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Not Enough Time

Our day to day lives are so packed full it seems we do not have 1 extra minute to spare – Much less an hour and a half to spend at the gym! However, exercise is vital to living a healthy life. What’s a busy bee to do?

The current guidelines for exercise are 30 minutes a day on most days of the week.  Even that can be a daunting task!  You can do it through – research has shown that breaking up your workout into 3 ten minute mini workouts is almost as effective as working out for 30 solid minutes.  So, take 10 minutes during your lunch break and walk up and down the office stairs a few times.  When dinners on the stove or in the oven take 10 minutes to run in place, do some push-ups, or even stretch!  You can fit in 10 minutes if you look hard enough 🙂

Here are some easy exercises you can do at home:

Modified Push-ups:

Start: kneel on the ground and place your hands 2-3 feet in front of you, about should width apart.  Create a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
Movement: Bend at the elbows keeping your back straight, lower yourself to a 90* bend at the elbow and push back up to the start position.

Jumping Jacks:

Start: Stand with your feet together and hands by your side
Movement: Jump up and lift your legs to the side and swing your arms around to above your head. Then jump again to return to the start position

Crunches:
Start: Lay on the floor and place your hands across your chest
Movement:  Pull from your abdominals and lift your upper back off the floor. Then slowly lower yourself back to the start position.

Leg Raises:

Start: Lay on the Floor with your hands under your bottom feet together and straight out
Movement: Lift your legs (keeping them straight) up to a 45* angle, then slowly lower them back to the start position

Calf Raises:

Start: Stand with feet together.
Movement: Push up on the balls of your feet, heels off the ground. Then return to start position

Bicep Curls
Start: Hold a weight in both hands with  arms at your side and slightly infront of your body palms facing forwards
Movement: Curl arms at the elbows until hands face shoulders. Then slowly lower back to start position

Tricep behind head dip:

Start:  Hold a weight with both hands straight above your head
Movement: Bend arms only at elbows and lower the weight behind your head. Be careful not to extend shoulders backwards or arch your back. Raise arms back to start position

Lateral Raises:

Start: Hold a weight in both hands with arms to your sides, palms facing inwards.Movement: Lift arms straight out to the side until reaching should height.  Slowly lower back to start position

Overhead press:

Start: Hold weight in both hands with arms in the “field goal” position (straight up from shoulders palms facing forwards). Movement: Lower arms to a 90* elbow bend with wrist above elbows. Then slowly lift back to start position

Run in place:

Start with bursts of speed for 20 – 30 seconds and then slowly jog in place for 1 min. Repeat

Easy ways to fit in extra exercise when you didn’t expect it.

 

  • Park far away from the door
  • Take the stairs
  • Walk around your office building during lunch or before/after work
  • Use play time with the kids to work out your arms and legs
  • Folding laundry:  Each piece you fold walk to the room is goes in and put it away
  • Clean house quickly for good cardio
  • Yard work
  • In the car practice contracting your muscle and holding it. Especially good for Abs
  • On the phone at work or home: Walk around!

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