Committed to Fitness But Not the Gym?
No matter who you are or what shape you’re in, your fitness and overall health are undoubtedly important to you. However, like many others, maybe you’d rather meet your health and wellness goals without having to spend large amounts of time working out at home or in the gym. And given that access to gyms are in short supply nowadays due to the continued pandemic crisis, there are a multitude of ways to start getting active at home.
Don’t want to spend a lot of money on workout equipment? No problem. Don’t want to spend hours working out? Yes please! The good news is that it’s easy to start getting active right in the comfort of your own home and you don’t have to dedicate lots of time to do so. I’ll also let you in a not so well kept secret: a lot of small changes lead to big rewards. Let’s take a look at some tweaks you can make in your everyday activities.
Get busy in the kitchen. Honestly, no matter what your specific goals are, nutrition must play a large part. After all, we are what we eat and food is linked to how we feel, our energy levels, and our mental clarity. Take the time to look at what’s in your cabinets and make sure there are whole foods there.
Grow your own food. Now, I can’t speak to this specific suggest as I’m still in the ‘thinking about it stage’; however, that doesn’t negate the value of growing vegetables given the nutritional value. (I promise I’ll update you if/when I decide to take the plunge and start a small garden).
Get up and move around for 5 minutes each hour. Let’s be honest, most of us are teleworking right now which means we’re tied to our laptops for most of the day. Pre-covid, I would go for a mid-morning walk when I was in the office and it helped break the day up and gave my brain a break. I always returned to my office in a better space than I left. If you can commit to doing this for 8 hours of your day then you’ll have moved for a combined total of 40 minutes each day.
Do some sit ups during commercial breaks. Something tells me you’ve heard this one before :-). Now you don’t have to limit yourself to doing sit ups, you can do squats, leg lifts, jumping jacks, etc. The point is to do something for short bursts of time.
Drink more water, less sugary drinks (i.e., juice/soda that has added sugars). The goal here is to focus on incorporating more water into your day. I think it’s easier to focus on habits you can create rather than habits you need to remove, make sense?
Incorporate a short stretching routine into your day. Flexibility is a key component to fitness as it improves mobility, posture, and reduces the risk of injury. Carve out at least 5 minutes each day to stretch.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, small changes can yield big results. Hopefully the tips I outlined above can inspire you to make your health and fitness goals a reality.