Fitness for Busy People
Every person can find sometime to include more activity in their daily life. The important thing is to think of small ways to get the body chugging. This adds big dividends n the form of a lifetime of good health.
Physical activity need not be formal, time-consuming or strenuous to be good for you. Every physical activity burns calories, hence even short sessions of informal activity can give all the benefits of regular exercise. Take a look!
Start your own exercise program – start walking and gradually progress to 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity on at least 4-5 days of the week. Moderate intensity activities are brisk walking, doing household work, golfing, dancing. Moderate intensity activities are those which move the large muscles in your arms and feet. These include even daily life activities like walking up and down the stairs, taking a brisk walk to or from home, workplace or off-site business meetings, walking the dog, jumping the rope while listening to music, riding a stationary bicycle or an exercise cycle while reading the newspaper, cleaning up at home, using the bicycle to run errands or visit friends, playing with children, buying groceries.
Choose an activity which fits into your work week and maintain a chart to keep track. Get used to doing one activity during the week, then add another one. Repeat the process until you incorporate 150 minutes of activity in your working week – 30 minutes 5 days a week.
Here is a sample chart to keep track of your physical activity
|
Activity |
Minutes/Day |
Days/ Week |
Minutes/ Week |
|
Walk during lunch break |
10 minutes |
3
(Mon, Wed, Fri) |
30 |
Total Time should be 150 minutes in 1 week
Once you get started, you’ll be surprised how you manage to fit in activities other than those you do in your usual work week. And, once you get started it is a snowball effect. Don’t be amazed if you identify ways to creatively fit in new activities one after the other.
Here are some more ideas to add new activities to get fit and fitter.
- Walk to lunch restaurants at a distance from your office instead of stopping at the closest eatery.
- Join a health club or gym near your workplace where you can workout before or after work.
- Use speaker phone when answering calls so you can get up and move about doing your tasks during calls. Remember standing burns more calories than sitting.
- Use the stairs instead of the elevator. If your workplace is on higher floors, you can get off the elevator midway and walk up the rest of the way. Add more floors as you build up on your stamina.
- Park your car at a distance from the grocery store or back end of the parking lot. This way, you can walk up to your parked car carrying the grocery shopping.
- Join a sports community group – you will end up meeting a lot of new people, enjoy doing a sport activity that you are fond of and get into shape.
- Stop using the remote control. Get up to switch TV channels, radio or music channel.
- Work out using a low-impact aerobics video at home.
- Go dancing or play an activity sport with your family and friends rather than watching a movie.
