our bodies are meant to move.
While I may use exercise and movement interchangeably, there is a formal distinction. Exercise can be seen as a sub-branch of movement. Exercise implies an intentional and structured form of movement to produce an intended result such as weight lifting for strength and muscle growth or running to improve cardiovascular endurance. Movement on the other hand can refer to the light stroll you might do from your bedroom to the kitchen. While movement may not be as targeted to produce specific physiological results, it is essential to our health and wellness.
Reasons to Exercise: The Need for Daily Movement
Diving deeper, another interesting question is “What did people do before gyms, pilates, and zumba class?”. Their daily lifestyle was their exercise! One perspective of modern day gym culture and exercise is that it developed as a response to the massive shifts towards our modern sedentary lifestyles. This is not to say that exercise did not exist hundreds of years ago; far from it! Many cultures of the past had very elaborate and sophisticated systems of activity, movement, and exercise, but not all of these were widely available to a majority of the population. One particular exception to this is the universal prevalence of dance rituals worldwide that include ceremonial and social/cultural dances. Many cultures around the world have dances to honor significant days such as a birthday, wedding, holiday, or festival. The distinction here is that not all these dances were done on a consistent weekly basis to be considered as daily movement or exercise.
Exercise has become a way to make up for the lack of movement in our contemporary and sedentary modern lifestyle. Hundreds of years ago, without the conveniences of modern technology, lifestyles world-wide involved a much greater amount of daily movement and physical work. We hand-washed our clothes, walked to and from work, carried buckets of water to our homes, and engaged in more physical movement during our working hours. For most people living in the unindustrialized past, their daily activities would typically provide the movement necessary to keep the body working and functioning. The general population in most countries were not participating in daily structured exercise routines; the exception to this would likely have applied to athletes, dancers, acrobats, warriors, and other specialized occupations and activities. Today, in most urban centers in the world, a majority of people are spending a large portion of their working hours sedentary. Generally speaking, most of us can benefit from more movement in our life.
Exercise for Busy People
Fortunately there are a variety of creative solutions to incorporate more exercise into our day. It’s time to expand beyond the thought that you need to carve out a 30 minute or hour long chunk of time during your day in order to exercise. There are so many ways that you can participate in exercise and movement. Keep you eye out for some ways that stand out or intrigue you. As I will discuss in more depth, some of these methods include: intermittent exercise breaks during work, exercise as transportation, multitasking exercise, lunch break strolls, the early morning routine, standing desks, and the high intensity mini workout session.
Creative Exercise Solutions
1. Intermittent exercise breaks during work
2. Exercise as transportation
3. Multitasking exercise
4. Lunch break strolls
5. The early morning routine
6. Standing desks
7. The high intensity mini workout session
1. Intermittent exercise breaks during work
If you have a job that is largely sedentary, taking a standing break every 30 minutes can offer a whole host of benefits to your body. You can take a 2 minute stroll, do a minute of calf raises, 10 squats, or 5 push ups; mix it up! If you can incorporate these short exercise breaks throughout your working hours, by the end of the day you will have completed a decent amount of exercise.
2. Exercise as transportation
Exercise as transportation conveniently allows you to work your body as a necessary part of your daily travel. If distance permits, you can walk or bike to work. You can take the stairs instead of the elevator when ever the opportunity is available. You can even park a little further away from work so you have a built-in walk to and from your car to the office.
3. Multitasking exercise
Multi-tasking exercise is another great was to accomplish a task while exercising. For example, you can read a book or article while on the treadmill or stationary bike. Do bicep curls or squats when you watch tv. Stand on one leg while cooking in the kitchen. Do a couple push ups on the shower wall.
4. Lunch break strolls
A lunch time stroll is a wonderful and popular method for getting some movement into your afternoon, even if you only walk around the block for 10 minutes.
5. The early morning routine
While the early morning routine may be a challenge if you are not a morning person, it will give you an extra energy boost to kick-start the day; you can embark on your day knowing that you’ve already taken care of your exercise.
6. Standing desks
Standing desks are increasingly gaining popularity in offices. They are a great way to break up your sitting at work. The more endurance you build, you can increasingly spend less time sitting during the day. Tips for standing desks include varying up your standing leg stance. Consider trying out one foot in front of the other or varying the width between your feet when standing. Throw in a one leg balance here or there. Do a couple calf raises or sit down for a couple minutes to take a quick break.
7. The high intensity mini workout session
Lastly, high intensity mini workout sessions are excellent for time efficiency. The principle is that the the more intense you workout, the shorter the duration of the session. Pick an exercise such as a squat, sprint, push up, burpee, jump rope, jumping jack, ect, and perform it at a high level of intensity for 20 seconds to a minute, then rest and gently move around until your breathing settles. Repeat this process for 4 to 8 sets. Especially when you are just starting out, take it easy so your body can adapt to high intensity movement. First warm up the movements you will be doing , by practicing them very slowly so you can focus on proper form and posture.
Conclusively, if you simply can’t see yourself making it to the gym for an hour or exercising at home after work, know that there are a variety of creative ways that you can incorporate exercise into your busy life. May you enjoy the benefits of an active lifestyle!
For any questions about ways to move and exercise more during your day contact me at KaiBodyMindWellness.com
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