You Don’t Need Down Time To Step It up
Wouldn’t it be great if we could give ourselves the gift of time?
An extra hour in each day that could be completely dedicated to our wellness goals?
Instead it seems as though we often struggle to fit fitness into our day.
I can’t give you more time in your day – wish I could! – but I can share this little life hack with you: You don’t need down time to step it up!
There are actually many opportunities to squeeze in an exercise or two in nearly all of your daily tasks!
Here are five ways that you can sneak some fitness into your day:
✔️ Wake up with abs
Let’s be honest, not many of us jump out of bed the exact moment that the alarm goes off. We usually take a minute or two to come back to reality, to think about our day, maybe to wish we had a few more hours of sleep!
You can use these few moments to start the day with a gentle and EASY ab workout in your own bed!
Lie flat on your back sideways across your bed so that your legs hang off of the side of your bed (with the edge of your mattress meets the back of your legs) and your arms reach past the other side of the bed when you put them above your head.
Grab a pillow and hold it with both hands, extend your arms above your head.
Now bring your legs up so that your feet are aimed towards the ceiling and your knees are slightly bent.
At the same time, lower your arms to meet your knees and transfer the pillow.
Place the pillow between your knees and straighten out again.
Repeat by raising your knees (with pillow) back towards the ceiling and lifting your arms from above your head.
Do this for a few minutes while you plan your day and gather your morning thoughts.
✔️ Brushing your teeth
Dentists say that you are supposed to brush your teeth for at least two minutes, twice a day. While you are managing your oral hygiene you can multi-task and get in a few minutes of squats, balance or quick standing, side crunches every day!
Hold your arms in a T shape and bend both hands towards your mouth.
Use one hand to brush your teeth. As you brush, lift your left knee and cross it towards your right elbow, crunching your midsection slightly to meet joints. Repeat on the other side.
Continue these movements for the length of time that you are brushing your teeth. (If you do a mouthwash or flouride treatment, that is another minute or two time to side crunch!)
✔️ Rinse and Repeat
Okay, this one is easy. Do squats in the shower.
While you shampoo and conditioner and wash your face – do slow, deep squats. When you shave your legs or lather up, do a slow deep lunge and hold steady.
✔️ Deskercise
A lot of you sit at a desk during the day. You may spend hours at a time checking e-mails and taking phone calls.
Sneak some weights into your day!
Use light weight dumbbells to do curls and flies while on speaker phone for those long conference calls.
If you spend most of your time typing and need your hands, bring ankle weights and do leg extensions! Work it!
✔️ Washing dishes
While you stand in front of your sink to rinse or wash your dishes at the end of the evening, work your calves by doing calf raises.
You can actually do these anywhere and anytime that you are standing in one place!
These may seem like small steps – but small steps, done consistently over a period of time, can lead to big results!!
I challenge you to try step it up in your down time with these ideas.
Which one will you try today!?
