Random acts of exercise.

Gee I don't have much time for exercise.  Heard that before?  That may or may not be true but either way there are ways to increase your exercise time even if you don't have a big block of time in the morning or evening to get in a daily workout.

One of the best ways to increase your time in motion is to combine activities.  Do your run, walk, exercise tape, whatever it is you do, even if it's only 30 min at a time.  Then do your chores right after, vacuum with long stretching motions, do yard work, get your marketing done.  When you combine activities you not only get more time in motion but you work different muscles.

There is an exercise that you can do to strengthen your middle, the new buzz word is 'core', not stomach but core or abs.  You can do this exercise all during the day.  Standing, like when your waiting in line, tighten your abdominal, (stomach), muscles.  Tighten them like your trying to touch your spine with your abs, suck them in and tighten them hard.  Hold that a few seconds and then release.  Repeat this the entire time your standing there.  Each tighten and loosen is as good as a sit up or a crunch.  If you do this exercise everyday, several times a day you will begin to notice a difference in a couple of weeks.

Look for ways to walk more.  Take the stairs instead of the elevator.  Park at the far end of the parking lot at work instead of looking for a close place.  When your at work use a restroom or water cooler that is further than the one you normally use.  I live in a two story house and I make it a habit of using the upstairs restroom rather than the down stairs one.  If you go shopping at the mall, walk a complete circuit of the mall before you enter any stores, do the same when your done shopping, do a lap.

Make your shower a rub down and a stretching session.  rubbing your skin firmly with the towel when you dry off is a great mini massage.  Really work on your calves with the towel for a few seconds each.  Make giving yourself a foot rub everyday a habit.  Work on getting to where you can touch everywhere on your body, most Americans can't touch the middle of their back.

If you sit at a desk all day at work, give yourself a stretch break at least once an hour.  Smokers go outside and take 15 min breaks to have their cigarettes, so don't feel guilty about getting up and doing a few min of stretching and walking.  Also look for reasons to do squats, instead of sitting down first just do a squat to pick up something off the floor, out of a low drawer or just to stretch out the upper legs.

There are many ways to get in extra motion during your day regardless of how busy you are.  I've just used the above examples to get you thinking.  Bending, reaching and twisting is what we were designed to do, so do it, your body will love you for it.

Thanks for reading.

Dave