Simple Ways to Add More Activity to Your Days

If you have good intentions of exercising every day and most of the time it never happens, you’re not alone. 80 percent of Americans do not meet the recommended activity levels for strength training and aerobic exercise.

One way to turn this around is to plan your week ahead of time for activity instead of having a vague plan to work out “sometime” during the day. A second way is to work short bouts of activity into your day so it adds up to enough to give you health benefits. Here are some suggestions:

1. Sunday night, set up a schedule for the week. For example, my typical week looks like this. In Tucson, I swim an hour on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday about 6:30 or 7 AM. On Monday and Wednesday, I teach yoga classes and take a thirty-minute walk. On Friday, I teach a dance-aerobics class. When I spend time at our condo in Mexico, I swim in the ocean for 30-60 minutes every morning upon waking and walk for an hour every evening. When the weather is good, I kayak so I watch the sea and choose a day or two a week to go out for 2-3 hours. I have more time to exercise than most people, but here’s what my IT manager husband’s workout schedule looks like…Monday, Wednesday and Friday – Masters swimming workout 5-6 AM. Tuesday and Thursday 5-5:45 AM run about 3 miles. 3 evenings after work, he goes to the gym to lift weights.
2. Participate in classes offered at your work (my husband sometimes does this once or twice a week).
3. To work in short bouts (aiming to achieve about 30 minutes of total movement during the day), consider these as options… Walk outside or the up and down the halls or stairs at work during part of your lunch hour. Do a short walk before work. Walk or bicycle after you get home from work. Purchase a stationary bicycle or treadmill for home use and USE IT. Listen to your favorite playlists or watch the news or other programs you like on TV to stay motivated. Anytime you can be active while watching TV is better. In general, most Americans spend too much time parked in front of computers and the TV. When my children were infants, I used to do exercise DVDs and also had a bench step so I could do that while I watched TV.

Keep in mind that getting the body in motion is the hardest part. Once you get in the habit of moving a lot, it becomes a habit and your body crave the healthy movement that it needs to function optimally. Today, I’m in Mexico, about to face Tropical Storm Lidia. So I stayed inside and did a Vinyasa Yoga practice and plan to do a lot of housework to stay moving today. If you have questions on how to get started or want to share your secrets with others, please feel free to comment. I hope you take steps to care for yourself today!