8 Ways to Increase Your Activity During The Day

Starting a new fitness program can be somewhat daunting if you’re going from the couch to working out regularly. In fact, many of us are glued to our desks during the day and shudder at the idea of going to a gym. It’s easy to become sedentary. But, there are ways to naturally incorporate more movement without sweating it out at a gym everyday. Below are some ideas for finding ways to move around more:

Stretching: If you do work a desk job, make it a point to stretch every hour or so. Even if it’s something that you mark on your calendar (like Outlook), it’s important to try to move around throughout the day.

A great simple stretch that you can do right at your desk is to stand up, put your hands on your hip, bend at the waist in the right direction for 5 seconds and repeat on the left for five seconds.

An easy leg stretch is stand up, hold on to back of a chair with your left hand while bending your right knee and holding the back of your right foot with your right hand. Hold this stretch of 10 seconds and then repeat the same action by with the left leg.

Squats: After completing the stretching exercise above, stand with your feet shoulder width apart, put your hands on your hips, and slowly descend into a squat. Imagine that you are sitting in a char. Only come down as far as you can without agitating your knees. (If you experience any pain while doing this exercise, please stop.) Hold the position for two seconds and then slowly return to the start position. Repeat 9 times.

Walking: In the past, I struggled with my own weight. One thing that helped tremendously was finding ways to incorporate more walking throughout the day. Start with taking a 20-30 morning walk around your neighborhood in the mornings before you go to work. If it’s not too dark when you get home, do the same after work.

Active lunches: Try to make your lunch hour as active as possible. Try bringing your lunch from home so that you can nibble on it at your desk. Then, you’ll have time to do other things during your lunch hour. Perhaps, you can walk around the museum during your lunch. If you do plan to eat out that day, find restaurants that are farther away from your job. Then you can walk there, order out, and walk back.

I adopted a few walking lunch buddies and alternated walking with different people during my lunch hour. The average 150 pound person can burn up to 300 calories if you complete an hour-long brisk walk.

Jumping Rope: Purchase a jump rope and jump in place in the mornings for 5-10 minutes at a time. 10 minutes of jumping rope can burn up to 100 calories!

Climbing Stairs: If you live or work in a high-rise building, challenge yourself to climb stairs and add a floor every week.

Parking Farther Away from the Entrance: It’s tempting to always look for that one great parking spot. You know the one – it’s usually right next to the entrance of whatever grocery store or establishment you’re visiting. Instead, consistently park in the farthest spot from the entrance. This will force you to walk more. An extra bonus is that if you’re carrying groceries or other larger items, you’ll automatically burn a few more calories!

Walk and Jog Intervals: Once you get into the habit of walking around more, try alternating 3 minutes of walking with 1-2 minutes of jogging. If you’re brand new to jogging, start slowly. During a 30-minute session, you can burn about twice as many calories as you would from walking alone!

What do YOU do to stay active?

Above are just a few ideas to increase your activity during the day. What are some ways that YOU incorporate more mobility? I’d love to hear from you!

If you’re interested in getting a personalized program based on your specific goals, please contact us at info@simpleonlinefitness.com.

Best,
Bree

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Sabrina Renee Kinckle, CPT – ACE
Email: info@simpleonlinefitness.com
Simple Online Fitness – No more excuses!