How to Spread Exercise Through a Busy Daily Routine
Finding a 30-minute chunk of free time to exercise can be difficult if not impossible some days. However, there are things you can do to spread your exercise time over the duration of your day.
Around the house
Doing laundry, housework and shopping are common ways to naturally get in some exercise, but here are a few ways you might not have thought about.
Instead of just walking out to the end of the driveway to pick up the paper, walk a route for five minutes and pick up the paper on the way back in.
Try doing jumping jacks between commercials if watching TV. A 150-pound person can burn up to 90 calories over an accumulated 10-minute session.
Instead of waiting in the car when picking up your kid, get out and walk around it a few times or walk into the building and then back out with your kid
At work
If you drive to work, park at the far end of the parking lot instead of close to the building. You will get in more steps by walking in and back out at the end of the work day. If you take public transportation to work, take the long way to get to your office. Take the same way or a different long way after work.
Once inside your workplace, take the stairs instead of the elevator (even for just a few floors). Walking up stairs is one of the best ways of getting your heart rate up.
While walking to the cafeteria during your lunch break to eat is getting in more steps, a better way is to walk outside and leave just enough time to eat your healthy brown bag lunch you brought from home instead of some unhealthy cafeteria meal. This means you get another round of steps in going down to the ground floor and back up again too.
While at work, get up and move around at least five minutes each hour. Also make it a habit to get up when answering the phone and walk around while talking.
If your boss will spring for the cost, get a stand-up desk. Ergonomically, standing is better for your body than sitting. Better yet is get a desk with a built-in treadmill. Then you could walk while working which is better yet than just standing!
Exercise in chunks of time instead of all at once
Numerous studies have all shown that as much benefit (and in many cases more) is derived from three 10-minute exercise sessions as in one 30-minute session. The theory behind the results indicate that your metabolism stays up higher between three shorter sessions, then it does with one longer session. The longer you can keep your metabolism up, the more calories you’ll burn.
During the course of a busy day, it is not hard to get in 30 minutes of exercising in and you really did not have to invest much additional time at all.
Spreading out exercise throughout the day is not that hard once you think about ways you can do it. There are many opportunities out there, without adding time to an already busy schedule. Use the tips in this article to maximize your exercising efforts, along with thinking up your own ways.
